TVGuide (USA)

From Hair to Eternity - David Cassidy (Partridge Family)

Peruse any junior or high school yearbook from the 1970s and you'll see photos aplenty of gender-friendly variations of the blow-dried feathered shag, in which hair was cropped close to the end, leaving longer, wispy pieces at the sides and the nape of the neck. Hairstylist Paul McGregor may be credited with inventing the "Shag" in 1965, but it became the cut du jour onscreen thanks to TV-hottie Keith Partridge, the eldest male/frontman in The Partridge Family's (1970-1974) musical nest. The look was further perpetuated by Keith's offscreen alter ego, David Cassidy. Few singing TV idols made more 'tween and teen girls' hearts race into hormonal overdrive as he did, with ballads like "I Think I Love You." Well, maybe one… and he wore a shag, too — Donny Osmond.

What hair texture is suited for this style?
Elliott recommends straight hair for Cassidy's shag.

Is it easy to maintain at home?
"It depends on how long it takes you to master the feather — probably not long at all." Elliott prefers "laminates gel to tame frizz and add shine and body."

Cultural impact:
"I guess it's rebellious with the long hair," Elliott muses. "But feathered? With bangs?"

Don't do the 'do...
unless you want to be mocked by your peers.

Comments:
"Try to pull off the whole look if you are going to do it. Do it right with bell-bottoms and pointy, colored shirts. Maybe striped knee-high sweat socks."

The producers of "The Rat Pack Is Back" may not have to be as coy about their product, after last week's decision by U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson that the families of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. don't control the phrase "Rat Pack."

If there's no appeal of Dawson's decision, future advertising might be a little more descriptive about the show that salutes the Rat Pack's stage antics, said attorney Mark Tratos, who represents the shows producers, entertainer David Cassidy and his partner Don Reo.

But don't look for photos of the late entertainers to show up in the ads. A state law passed in 1989 gives local entertainers the right to impersonate the legends onstage, but still protects "an individual's right of publicity in name, voice, signature, photograph or likeness" for 50 years after death.

Jackie Brett, who oversees marketing and advertising for the Sahara show, said "we'll see what our perimeters are" after more than a year and a half of playing it safe with photos featuring empty bar stools.

Dawson's summary judgment also reveals that the litigants had their own plans for a "Rat Pack" show and had been dealing with none other than The Venetian, which of course was responsible for the destruction of the original Rat Pack's home, the Sands.

A request for a $2 million advance was the deal-breaker for The Venetian show, according to the judgment. ... (Mike Weatherford's entertainment column)

It's a business-traveler's hotel, just off the interstate exit in a West Palm Beach industrial-park. It's the last place you'd expect to find America's leading heartthrob, circa 1972.

But there he is, David Cassidy, the man known to millions as Keith Partridge in The Partridge Family, the television sitcom that brought him fame and fortune. It's a role he's spent much of the last three decades trying to live down, building a new life as a Broadway star, Vegas showman and concert act (he plays the Kravis Center on Friday).

Still, if you're David Cassidy, you can't hide from history, even in this sterile setting. A case in point: The one-time pop poster boy has checked in under an assumed name to protect his identity, presumably from crazed fans.

Within a few minutes, he's sitting down in the hotel lobby for a lengthy interview covering his pending move to South Florida, his passion for breeding thoroughbred horses, his first encounter with blues legend B.B. King and his thoughts on the events of Sept. 11. He seems grateful that it's taken almost 30 minutes to bring up his Partridge past.

"It's usually the first question," he says with noticeable relief. In a way, it's a subject he's tried to avoid by addressing it through other mediums, including a tell-all autobiography, a VH1 Behind the Music documentary and a made-for-television movie chronicling his life's story.

"And you know what that did?" he says, half jokingly and half in frustration. "It inspired everybody to ask me more questions."

Yet he knows the public's fascination with his past, perhaps even recognizes that it's what makes him a commodity to this day. "It was never, `Don't talk me to about it,' " Cassidy says. But he's just as insistent that it was merely one chapter of a life -- and an overblown one at that.

