Closer magazine
Remembering ‘The Partridge Family’ on What Would Have Been David Cassidy’s 69th Birthday
April 12, 2019
By Ed Gross
Anyone who grew up with The Partridge Family probably found it difficult to cope with the fact that its most popular star, David Cassidy, passed away about two years ago from organ failure at the age of 67 after also struggling with dementia. Today, the singer would have been 69.
Born David Bruce Cassidy in NYC on April 12, 1950, David is the son of actor and singer Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward. Following their divorce, Jack married Shirley Jones — who not only became David’s stepmom in real life but played his mother on The Partridge Family.
Thanks to the show, David enjoyed great popularity throughout the 1970s as both a recording artist and concert performer, though he certainly went through a number of struggles in his personal life. Among them were three marriages, bouts of alcoholism, bankruptcy and health issues. Joy, however, did come from the birth of his daughter, Katie Cassidy, one of the stars on the CW’s Arrow.
Through it all, the passion of David’s fans became heartwarming to him, though for a long time he resisted the baggage that came along with having played Keith Partridge. He commented in an interview with NJ.com, “It was fascinating how quickly it evolved, just by fate. It was obviously God’s intent. I feel very, very fortunate to have had all of the stars align to do that. Because I was able to not only become very successful but to touch people’s lives and bring light into their lives.”
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‘The Partridge Family’ (1970-74)
In the ABC musical sitcom, David played Keith Partridge, one of a family of singers who traveled the country on their tour bus (formerly a school bus) to entertain people everywhere. His mom on the show — also a member of the band — was played by real-life stepmom Shirley Jones, with other cast members including Susan Dey and Danny Bonaduce. The show turned him into an instant superstar, though there was one particular challenge: initially he wasn’t allowed to sing Keith’s vocals until he proved to producers that he was up to the task. There was also the perception that he was a lightweight, bubblegum singer, when his heart was actually in rock and roll. That perception would plague him the rest of his life.
Prior to The Partridge Family, David got his start making guest starring appearances on TV shows like Ironside, The F.B.I., Marcus Welby, M.D., Adam-12, Bonanza, Medical Center, and The Mod Squad. “In a very short period of time,” David told nj.com, “actors can become kind of relevant and hot. At the end of that season, they did pilots. I had to do a number of different auditions for a half-hour situation comedy with music.”
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The Partridge Family Discography
Music was an important component of the series, and the show spawned a number of albums (though the only people from the show who actually sang on the songs were David and Shirley Jones). Not counting greatest hits compilations, their album output included The Partridge Family Album (1970), Up to Date (1971), Sound Magazine (1971), A Partridge Family Christmas Card (1971), Shopping Bag (1972), Notebook (1972), Crossword Puzzle (1973), and Bulletin Board (1973).
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The Battle Over Merchandise
According to David, Sony Pictures Television made over $500 million in merchandise based on the show, of which he saw only $15,000. “When they make bubblegum cards and comic books of you and you’re on the back of cereal boxes, and they own your name and likeness, as they did,” he told Yahoo, “they can make anything they want. David Cassidy guitars, lunchboxes, magazines, pillowcases, dresses, Colorforms, books — anything they could sell to kids.
“I saw 15 grand. Now, that’s corrupt. But I broke it through. I was the breakthrough person in merchandising. I busted through the gate, and the rest of them just stormed through. But I was the first person to renegotiate and get a piece of the show, the first person to get anything from these people. It’s little in comparison to today, but it was a lot then, and you have to put things in their proper perspective. I would have $80 million instead of $8 million now. But that’s fine. It’s great. I did it when I did it, and I have no regrets about doing it. I got to do something that three or four, maybe 10 people in the history of the world — let’s see, The Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Valentino got to do. Maybe nine or 10 people in the history of the planet.”
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Touring in the 1970s
So successful was David as a result of The Partridge Family that he was able to go on tour through much of the 1970s, both in America and abroad. He sold out Madison Square Garden in one day, and over the course of one weekend in 1972, managed to sell out both shows of 56,000 seats each at the Houston Astrodome. Tragically, in 1974 in London, there was a massive crushing of people to get to the stage that injured 800 and resulted in one death. A couple of years later, David decided to focus instead on recording music, though the pain of what happened reportedly remained with him.
One positive about those tours is that it played a part in letting him know the impact he had made as a part of The Partridge Family. He related to The Hollywood Reporter, “My concerts were sellouts. I set a record at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. I sold out the Houston Astrodome twice in the same weekend, 56,000 people each time. And Vietnam War veterans told me about this re-entry video they were showed before returning home so that they could catch up on what was going on while they were away. The vets would tell me the video had a lot to do with the women’s movement, and with me. So, yes, I was very aware of the impact.”
