December 2001: www.tahoe.com (Nevada)

Actor, singer, TV star, heart-throb and all-around entertainer David Cassidy will start the holiday season at Harrah's Reno with a performance in Sammy's Showroom on Dec. 14 at 9 p.m.

Cassidy has had one of the most extraordinary careers in the entertainment business.

Hailing from a family of actors - mother Evelyn Ward and father Jack Cassidy - David was fated to become a performer and a star from an early age.

In 1970, Cassidy first found TV fame and national celebrity when he starred with his stepmother, Shirley Jones, in the successful "The Partridge Family." The show made Cassidy a teen-age idol to America's youth, with his face gracing the covers of magazines around the world and his music consistently topping the pop charts.

By age 21, Cassidy was the world's highest paid solo live performer and his fan club was the most popular anywhere on Earth, exceeding those of both Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

In 1996, Cassidy and his family moved to Las Vegas, where he not only starred in the MGM Grand's $75 million extravaganza "EFX," but also brought it to sold-out audiences for more than two years.

Cassidy will perform at 9 p.m. in Sammy's Showroom at Harrah's Reno. Tickets are $29.95. For reservations, call (800)-HARRAHS.

Today at the Riviera, a full orchestra and gospel choir provide the backup for "The Colors of Christmas," starring such voices of pop past as Sheena Easton, Michael McDonald, Oleta Adams and Peabo Bryson.

If you can't quite remember what each singer's claim to fame was, here's a reminder.

McDonald, a former Doobie Brother, staked out a 1980s solo career with the hits "On My Own" and "I Keep Forgettin'."

Easton, of "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" and "U Got the Look" fame, finished a summer run at the Las Vegas Hilton after sharing the stage with David Cassidy in the Rio production "At the Copa."

Adams sang "Get Here" in the early 1990s. And Bryson might best be remembered for his 1992 duet with Regina Belle, "A Whole New World."

Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $50 for general admission at the hotel's Royale Pavilion, 2901 Las Vegas Blvd. South, or charge by phone at 794-9433. VIP packages also are available. (by Doug Elfman)

They were our first loves. We kissed their posters on our bedroom walls and dreamed that one daythey woul be ours... But how have our teen idols aged? And do we still fancy them?

David Cassidy Actor/singer, 51 Distinguishing features: Long windswept locks. Claim to fame: Then: The heart-throb of his time (only Donny Osmond was a serious rival). Cassidy got his first taste of fame as Keith Partridge in TV's The Partridge Family, about a cosy middle-class family who were in a pop band. With his obvious musical talent, it was only a matter of time before fiction became reality.But no one expected him to be that big.      "One moment I was a jobbing actor, the next a teenage idol. It was very, very intense. I used to speak a lot with John Lennon about the craziness of it all." Now: By 1974, the bubble had burst. Attempts to rebuild a more adult pop career didn't exactly take off. Nor did his TV show David Cassidy, Man Undercover, which had a short run between 1978 and 1979. He has recently revived his music career with new album Then and Now - No. 48 at this writing. Darkest hour: The May 1974 concert in White City, London, which ended in disastrous rush to the stage. Dozens of fans were hospitalised and a 14-year-old girl with an existing heart condition died from overexcitement in the stalls. Disillusioned, Cassidy quit pop to find another way.

GORGEOUS RATING
Then: The prettiest boy of them all. At the height of his fame, Cassidy created such a frenzy of female lust whenever he went, he became too much of a security risk for many.

"The first time I came to London to tour in 1973, I was warned before I arrived that no hotel would take me, because at one point there were literally 10,000 girls standing in the street in Park Lane. So I rented a boat in the Thames - even then the girls were jumping into the water to get to it.

"The BBC wouldn't let me into their studios either, because they were afraid of a riot. Instead, I had to fly in from LA, sing live for Top of the Pops on an airfield in Heathrow, then jump back on the plane and fly back to LA."

