David Cassidy in the News
'I genuinely feel blessed'
Cassidy savors his revitalized career - and being back on tour
March 19, 2002
By Joy Jones
The Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS)
When he sang "I Think I Love You" in the early 1970s, every girl listening dreamed David Cassidy was singing to her.
Such was his boy-next-door charm, even if the character he played on TV's popular show "The Patridge Family" was anything but the boy next door.
After all, he, along with his siblings and groovy mom (real-life step-mother Shirley Jones) traveled to concert gigs in a psychedelic school bus.
Regardless of their alternative lifestyle, the Partridge clan was all-American.
Success on the show and in his solo career put Cassidy's face in every fanzine known to smitten teeny-boppers. At 21, he was the highest paid performer in the world.
" . . . Back in those days you weren't as prepared, or as sophisticated for that kind of success. It was fun, but it was also very disciplined work," Cassidy recalled in a recent interview. "I was doing TV, recording albums for both the show and myself, and going on the road every weekend. It was a 16- to 18-hour-a-day job. I basically took on the weight of a CEO."
After a couple of years, Cassidy took a break from his hectic showbiz life, only to flounder when he attempted a comeback. Then, with a little luck and a strong work ethic that he attributes to his father, the late actor Jack Cassidy, he succeeded where few heartthrobs have: He parlayed his early popularity into a well-rounded adult career.
Though 30 years have passed since his initial burst into stardom, Cassidy is still driving the girls wild. That is perhaps due to his maintaining his youthful exuberance.
In all seriousness, Cassidy, who will perform at the Grand Casino Biloxi on Thursday, offered the following message to his Coast fans: "Come prepared to scream and shout and knock yourself out."
Now if that isn't wholesome, youthful enthusiasm, nothing is.
Cassidy, who is promoting a new CD and celebrating his one-year anniversary back on tour, says his fans keep him young.
"When I strap on the guitar it makes me feel like I'm 19 again," he says.
He lives with his wife and 10-year-old son in Las Vegas, where he began headlining in the mid-'90s. He starred in "EFX" at the MGM Mirage, taking over the lead role from Michael Crawford of "Phantom of the Opera" fame. Then he moved on to "At The Copa" at the Rio. Cassidy then created and produced the popular show "The Rat Pack is Back!," which is still in performance at the Sahara.
Though he enjoyed the Vegas production shows, Cassidy says the concert tour offers more creative freedom and is more family-friendly.
"It's too much of a grind and you have no time for anything else," he says of the long-running production shows. "The world comes to Las Vegas and it's great, but it becomes so relentless that after five years it just becomes so difficult to create anything else."
After his concert at the Grand, Cassidy will perform a couple more dates before heading to the United Kingdom where his new CD, "Then and Now," is a hit. The CD is currently in the Top Five and verging on platinum status in the U.K. It will be released in the United States on May 7.
In addition to new material and a couple of classic cover tunes, the album features his early hits, including "Cherish," "I Think I Love You," "Could It Be Forever" and "How Can I Be Sure."
Like his fans, Cassidy is still fond of those songs.
"I rediscover these great songs every 10 years," he says. "It's like opening an old chest of drawers and finding these jewels. They sound new and alive."
Those golden oldies sound fresh to the fans who sing along, too. Cassidy says that the only difference in his audiences of yesterday and today is that the voices have dropped on octave.
"They are incredibly supportive of me. I'm a very fortunate person. There are very few performers who've been able to survive the kind of fame I've had. I'm going into my fourth decade with success," he says, with a combination of incredulity and pride.
"It's quite extraordinary to imagine; you can't plan on it or explain it except to say I try to give the fans everything I can give . . . It's really an amazing thing. I genuinely feel blessed."
If you go
Who: David Cassidy
Where: Grand Casino Biloxi.
When: 8 p.m. Thursday.
Cost: $24.95, $29.95.
