David Cassidy on the Web
David Cassidy Chats with Buzz
June 6, 2007
By Ken Payne and Kimberly Katz
http://blog.myspace.com
Could David Cassidy possible have known the amount of success he was to have while he was auditioning for the role of Keith Partridge during the summer of 1970? Sure, the Partridge Family was a major hit in which he starred with his step mom Shirley Jones. Millions watched as the Partridges cruised around in their multi-colored bus playing at such venues from Vegas-y dinner theatres to town hall functions and for such causes as women's lib and saving the Firehouse. David's appeal as Keith definitely won him over an army of fans in itself, but thanks to such a national springboard, David went on to become one of the biggest pop stars in history claiming fan clubs greater than Elvis Presley's or The Beatles. Massive promotion and merchandising made David the nation's biggest teen idol overnight.
While Partridge Family songs like "I Think I Love You", I Woke Up In Love This Morning" and "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat" stormed the charts, David also topped Billboard with songs from his solo albums like "Cherish", Rock Me Baby" and "Could it Be Forever". During this age of David-mania, fans packed arena after arena, bought Partridge/Cassidy merchandise and albums at alarming rates, and wore David's Puka shell necklaces in allegiance to their beloved idol. It was a historic time for American pop culture - one that has yet to be matched.
Never the one for much break time, David continued recording and touring through the 80's, 90's and 2000's. He has also starred in films and has appeared in many Broadway Musicals including the original version of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Blood Brothers" where he got the chance to share the stage with his half-brother Shaun Cassidy.
Recently, David released a new CD titled, DAVID CASSIDY PART II THE REMIX, which is part of 180 Music's Spotlight Features Series that is being distributed exclusively in all 1,449 Target stores throughout America. David has re-recorded some of his most recognizable and popular songs with dance remixes by Craig J (Madonna, Cher, Kelly Clarkson). Including his newest release, David has now recorded 18 solo albums and has been featured on 11 Partridge Family records.
David's life has been an adventure from the get go and it would be nearly impossible to imagine what it must have been like to have seen it through his eyes. In 1994 David gave us a glimpse into his world in his book "C'mon Get Happy: Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus" a somewhat detailed account of the ups and downs of his stardom. However, 13 years later, David has just come out with an even more in-depth tell all memoir called "Could it Be Forever" that really invites readers into his personal life at a much higher level in which he talks about various Hollywood flings, rampant drug use, and his relationship with his late father, actor Jack Cassidy. "Could it Be Forever" is currently available at Amazon.com and is an official "Recommended Buzz Read".
We spoke with David from his home in Florida while breaking from his 2007 tour schedule, which includes a July 6th date at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles.
Buzz - Last year you got the opportunity to throw the first pitch at Wrigley Field prior to the Cubs game...
David - You know...the Cubs were so great. It's such a fantastic organization. Sadly Dusty's not there anymore. He's such a great person. He's a great person and a great baseball guy. He's an analyst now and does a fantastic job. Dusty is a guy with great integrity and it's a sad thing that it didn't work for him there. When you lose two of your aces in your starting staff, I don't know how anybody could have managed that team. But, I can't tell you how the entire organization embraced my son, Beau and I. My son came out there and sang with me for the first time ever publicly.
Buzz - That's quite a debut - the National Anthem at Wrigley.
David - Yeah, and he wasn't nervous. He wasn't afraid. 15 years old and 40,000 people. He was great. I was very proud of him.
Buzz - So I'm guessing you'd do it again if the opportunity arose.
David - Are you kidding? I'd love to come and do it again. I'm probably going to spend more time in Chicago now because of my relationship with Craig [J]. We want to work together some more. We'll probably get together later this summer and start to put some ideas together and maybe do another project together at some point. Right now it's a very fertile place for me. I love working in an environment where people share ideas.
Buzz - Craig has worked with Mariah Cary, Beyonce, and Madonna...
David - Yeah, he's worked with a lot of the divas. I think that's one reason he wants to work with me again...'cause I ain't no diva! But yeah, I love Chicago. I just really like it. The people are so genuine there. I've had some great experiences there from the seventies on out. I've played concerts there.. I played the Schubert. When .I did "Blood Brothers" on Broadway, I even took it there for a couple weeks and had a blast.
Buzz - Sounds like Chicago is one of your fave cities...
David - It's way up there. It's waaaayyy up there. I think when you have a few friends and people you feel very comfortable with...it's just a really - a great environment for me. I wish I lived a little closer, but it's not a big deal for me to go and spend a few days there. I think the culture of the city's beautiful. One of my best friends actually grew up there. He and I always talk about it. There's something romantic about Chicago. If you're from New York or a major city , there's still something romantic about it. There's an essence of a soul in it that Los Angeles lacks, that a lot of cities lack. There's a soul in it and as an old city and being rebuilt as the "Second City", there's certain resilience in the people there that you connect with. You see people from Chicago that are really proud of it. They wear it like a badge.
Buzz -Right, we're the real deal, David.