"Imagine this: I'm a musician and an actor and I get a job," he recalls of his Partridge Family run from 1970 to 1974. "They cast me where I'm playing a character much younger than myself. I'm in my dressing room, playing Hendrix, the Beatles, Clapton, B.B. King and all that stuff. Then, they would go, `We're doing scene 27.' I would put on my crushed velvet and sing songs that were crafted for that. And they were making millions and millions of dollars on the marketing and merchandising of this stuff.

"It wasn't like I didn't like what I was doing. It was great pop stuff. But you go, `I want you to know something. There's this, too,' " he says, referring to his interest rock and R&B. "And they didn't want to hear about that."

Jump ahead three decades and Cassidy says he's finally living the life he always intended to live, one devoted to family (he's traveling with the 10-year-old son from his third marriage) and horses (he breeds them in Florida and races them up and down the East Coast). But it's also a life centered on making the kind of music he wants, with an emphasis on everything from soul stalwarts Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding to Rat Pack legends like Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.

Oh, the former heartthrob will still sing some Partridge-era favorites; he even rerecorded I Think I Love You and a few others on his last album, the appropriately titled Old Trick New Dog. But the bubble-gum pop star, whose fan-club membership once surpassed that of the Beatles and Elvis Presley, has given way to a 51-year-old entertainer who's equal parts rocker and lounge lizard, reflecting his varied musical influences.

"I know I'm much better than I was at 17," says Cassidy. "What I do is (bring) 30 years of theater and working with audiences to the stage. People ask me why I don't do more television. The reason I don't is because I choose this."

And yet, the breathless adoration from fans seems to be the engine that drives the train. There's a lot about Cassidy, whose boyish face is starting to reveal a few hints of age, that's refreshingly down-to-earth: He could probably afford to stay at a more expensive hotel, but he's candid enough to admit that he chose it for the sake of convenience.

At the same time, Cassidy still exudes the air of a celebrity, a man who wears sunglasses indoors to hide his identity, even if it's unlikely anyone in the lobby is about to ask him for an autograph.

And he's clearly publicity conscious: Why else would he personally show up to plug a concert nearly two weeks early?

True, he has a winter house in Fort Lauderdale -- his wife, songwriter Sue Shifrin-Cassidy, was born and raised in Miami -- and he has horses in Ocala. But one suspects he'd make a trip almost anywhere for the sake of an interview. His Web site, www.davidcassidy.com, touts any upcoming newspaper stories.

The bottom line: Being David Cassidy can't be an easy thing -- and he seems to forever be trying to reconcile his former fame with his current status. Cassidy can boast of having 18 gold and platinum albums, but admits he had to release Old Trick New Dog on his independent label because the major outfits weren't interested.

At the same time, he's pleased with his post-Partridge success on Broadway (he starred in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Blood Brothers, the latter with brother -- and fellow former teen idol -- Shaun) and Vegas (he's headlined and/or produced a handful of successful casino shows). And though the records don't sell as easily -- except in England, where Cassidy seems to have the same curious fame accorded Jerry Lewis in France -- they still sell.

"My last album had a hit on it," says Cassidy, referring to a song called No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross. "I had the highest-charting independent single on the Adult Contemporary charts."

Cassidy's current tour -- he's playing dates everywhere from England to the Arizona State Fair -- is his first major attempt in more than a decade to see whether his act will play beyond Vegas. And he's complementing it with a new album, Then and Now, due for release this year (it's already a big seller in England). He admits that touring is a special challenge after the events of Sept. 11, a tragedy that hit close to him since Cassidy was born and raised in New York and lost a friend in the World Trade Center collapse.

His first dates after the incident took place in New Orleans on Sept. 21--22 and he thought seriously about canceling -- until the idea occurred to him to turn it into a benefit for the victims. "They were two of the most incredible concerts I've ever done," he says, noting how he ended the shows with an a cappella rendition of the national anthem.

The performances raised more than $1 million and Cassidy is planning to continue in that vein by donating a portion of the Kravis proceeds to charity.

But Cassidy's life extends beyond his role as an entertainer. Noting his well-chronicled difficult relationship with his late father, actor Jack Cassidy, he says he tries to devote as much time as possible to his son, Beau. "I learned how to be a really good dad from my dad, because he did nothing. I promise I'll be there, because he was never there," says Cassidy, who also has a daughter from a previous marriage. In the process, he says, "I can do a lot of healing myself."

