David Cassidy on the Web
David Cassidy croons at the Tropicana in AC
March 6, 2002
By Rita Charleston
For the Times
www.northeasttimes.com
David Cassidy, the multiplatinum recording artist and star of the 1970s hit television series The Partridge Family, will take center stage at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City on March 8 and 9 as part of his international concert tour, the first in many years.
Nobody was surprised when Cassidy decided to go into show business. After all, coming from a family of actors - mother Evelyn Ward and father Jack Cassidy - his fate as a performer was essentially sealed at a young age.
Cassidy was just out of his teens in 1970 when the television show he starred in - which, coincidentally, featured another family member, stepmother Shirley Jones - made him a superstar. By the end of that first year, the show produced the hit I Think I Love You, with Cassidy becoming a bigger recording star than his character, Keith Partridge.
Cassidy went on to grace the cover of every teen magazine in the world, and his No. 1-selling single garnered multiple Grammy nominations and won a Golden Apple Award.
Over the next five years, Cassidy's official fan club grew in membership to become the largest in history, exceeding those of Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
By the age of 21, Cassidy was the world's highest-paid performer, breaking box office records wherever he went. But, he admits, he was a young, impressionable guy who was not quite prepared for all the glory that came his way.
"You can never be. No one could ever be prepared for the kind of fame that I had. And, I guess, I was pretty naive about the business," Cassidy said.
"Today, people are much more savvy at a younger age than I was thirty-two years ago. Today, there's a lot of business involved in the making of music, and people should be prepared for that and get all the knowledge they can.
"My best advice to anyone thinking about going into the music business today," he said, "is to stay in school. Just be patient, because if you have the talent, it will still be there when you're out of college. It won't disappear at twenty-one or twenty-two.
Then you'll be much more emotionally ready to take advantage of fame if it does come your way."
As lead vocalist with the Partridge Family, Cassidy was responsible for several hit records. As a solo artist, he had five hit singles in addition to doing as many concert appearances as time would allow.
"I was working eighteen hours a day, with complete and total responsibility every moment of my life," he said. "I'd work a twelve-hour job during the day, then record at night. I worked every weekend, flying all over the United States, and, eventually, all over the world.
"I was making records for The Partridge Family and for myself. It was like having two full-time jobs seven days a week. Try doing that for four or five years, and you can understand the kind of pressure that I was under. It was just too much for one human being."
And so it finally came to a stop. Cassidy says he was burned out physically, mentally, emotionally and every other way.
"I just couldn't continue like that anymore. One part of my life was highly developed, but the other part of me wasn't. I had no time for a friendship or a relationship.
"And I think it's tremendously important for all human beings to be out there getting an education and learning to become men as opposed to becoming machines."
So Cassidy took a break from the business to become the man he longed to be. Eventually he married, had a son and then delved into other aspects of the performance business. He tried his hand at acting (earning an Emmy nomination as best dramatic actor on TV's Police Story).
Then he went on to Broadway, where he starred in the original production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, to London's West End in Time with Sir Laurence Olivier, and on to many other venues. He became a writer, a producer and a director.
And now, with the release of his first CD in years, Then and Now, Cassidy is back on the boards, touring once again. It's been a while, but he says he's glad to be back.
"In fact, when I get to Atlantic City, it will be the first time in two and a half years that I'll be bringing a new band with me," Cassidy said. "When we appear at the Tropicana, it will be the first two shows that we will ever do together as a band. I'm very excited about that."
He's also excited that his life is once again on the upswing.
"Yes," he conceded. "There have been the down times, serious down times, but I think everyone in their lifetime probably has those. You have to go through a certain amount of adversity to really appreciate life the way I do now. When you've been dealt such a fantastic hand as I have, I try never to complain. I don't think anyone who's been as blessed as I have has the right to do that.
"So I'm enjoying everything that comes my way today. I'm hoping to spend more time with my son, be very involved in his life and try to be what my father wasn't able to be for me," Cassidy said of his late father, who died in a fire.
"And I get to go around the world and bring light and laughter into people's lives. I have a wonderful family and wonderful career. What more could I ask for?"
For performance times and ticket information, call the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City at 1-800-736-1420.