David - (Laughs) Yeah, no, it's true. It's one of the few places I've ever known that I know a lot of people from that they're always talkin' about, "yeah I'm from Chicago". There's definitely a cool thing about it.
Buzz - What sports teams do you follow?
David - I've been a Yankee fan since I was born. It's in my blood. My son's the same and every year we go to Yankee stadium - at least once a year. I sang at the World Series down here three years ago. But they [Yankees] lost - sadly - to the Marlins. I've been a fan all my life - a serious baseball fan. I mean (laughs)...serious.
Buzz - Well, the Yankees probably aren't starting the year like you were hoping.
David - We're seriously worried about our team right now. They're not playing well. Boston's not going to slow down - definitely not. It feels like it's going to be their year. I saw the game against the O's the other night. The orioles were up 5-0 in the bottom of the ninth after their starter went 8 and a third innings - only giving up three hits. But the setup man and closer blow the game. I can't tell you, as a Yankee's fan, how painful that was to watch. My son and I were screaming at the television, "NO! NO! NO!"
Buzz - At least you recently stole Johnny Damon from the Red Sox.
David - Yeah, he's great. But Johnny hasn't been right either - he's hurt. It's not their pitching staff. They just went to Seattle and their pitching was great. It's just that four or five of their players are in a deep slump - including A-Rod, who's had a phenomenal year so far. [Bobby] Abreu has just been terrible. He's just sooo out of synch. It just looks like he has no confidence up there. You can just see it in his whole body language and his face - it's not good. Melky's not playing well. [Jorge] Posada's been great and Jeter is terrific as always...[Jason] Giambi's in and out...We're an old team with a lot of injuries. I think that Robinson Cano is going to be one hell of a player, but he swings at so many bad pitches. It's just so frustrating to watch them sputter. We go on the road and our pitching staff gives up no more than three runs in a game - 3,2, and 1 runs - and we lose two out of three.
Buzz - I can actually hear the pain in your voice...
David - Yeah...I'm a BIG Yankee's fan.
Buzz - That's how I am with the Cubs.
David - I understand. I can only imagine the pain that you go through. I try to put it into perspective for my son. I tell him try to imagine if you followed the Cubs all your entire life, and your father had followed the Cubs, and your grandfather followed the Cubs - and you never had the chance to celebrate...
Buzz - So does your son, Beau play ball?
David - He did. He doesn't anymore. He plays music now. He does a lot and does it well.
Buzz - Do you guys do anything together musically?
David - Just that one time at Wrigley. He's playing bass; he's in the All-State Choir. He's in such a phenomenal choir that they were invited to Carnegie Hall - one of the five school choirs in North America that was invited to Carnegie Hall. He's very gifted and dedicated to it.
Buzz - Do you ever rip out the guitar and say, "C'mon Beau, let's go?"
David - Yeah, we do - occasionally we play together, but I really try to get him to focus on his own music in his own way as opposed to him being in "dad's world". He has an extraordinary talent as a bass teacher and I hope he keeps going.
Buzz - Speaking of great musicians, you got off to a great start playing with the band for the Partridge Family.
David - They were the greatest. If you had ten million dollars you could never have bought that kind of an education. Every night playing with the likes of Hal Blaine, Jim Gordon...Oh man, playing with Louis Shelton, Larry Knechtal, and the guys that I played with...they were some of the greatest studio musicians of all time. They taught me a lot of what not to play. It goes way beyond playing. There's a lot of attitude with it. There's a lot of sophistication behind it. I was 19 when I started and I soaked it up like a sponge.
Buzz - Is that something you appreciated right away or years later?
David - Right away - from the moment I walked into the room. I knew who they were. I had good vibrations. These guys played on all of those wonderful Beach Boys records - "Smile"...
Buzz - That's a fantastic album that not everyone knows about...
David - Oh yeah, it's fantastic - fantastic album. I got to know Carl [Wilson] really well, and I wrote with Brian [Wilson] for a little while in the late 70's. We wrote a song together on an album I did for RCA.
Buzz - Originally, on the Partridge Family, there was a voice other than your own for your character, Keith Partridge.
David - That was just in the pilot. We all just lip-synched in the pilot. Once it went to series, months before we started shooting, we started recording.
Buzz - Well, how did they figure out that, "Hey, this kid can sing?"
David - I actually had to go on and audition. It seemed like the logical idea since I played guitar and was a singer - it seemed like a good idea (laughs). So I said, "Excuse me, you know I am a singer and I've been singing my whole life - I'd be happy to sing." So Screen Gems owned a record company called Dell Records and they hired Wes Ferrell and he was going to produce the stuff and I had to take my guitar in and go audition for him.
Buzz - Your fan club was larger than The Beatles' and Elvis'. That had to be immensely overwhelming at times.
David - It was overwhelming in many ways. I worked 18 hours a day and on the weekends I'd go out and play concerts all over the place. It was a complete and total investment in your career - no life, just work. It certainly paid off and I am forever grateful for it and the people who have been fans of mine for that many years and still are. It's just been an amazing journey for me.