And there's also the time Cassidy devotes to his horses, a passion since childhood. He isn't permitted to ride them because of the inherent risks -- "If I break my leg or arm, I can't show up and do what I do. It's an occupational hazard" -- but he does take an active role in training and breeding them. And occasionally he gets to put his musical talents to use, too: He'll sing the national anthem at the next Breeders' Cup, one of the biggest events on the thoroughbred calendar.

If all goes according to plan, Cassidy will leave Vegas and make South Florida his permanent home in the next few years, partly because it will afford him better access to his horses and to some of the country's best tracks. "The racing down here is wonderful," he says, noting Gulfstream Park in particular. Besides, he argues, if he concentrates more on the road than on Vegas, it really doesn't matter where he's based. And South Florida, he adds, "is like paradise. I understand why people want to live here."

But, for now, paradise will have to wait: Cassidy has to catch a plane to attend to some more business before he returns to West Palm for the Kravis date. He thanks you again for not boring him with the usual Partridge Family questions. Then, he puts on his shades and heads back to his hotel room to pack. The show must go on.

It's been more than 25 years since The Partridge Family first aired, but David Cassidy is still singing, touring and getting asked: What is your favorite food?   Former teen heartthrob David Cassidy, still best known to some as television's Keith Partridge, rolls in to perform hits from his solo career, his hit shows on Broadway and in Las Vegas and, of course, The Partridge Family. From a tour bus, on his way to see his race horses in Ocala, Cassidy, 51, tackles 10 Pressing Questions about world peace, doughnuts and nutty TV sibling Danny Bonaduce.

   (1) On a television talk show this morning you discussed the terrorism of Sept. 11, mentioning the peace and love messages of the 1960s. How is that resonating with you now?

   I was brought up in an era that promoted those values. It was about people's rights and personal freedom. I think it was spawned from a sense of, "We don't want to go and blow each other up. We want to try to promote brotherhood and love." All of the things that people in the 1980s and 1990s sort of scoffed at, like, "Oh, isn't that lightweight?"

   Well, suddenly we've had a very rude and horrifying awakening. Now, as we have gone through something that none of us could imagine, suddenly the values that were promoted by that generation don't seem so hokey.

   (2) If David Cassidy and Keith Partridge were in the same bar trying to pick up the same woman, who would win?

   Well, Keith would be way too concerned about his hair. (laughs.) The comedy of the character, for me, was to make Keith an airhead. I was also making fun of myself. Self-deprecation is really important. I tried to be the brunt of the jokes. It felt good to make people laugh.

   (3) Which was the show's silliest episode?

   On one show we had been sold down the river by either Reuben (Kincaid, the band's manager) or Danny -- it's been so long, I can't remember -- we had been railroaded into doing a television commercial or we were going to get sued. The Partridges had to do something for this chicken company. We had to wear chicken costumes. We were all sitting around the living room, pissed off. Keith had a line, (in character, annoyed) "Hmm, here we are -- six lunks in chicken suits. Perfect."

   Any time life gets really bad, you gotta go, "Here we are, six lunks in chicken suits."

   (4) Describe to an ordinary person what it's like to have your image on so many lunch boxes.

   (Laughs.) I can't actually articulate what that feels like. But, ahh, they sold millions of them. Today I saw something I had never seen before: a View Master toy of the Partridge Family, in pristine condition . . . I signed it for the person. I said, "I want you to hold on to this. If things get bad, this is the kind of memorabilia that goes for a fortune, because it's rare. Someday you can put your kid through college with this."

   (5) How many times a week do you hear the phrase, "You were my first crush!"?

   I hear it often enough. But, I also hear, "You're the reason I became a musician, or an actor." That's still very significant to me. I get it back from people all the time. I'm very grateful for that.

   You probably never wake up and feel like an ugly old slob, with women constantly saying that.

   Well, I never want to think of myself as an ugly old slob, no (laughs). But honestly, I do the work. That's what has always driven me.

   (6) You co-wrote a successful musical, The Rat Pack Is Back, that's still playing in Vegas. Do you have a soft spot in your heart for that era?

   It's set in 1961, a very significant year for me. I was 11 years old, in New York and on my way to California. My dad (late actor Jack Cassidy), wasn't around a lot, but, when I was with him, he was big time into Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. Bobby Darin was the thing we both agreed upon. That era for me was the coolest era ever.

