David Cassidy on the Web
Still traveling along, with a song
Forty years later, David Cassidy's love of music as strong as ever
August 21, 2011
By Adam White
http://boomersandseniorsexpo.com
From television star to teen idol and beyond, David Cassidy's life has been what he calls "an amazing journey" – with music as his constant companion.
Cassidy will aim to take audience members on a similar journey when he takes the stage at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston as part of the New England Boomers and Seniors EXPO on Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. Cassidy said fans can expect a high-energy act, which he says is his way of paying them back for four decades of support.
"I put everything I have in my body into every show," Cassidy said. "Never once, in my 40 years of doing this, have I mailed in or walked through a show. Too many people have given too much to help make my life so incredible; I would be cheating all of them – and myself – if I didn't put all my heart into my performances."
The set list for the Boston show will feature not only Cassidy's best-known songs, but also covers that spotlight the many influences that helped shape him as an entertainer.
"I have been blessed to have seen and played with some amazing musicians throughout my life and career," Cassidy said. "Growing up in the late 1960s in Los Angeles, it was just a fantastic time to be a music fan – and I developed a love of music that I think comes through every time I perform."
Indeed, a list of Cassidy's lifetime experiences in music reads like some sort of comprehensive rock-and-roll history book. He was on hand for two of the most famous performances in American rock history: the Doors' debut concert at the Whisky A Go-Go on Sunset Strip in 1966 (Cassidy went to school with Doors drummer John Densimore's brother), and Cream's legendary Santa Monica Civic Center show two years later, where Eric Clapton and company recorded their iconic live version of the song "Crossroads."
"I was lucky enough to be at some amazing shows," Cassidy said. "I saw Jimi Hendrix four times; Buffalo Springfield played my high school auditorium."
But it was two shows early in his life that set Cassidy on the path to stardom. The first was when his mother, Evelyn Ward, took him to see his father, revered stage actor Jack Cassidy, perform when David was three years old. During the car ride home, David first proclaimed that he would follow in his father's footsteps and become an actor.
Ten years later, Cassidy was among the 73 million viewers who tuned in to watch the Beatles' immortal first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
"The next day, I went out and bought my first electric guitar," Cassidy said.
But even Cassidy himself could not have imagined where the first notes on that six-string would eventually lead him. Fast-forwarding a decade or so, he recalled a cold winter evening in New York City in which his emulation of the Beatles and their music came full-circle.
"It was New Year's Eve, and John Lennon came over to my house at about one o'clock in the morning," Cassidy said. "We were both halfway smashed, and we started playing some Beatles songs together; I got to play Paul [McCartney's] parts. John couldn't remember how some of the songs went, so I had to show him."
The Beatles' influence has remained throughout Cassidy's musical career. He had a big hit in Europe with his cover of "Please Please Me," and is known to include other Lennon-penned tunes such as "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "In My Life" in his live act.
Other covers that appear on Cassidy's set list range from rockers like Deep Purple's "Hush" to bluesy numbers like Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine." Cassidy is even known to put down his Fender Stratocaster guitar and climb behind the drum kit when band mate Teri Coté takes over lead vocal duties on the Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket."
"When I was in garage bands as a teenager, I started out as a drummer," Cassidy said.
But of course, Cassidy's live performances shine brightest when he is belting out the songs that helped make him the highest-paid solo concert performer by the age of 21. "I Woke Up in Love," "I Think I Love You," and of course, the smash "C'mon, Get Happy," from his days on the TV show The Partridge Family never fail to bring the house down.
"I have seen him more times than I can remember," said fan Diana Paris, who caught her first glimpse of Cassidy when she watched the Partridge Family as a 10-year-old growing up in Wyoming. "It brings me back to the utopia of being 10 years old. He was the epitome of perfect first love, and I still love him today."
Despite residing now in Las Vegas, Paris didn't hesitate to snatch up front-row seats for Cassidy's concert at the New England Boomers and Seniors EXPO in Boston. She said the reason for such loyalty is Cassidy's ability to reach out and bring his fans along on his musical journey.
"Other artists of that time frame don't connect with their audience," Paris said. "[Cassidy's] fans love that he allows you to connect with him. He looks at you, and smiles at you … he enjoys his fans being happy."
That same charisma and charm that brought Cassidy television fame carried over to record-breaking concert sales, including a run of six straight sellouts at England's Wembley Stadium that even the Rolling Stones couldn't top.
And though Cassidy famously tried to distance himself from his teenybopper image with his controversial "Naked Lunch Box" interview in Rolling Stone magazine in 1972 – insisting he was more Keith Richards than Keith Partridge – he now acknowledges that his role on the show was a vital step in his journey as an entertainer.
"I would not have been able to live the life I have had it not been for the Partridge Family," Cassidy said. "I understand how fortunate I have been, to have this gift of being able to lift people up and bring light into their lives. It's not something I take for granted."
Cassidy is looking forward to the concert at the Boomers and Seniors EXPO because of the makeup of the audience it will likely draw.
"These are people who have grown up with me," he said. "And back when I was on the Partridge Family, it was a time when families would sit down and watch TV together – especially family shows like that one. Those parents who used to watch the show with their kids also come to my concerts."
Now 60 years old, Cassidy also recognizes that his age group makes up the largest single segment of the population, and that he has an opportunity not only to entertain them, but to address an age-related issue that hits close to home for him.
"My mother suffers from severe dementia, and has been under constant care for the last eight years," Cassidy said. "I am her only living relative, and it is something that is very painful for me. I know that a lot of other people are dealing with similar things, so part of my message is that we're all in this together."
Tickets for David Cassidy's concert at the New England Boomers and Seniors EXPO in Boston on Oct. 29 can be obtained online atwww.boomersandseniorsexpo.com or by calling (802) 872-9000, ext. 18. The EXPO is produced by Williston Publishing & Promotions, which also produces the Vermont 50-Plus & Baby Boomers EXPO and publishes Vermont Maturity Magazine.