Buzz - Your life's story has been an inspiration to many because despite your massive success, you also hit some rough patches in which a lot of people would have called it quits, but you somehow got it together and rebounded continued forward...
David - My father [Jack Cassidy] said something to me before he passed away. He said, "The only thing that has been consistent for the last 20 centuries is talent - talent's the only thing that survives. If you got it - and you got it - don't EVER give up. You might get discouraged but talent will survive." Therefore, I always hung onto that. I knew it was important when he said it to me, but I had no idea - and he was right. Witness Brittany Spears...
Buzz - That's a very good analogy...
David - Well, there are many, but she's just one of the latest. I'd just love to see her perform with just a guitar and microphone...
Buzz - I think a lot of people might see you and say, "Hey great, he gets to go out and play concerts all the time and be on TV..." But there's a lot of pressure tied to that isn't there?
David - I'm here to tell you, to travel now and what it takes to get on the stage - it's a lot more difficult for me now because of the world we live in - going through the airports and driving and flying...I just did 18 shows in 21 days from the U.K to here. I'm off now for a couple of weeks and I don't think I ever needed it as much as I need it now. But I felt great today. I've had like four days off and I feel remarkably well.
Buzz - Do you put your schedule together yourself?
David -Yeah...more or less. I decide what I want to do, and obviously my agent comes and brings me offers...There are places I really enjoy going back to. But I'm really looking forward to playing the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. I've talked to my agent about playing theatres like that in Chicago...
Buzz - You won't be disappointed, it's a very nice theatre. You have a book that just came out called "Could it Be Forever?" Now, you had a book come out 15 years ago called "C'mon Get Happy" that was kind of a tell all...
David - This one's way more in-depth - oh yeah! You know, I wanted to give people the inside as to where I come from, who I am, and how I got here. And this is as honest and as real on going through the experiences in my life. People have always been fascinated with it - I don't know why. I wanted people to get it and hear it from the horse's mouth and apparently people are interested...
Buzz - Of course people are interested, since you are such a giant piece in our pop culture...and you're living and breathing it.
David - Yeah, I realize that and it's a very wonderful thing to be. It's a great connection to have with so many millions of people around the planet. I appreciate it now more than I ever have.
Buzz - I know you are really into horses and own horses. Have you ever raced at Arlington?
David - I never have, but know Richard Duchossois who owns it. He's a fantastic guy - a wonderful human being. I was at Arlington when they started the Arlington Million and it had burnt down and he rebuilt it. I haven't been back since and I would love to come back.
Buzz - But it's nothing compared to Saratoga, huh? That's such a classic place.
David - No, I heard it actually the finest facility in North America. I have not been since it's been rebuilt. Saratoga has it's own ambience built in the 1800's and it's very, very much like a country atmosphere.
Buzz: Yeah, it's more romantic.
David: -You know, it's got a different vibe to it for sure. But having not been, I look forward to sometime coming and I race pretty much exclusively on the East Coast so...
Buzz - Sure. What are some of the things about horse racing that really, uh, excites you? Is it hanging with the horses? Is it the winning and losing? Is it the breeding? What do you dig about it?
David - To describe it to you - I've been passionate about horses my whole life. I am actively as a business in terms of breeding and racing. I do love being with them. I do love being able to create, through my own management, a sports franchise -
Buzz: Your own team!
David- - Because I can't afford to own the New York Yankees, I can only afford to do it on my scale. I hire the trainer, I develop the athletes themselves. I decide which ones I'm going to keep and which ones I'm gonna sell. You know it becomes strategically fascinating. I think that's my passion -is definitely, I love the game. There's nothing more exciting as when you breed your own horses and see them win at the top level. It's a pretty fantastic thing.
Buzz - Do you ever get to feel like they're like your pets?
David - No. No, you can't do that. You have to treat it like a business. I mean, I love them and I treat them as well as any owner can possible treat them. I mean Barbaro touched millions and millions of people and it's a great thing that it brought a lot of attention to it. I mean if you become fascinated with horse racing from like in my lifetime Secretariat or great horses like that they tend to capture people's imagination and that's always a good thing bringing attention to it.
Buzz - Before you go, I just want to give you a really big compliment. I don't know if many of our readers know what a great actor you are -
David: Oh thank you.
Buzz: They all know what a great singer you are. I think you are one of the great singers of our generation.
David - Thank you Kim, I appreciate that.
Buzz - I saw you on a videotape of "Blood Brothers" that a fan sent us and I just want to tell you that even I didn't even know what a great actor you were until I saw you in that show with Shawn - You not only mastered the accent - you were able to do drama- which is difficult- and comedy...and transform yourself physically into different age ranges. It was just amazing. You're a really, really talented actor; I hope you get to do more things like that, that stretch you.
David - Oh thank you Kim. I appreciate that. I would love to do more, but my dance card is kind of full. Hopefully, someday I will have a chance to go back and maybe work in the theatre on Broadway again. Anyway, it's been great talking to you two. You guys take it easy and have a great day.