   (7) What's your favorite kind of doughnut?:

   I don't eat doughnuts. Never. (Violently) In fact, I hate doughnuts. I hate them. Doughnuts make me sick.

   Whoa, okay, your favorite food?

   Oh, come on. People don't want to know that s--. I did all that. I can't remember (laughs). Believe me, when I was 19: "What's your favorite drink? What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food?" I can't remember what I said . . . (finally) All right, raw clams and oysters. Sex food.

   (8) Tell me about the horses in Ocala.

   They're in training. Then they'll go on to New York to race. Hopefully, they'll run well, then come down to race in Gulfstream (Park, in south Florida). Horses are my other passion. I love racing. I've been a fan since I was a little tiny boy. I used to ride all the time.

   (9) Are you still tight with Danny Bonaduce?

   We're not tight, but I see him. He's a very funny guy. He's out of his mind. He's doing really well. He's on morning radio in Los Angeles. I played the Greek Theater in July. Danny asked me to be on his show, and I did. We had a wonderful time.

   I saved his life, he'll tell you. When he got busted for buying crack, he got fired from a radio station. He was in jail -- this was 10 years ago. I called his parole officer and offered him an opportunity to go out and do standup. He had never done it. He opened up for me on the last concert tour I did. He was fantastic.

   He says I saved his life. I felt he deserved a second chance, and God bless him, he's gotten it.

   (10) Do you have a favorite holiday?

   I'd have to say the Fourth of July. Because of all the times when I was a kid. The summertime has always been my favorite time of year. It represents the outside, and being free and happy. I remember the summers as a kid growing up around New York.

   Picnics and barbecues?

   All that stuff, just hanging out with my friends. I was happy. I think a lot of what we draw from is what we grew up with, all of us. To me, that was the happiest holiday of the year.

When David Cassidy begins an interview by saying he can't wait to get it over with so he can end the day, you brace yourself.

This is the guy, after all, who's spent the better part of his life trying to distance himself from the squeaky-clean image of Keith Partridge, the shaggy-maned heartthrob on "The Partridge Family," a squeaky-clean television show about a squeaky-clean family band.

The past few years have seen a resurgence in Cassidy's popularity, sparked in no small part by a slew of television bios that dig up dirt on the Partridge clan. In all of them, Cassidy is portrayed as a talented musician who had a yearning for Jimi Hendrix but was instead forced to play sugary pop for four years, until finally quitting the series in 1974.

In the ensuing decades, as he fought to remove the sticky bubblegum residue from his name, he gained a reputation for being sensitive about his past.

So you brace yourself for a cranky David Cassidy - and you're pleasantly surprised that it never comes. Instead, he's gracious, funny and even willing to revisit the old Partridge Family lore.

What gives"

"I was never uncomfortable with the Partridge Family," Cassidy said recently at the end of an all-day series of press and radio interviews in Clearwater. "I was never uncomfortable with the fact that it had a tremendous impact and was so successful. I just didn't want to be a nostalgia act. I wanted to go on and have a present, have a front (ended) career.

"And it took me a long time to create that, to where people recognized me for my talent as opposed to this demi-god. I wanted to create other work. I wanted to do other things to express myself artistically and creatively."

Perhaps it's because Cassidy's been able to accomplish those goals, in both music and theater, that he's grown more at ease with his teen idol past. He's just released a new CD in the U.K., "Then and Now," for which he recorded a few new tracks and rerecorded some of his old hits. (The CD entered the U.K. charts at No. 7, and is slated for a U.S. release in early 2002.) He's taking a break from his busy theater schedule in Las Vegas to embark on his first concert tour in a decade, performing songs that encompass his entire career.

"I went on my Web site (www.davidcassidy.com, and asked fans to give me the top five requests of songs they'd like me to do," he said. "I was pretty fascinated by the results. 'Cherish' was by far the No. 1 most requested song, I guess because I hadn't done it in so many years. I was kind of surprised by that. Two of the top five were on my last CD, 'Old Trick, New Dog,' which was out in '98. I was surprised by that as well.

"I guess that's what it takes now to have a sustained career, that people like the work you do now as well as the work you did back then. I'm sure it's no different for Eric Clapton or Elton John."

