David Cassidy on the Web
Jackpot Exclusive: Q&A with David Cassidy
June 8, 2007
By Tricia Tomiyoshi
www.SacBee.com
You've heard the hits of ex-"Partridge Family" star David Cassidy, but never like this.
The former teen heartthrob's latest project features many of his classics with a fresh spin, courtesy of dance producer/arranger Craig J, famed for his dance re-mixes on songs by Madonna, Kelly Clarkson and Cher.
The end result is Cassidy's latest album, "David Cassidy Part II: The Remix," which is now available exclusively at Target stores.
"They're all completely new recordings, but we're also paying homage to the hits and the songs that people loved and grew up with," said Cassidy, 57. "I'm really proud of the fact that the music and its quality still holds up."
Cassidy will be performing many of these songs on Friday, June 15 at the Cache Creek Casino.
Click here for a sound sample of "David Cassidy Part II: The Remix."
Q: Tell me about the new album.
A: The album was really Craig J's idea. He came to me and said, "I'd like to attempt to do something completely different and I think the songs are fantastic." He started to play some stuff and in a minute, I said, "Okay. This is very cool."
For me, it's really a celebration for all the years I was away from playing the hits as a writer, producer, being on Broadway, being in theater, being in Vegas. I didn't play any of my own hits for 10 years. This will be the first time I'll do the new material and it's so different for me. It's much easier to learn something from scratch. To unlearn a song that's been in your head for 30 years is another story.
Q: So was this album more of a challenge?
A: It's much more of a challenge. I basically just became this singer again, which I haven't been in a long while. Having said that, it was a good idea because it was the first time I was on the cover of Billboard Magazine in 17 years. I think 99 percent of my fans' reaction has been overwhelmingly positively. There may be 1 or 2 percent that resent the fact that I'm not doing the songs exactly the way they heard them. But the songs are the songs and I haven't paid such homage to the songs. I have to somehow communicate the fact that there's nothing but love in it for me and there's a whole new audience that will be exposed to it in the next six months.
Q: What can we expect at your Cache Creek show?
A: I haven't been to Northern California in a long time and I will certainly look forward to doing that. I've had some fantastic shows up there. In Sacramento, I played in "Blood Brothers" in 1995 and I've been playing casinos and theaters all over the world since. After '95, I moved to Vegas for six years and did over 2,000 shows there so it's been a long time since I've sung my stuff and performed and frankly, I'm pretty excited about coming back with it.
I love the music, I love performing and I love to play. This is going to be a very unique show. I'm going to play live, as we all will, and we're also going to use some of the tracks that go with that, which could never have been done without Craig J's assistance and help. It's going to be pretty exciting.
For me, it's a wonderful thing to go out and play and still do what I love to do and that people still love to hear me and participate with me. Every show I do is different. I don't have any set pattern. I spend a lot of time talking and communicating during the show so it becomes an interactive experience.
Q: What is on your song list for the show?
A: Well, I went back to the very, very beginning. My first album had "I Can See Your Heartbeat" and "I Think I Love You," which was Record of the Year in 1970, the first No. 1 I had and the first album was triple platinum in the United States and so I started in the beginning and went through the first four or five Partridge Family albums and picked my favorite songs.
Then there are my solo hits with "Cherish," "Could It Be Forever." We're going to do some other things that people may have forgotten during the middle '70s, some songs I did when I was on RCA. I worked with Brian Wilson. I worked with Harry Nilsson, and I wrote with those guys so we'll do a couple of those songs. It's going to be fun.
Q: Who are your musical influences?
A: The first record I bought was "Mack the Knife" and I became a Bobby Darin fan when I was about 9 years old. I then got into Sinatra when my father was into those swing guys. Through the '60s as an early teen, it was certainly the Beatles and it evolved. I saw Hendrix four or five times. I saw Cream and Clapton. I saw B.B. King, The Doors. I saw Wilson Pickett and Marvin Gaye and in the 60s, you're exposed to all of that. They were all hits and they were all played on the same radio station. I never imagined that just because they were contemporaries or people that my contemporaries listened to - that 30 years later, they would still be the bar that everybody holds music to.
Q: How has the music business changed?
A: What really bothers me now about the music business and the radio business is that it's became so fragmented. People don't get exposed to anything but what the genre is. That's what, in many ways, has created such a void of originality in the music business. They are no longer looking for something different. From a corporate standpoint, they are searching for things that feel safe because there's already something else like it. It's already been marketed.
Q: Do you think it was easier to be a young star back then?
A: It's very difficult to compare now to then. Nothing can have the impact anymore because the media is so fragmented. For me, I was on TV. I was on radio. I was on the cover of all of the magazines. Back then, you had to get back in time to see the person or show that you liked and sit in front of the television set. It's a concept beyond having a cell phone or computer or the Internet. Now we can watch [celebrities] 24 hours a day streaming. You can watch people over and over again.
Q: You've been so involved with different facets of the entertainment business. Is there anything that you haven't done yet that you would still like to try?
A: I've toyed with it and had a couple of offers to be on the radio. To just do what I do and play the music that I love to play. I know a lot of great stories of yesteryear, as well as contemporary stuff going on. But it's too much of a time commitment and my family is here and I'm trying to give as much personal time to them now that I didn't when I was working for the last 10 to 15 years. It's been pretty non-stop. Other than maybe playing on the moon, I don't know if there's anything I still need to do or accomplish. I'd like to go back and do a Broadway show before I pass away. I've done three of those and one that I wrote and produced that I'd like to take to New York again. And so I will probably be able to do that in the next few years, I hope.
Q: Do you have a message for your Sacramento fans?
A: Come be prepared to scream and shout and sweat and knock yourself out. And I think I love you.
David Cassidy
WHEN: Friday, June 15 at 9 p.m.
WHERE: Cache Creek Casino, 14455 Highway 16, Brooks
TICKETS: $35-$45
INFORMATION: (888) 77-CACHE or www.davidcassidy.com