Now: Not bad for 51; he still has his own hair, even if it isn't those gorgeous long locks of old. Happily married for 11 years to Sue with a son, Beau, 10.

YOU'RE SO VAIN?
"No, not at all. I was never like that. For me, it was always about the work. I had so many fans who were supportive and loving, I really felt a great responsibility to be everything to them.

"I was never the most handsome man that walked the earth..." Some of us would be inclined to disagree.

VERDICT
The most handsome man (or should that be boy?) to walk the earth.
 

Karen Pasquali Jones, 35, from London, deputy editor of REAL "David Cassidy was my first love. I was seven when I first saw him on The Partridge Family and I thought he was the most beautiful man ever. I would pester my mum to buy anything David Cassidy-related; records, annuals, T-shirts. I would even insist on reading the papers every day, so I wouldn't miss a thing written about him. I used to gaze up at this enormous poster of him in my bedroom and blow him a kiss. "He was just gorgeous, with that long hair and pretty face. I loved his American accent and the fact he introduced me to this other world. It was all so glamorous compared to my friends' obsession with the gritty Scottish band Bay City Rollers. "When David's new album came out this year, I surprised even myself when I remembered all the lyrics. Listening to him still makes me feel tingly."

Whatever happened to David Cassidy? The cute star of The Partridge Family was every teenage girl's pin-up in the 1970s and, although he may not be staring down from many bedroom walls these days, he's still out there making music. He's a little older and wrinklier but aside from that, he's changed remarkably little.

"I have a passion for my work, that's why I do it," says the singer who has just released an album, called Then and Now and played a series of live shows in the UK. "It's not for the fame and money. Once you've had them, they're not important."

Fame means nothing, says David, unless you have peace and happiness in your life. And he's been fortunate enough to find both those things with his wife, Sue, and son, Beau (10), who live with him in Las Vegas.

David met Sue at the height of his fame and started going out with her secretly. "It was madness to get to me back then," he recalls. "Through alleyways, changing cars and all that."

The affair fizzled out but, years later, Sue contacted David again through his lawyer. The pair, who were in their mid-thirties by then, had dinner and that was that.

"We've been together 15 years," smiles David. "Sue's the best person you'd ever want to meet. There's a saying that's a good way of judging people at gut level - 'Would you climb a mountain with them'. You'd climb a mountain with her."

At 51, David is more than a little obsessed with keeping his good looks and boyish figure.

"I'd hate to be fat," he admits. "I couldn't do it. I'm very conscious of how I look and I'll tell you why. I get compared to the way I used to look all the time. And no one at 51 can look the way they did at 21. People do it because the image was so strong, and the fame so big, TV, magazines, posters - I was marketed. It's impossible to live up to that."

Still, David tries. He follows a strict low-fat diet, no alcohol and the odd square of dark chocolate as a treat. He used to run eight kilometres a day, six days a week but then his knees gave out so now he burns off energy doing his stage shows.

Aside from music his passionis thoroughbred flat racing.

"I raise horses, breed them and race them," he explains. "I own them, I sell them, I buy them. I've been in the business for 25 years and I've been fairly successful."

And while he looks back fondly on those years of extraordinary fame, David certainly doesn't miss them. "It was an abnormal five years. An isolated world behind security guards. there were a lot of women but the majority of my fans were too young. I wasn't interested in teenage girls. In fact, my wife is a year older than me."

Many of those fans still buy his albums and go to his shows and, for that, David is profoundly grateful.

"I find as I get older, I appreciate everything far more - how incredibly fortunate I am to have people care about me, after all these years and to have had an impact on their lives."

What do you get when you cross the British Royal Family and the Partridge Family?

The true spirit of giving.

The Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and Partridge Family alum David Cassidy are reigning over a star-studded charitable campaign to help children here at home and throughout the world.

And their timing could not have been better: Many charities are feeling the sting of the economic downturn.

"Unfortunately, pre-existing human needs haven't gone away during this difficult year, and this is the traditional season for charitable giving," says Cassidy. "That's why my wife Sue and I are working to give a voice to children who might otherwise be at risk for being forgotten."