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David Cassidy Solo Albums in the 1970s
During his time on The Partridge Family and after, David recorded a number of albums in addition to those supposedly featuring his TV family. They include Cherish (1972), which reached #15 in the US and #2 in the UK; Rock Me Baby (1972), #41 in the US, #2 in the UK and #9 in Germany; Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than Wishes (1973), #1 in the UK and #10 in Australia; Cassidy Live! (1974), #9 in the UK, where it was recorded live; The Higher They Climb (1975), #22 in the UK; Home is Where the Heart Is (1976), and Getting It in the Street (1976), which was initially only released in Japan and Germany.
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David Cassidy: Man Undercover
David decided to take a more dramatic turn when he appeared on a 1978 episode of the NBC cop anthology series Police Story, which resulted in this 10-episode spin-off. The show pre-dated and must have played some inspiration for 21 Jump Street, which aired a decade later. In Man Undercover, set in LA, he’s police officer Dan Shay who in each episode goes undercover to take down his targes — beginning with becoming a part of a high school drug ring.
This was, according to his interview with Yahoo, a very deliberate attempt to put some distance between him and Keith Partridge. “I retired from playing stadiums and closed the cover on that part of my career. I retired for three and a half years, and I came back as an actor. I got nominated for an Emmy for a two-hour movie [Police Story’s “A Chance to Live”] that was a dramatic role, and subsequently did a series [David Cassidy: Man Undercover]; they used the movie as a spinoff for that series, which it wasn’t intended to be, and the series was pretty disastrous. It was night shooting, most of it, in downtown L.A. in the wintertime. It was just so unpleasant. I was going through so much personally; I’d lost my father the year before, and I’d lost my manager. I was in really bad shape. The show wasn’t successful, and it shouldn’t have been. But I got wooed into doing it, and I just knew then that I needed to do something else, and try not to capitalize or rely upon or compete with my fame and my career that I kept on the shelf. I was, like, ‘There it is, five years of your life. Let’s encapsulate it. There are all your records, there’s all your merchandising, and now it’s over.’ So I began to go back to acting class and work with other actors.'”
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Acting Roles in the 1980s
Things slowed down considerably in the 1980s, with his acting being largely limited to guest appearances on such shows as The Love Boat and Fantasy Island (longtime Saturday night staples on ABC that virtually everyone appeared on eventually); Matt Houston, Tales of the Unexpected, the TV movie The Night the City Screamed, and the reboot of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the episode Career Movie, which brought him back into the world of music.
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1980s Discography
Only two albums in the "Me Decade," the first of which wasn't released initially in the United States due to the fact that his last few efforts hadn't charted in America. The albums were Romance (1985), reaching #20 in the UK, #22 in Germany, and #50 in Australia; and His Greatest Hits — Live, which was recorded in London at the Royal Albert Hall.
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Acting in the 1990s
In 1990, David appeared in the feature films Instant Karma and The Spirit of '76, after which he turned his attention back to television for guest spots on The Flash (obviously not the current Grant Gustin version on the CW), The Ben Stiller Show, The John Larroquette Show, and Ask Harriet.
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David’s Discography For the 1990s and 2008
In the '90s, David released the albums David Cassidy (1990), Best of David Cassidy (1991), Didn't You Used to Be? (1992), and Old Trick New Dog (1998). His last album was 2008's Live in Concert.
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Acting in the 2000s
David appeared in the film Popstar (2005), and on the television series Malcolm in the Middle, The Agency, Less Than Perfect, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He was also a co-star on the series Ruby & The Rockits, which was created by his brother Shaun Cassidy and starred brother Patrick Cassidy. Mrs. Partridge — Shirley Jones herself — appeared on the show for what was a fun reunion.
“It’s the first time all of my brothers and I have worked together,” David explained to Parade. “I wanted to go back to how television shows used to be, where parents could sit and watch with their kids and actually be entertained and laugh. Shaun is a successful producer/writer now and he agreed with me, so we put it together with Patrick and I playing brothers.”
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David Cassidy Talks to David Cassidy
Parade magazine asked David what sort of advice he would offer his younger self, to which he replied, “I would tell him the same thing that my dad told me when I played Madison Square Garden in 1972. And those words never ever left me: ‘Talent will survive.’ And he went on, ‘Some day, all of this will be gone. But you will survive as I have survived. I guarantee it’s gonna be difficult, because you’re so successful and so identified with being a teen idol and a sex symbol.’ He was right. When you get those labels you have to prove yourself and you have to have the talent to do it.”