Sue Shifrin-Cassidy and her husband created KidsCharities.org in 1999 to help children caught in the midst of the war in Kosovo. Since that time, KidsCharities.org has expanded to become an umbrella of charities that benefit children who suffer from poverty, homelessness, and medical problems.

"The vision of this organization is that individuals can and do make a difference in the lives of real people," says Shifrin-Cassidy. "The amount of one's contribution isn't really the point. It's all about being involved in a direct way with helping others."

The Duchess of York is proud to have her charity, Chances for Children, Inc., included within KidsCharities.org. "In this new climate of fear and uncertainty, giving support to others shows compassion and optimism about the future," she says. "People need to know that there are many smaller charities, modest in size and resources, which do superb work delivering aid to those with an immediate and qualified need."

Chances for Children is devoted to children in the USA who are neglected, abused, abandoned, or who are affected by HIV/AIDS. "Our support is provided directly to those we find in need, " says Ferguson. "Most often, these children and families have absolutely no other recourse."

"The impressive response to Sept. 11 united people all over the world," says the Duchess. "And we should keep that spirit of goodwill alive through our continuous commitment to philanthropy."

Paulette V. Maehara, president and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), says that many charities typically receive between one-third and one half of all their donations during the holiday season.

"On the one hand, it's extraordinary that Americans donated nearly a billion and a half dollars in just two months," says Maehara. "But, as always, there are still needs that must be met. Children must be fed. Workers must be trained. Families need to be healed."

According to the AFP, the current recession may inhibit donations even more than the Sept. 11 events did. Groups hit hardest are the smaller social service, arts and environmental organizations.

"What we're seeing is most people are still giving, but that they are transferring their support to relief efforts," says Maehara. "And these same people are the smaller donors who are the lifeblood of local charities."

But the news on the charitable giving front is not all bleak. Some charities have experienced an increase in contributions. "Some of our members have reported donations increasing by more than 30%," says Maehara, "but this is by far the exception and not the rule."

"It all starts with one person helping another individual," says Cassidy. "We can't lose that crucial link we have to each other's lives. Not only are children and families seriously in need, but in a greater sense we will always need each other."

"A lot of people were immobilized after Sept. 11," says James Youniss, professor of psychology at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. "Even those not directly affected have become fearful and uncertain. The good news is that millions of Americans have found a surprising degree of healing through reconnecting with one another by various acts of volunteerism and giving."

And studies show that charitable giving or donating one's time to pitch in at a food bank or homeless shelter are actually good for your emotional and physical health.

"People can actually become ill through the stress of alienation from other human beings," says Charles Garfield, clinical professor of psychology at the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco.

"Research has shown that people who are disconnected from friends, family, and society in general are up to three times more prone to experience heart attacks than their more connected peers," says Garfield. "Social isolation and a feeling of a lack of purpose contribute to a host of conditions including migraines, hypertension, ulcers, anxiety reactions, and depression."

"The antidote to the stressors of modern life is often a simple matter of reaching out to others who are in pain," says Garfield. "It may seem counterintuitive, but our welfare is more a matter of our societal connective tissue than we realize."

"In the midst of pain and confusion, reaching out to others illuminates a capacity in people they wouldn't otherwise realize they had," adds Youniss.

Summing up the professional chorus is Joseph Ferrari, associate professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago. "Whether it is selfless or a matter of enlightened self-interest, giving of yourself to others ... is what humans truly thrive on. From the dawn of time, psychological and emotional survival has always been predicated on 'we', not 'me.'"

In that holiday spirit, David and Sue Cassidy and the Duchess of York wish us all the gift of understanding how our good deeds affect others, and what we truly mean to each other.

"KidsCharities is one-stop giving for one child and for children all over the world," says Shifrin-Cassidy. "And you fill yourself with the true spirit of humanity when give to those in need — especially during the holidays."

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