When Cassidy said goodbye to Keith Partridge, he did so at the peak of his popularity. He had almost single-handedly revived the teen idol format from the midst of acid rock, a path that Donny Osmond, Leif Garrett and even Cassidy's half-brother, Shaun, were able to walk until punk made it uncool again.

When he re-emerged, there were the inevitable failures, like the short-lived television series, "David Cassidy - Man Undercover." He finally hit pay dirt when he once again combined his two loves: singing and acting.

This time, the conduit wasn't television, but theater. Cassidy starred in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" on Broadway, co-starred in "Blood Brothers" with Shaun in New York, and produced, wrote and starred in "At the Copa" with Sheena Easton at the Rio in Vegas. In 1990, he went back in the recording studio and scored his first Top 30 pop hit in 18 years, "Lyin' to Myself."

All this activity has introduced him to a new generation of fans.

"The fans who were kids in the '70s, their kids are into it now, and it's really wild," Cassidy said. "Today, I must have had 50 people come up to me and say, 'I saw you in 'Blood Brothers,' I saw you in Vegas, I saw you in this and that.' So it's really about the work. If you keep doing good work, that's where careers are built.

"That's why I prefer to work live and in the theater, because the experience for me is so much more gratifying... I come out and make it up as I go, depending on how I feel that night. It has a very spontaneous feel to it, always. That way, I never get stale."

Cassidy's current theater project is "The Rat Pack is Back," a musical written by Don Reo that he's co-producing and directing. Set at the Sahara casino in 1961, the play is an homage to the men who were the epitome of Vegas cool.

Cassidy doesn't act in it, except for an occasional cameo as Bobby Darin, so he's free to explore other pursuits, like touring and recording. He admits that his workload sometimes rivals that of the early '70s, but now, he's calling the shots.

"It has overtones of those days, yeah," he said. "But the good news is, I get a day off, and I get to go home and visit my family for a few days before I go out and work. So there's more of a balance now. I have more in my life now than I ever did then."

Which is why he doesn't mind singing "I Think I Love You" and "I Woke Up in Love This Morning," or answering questions for the umpteenth time about his relationship with Susan Dey. ("I thought of her really as a younger sister," he said.)

Just don't ask him to travel around in a school bus and wear red crushed velvet.

That, even for a mild-mannered David Cassidy, would be pushing too far.

"If you're sitting at a piano, and you're only playing two octaves, you're missing the whole thing," he said. "I'm playing the other octaves now."

(Rod Harmon, features writer)

Former '70s teen idol David Cassidy says his current tour has allowed him to "rediscover'' the hits that wowed his fans 30 years ago.

"It was like opening a treasure chest and finding all these gems,'' he says during a recent interview. "The music really holds up and I had forgotten that "Cherish' is a great song.''

In recent years, Cassidy has concentrated on making new music, writing and producing Las Vegas stage shows and appearing in Broadway productions.

For years he had refused to play the nostalgia card or look back on his days when he co-starred with his step-mother, Shirley Jones, on ""The Partridge Family.''

But this summer, he embarked on his first concert tour in a decade and decided to include a retrospective of his hits including "I Think I Love You,'' "Cherish,'' "Rock Me Baby'' and "I Woke Up in Love This Morning.''

"These songs are an integral part of my career and they've had an influence on a couple of generations now,'' he adds. "The fans love it and they also love some of the new songs that I have done. I'm very happy with my career right now … past, present and future.''

The tour stops at Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall on Saturday night. Cassidy says he was scheduled to play in New Orleans right after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

"I thought about canceling but people had bought tickets and were counting on me,'' he says. "I wanted to do something to help and making music is what I do.''

He donated much of the proceeds to the relief effort.

Cassidy, 51, lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Sue, and 10-year-old son, Beau. He has a new CD coming out later this year: "David Cassidy: Then and Now.''

He became a teen idol in 1970 playing Keith Partridge on the ABC musical comedy, "The Partridge Family,'' which ran for four seasons. During that time, he launched a singing career that included numerous gold and platinum records. His feathered locks and boyish features were on lunchboxes, posters, cereal boxes and the covers of teen magazines.

His career was in high gear but his personal life was in turmoil. His 1994 biography, "C'mon Get Happy: Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus,'' recounted bouts with alcohol and drugs and a troubled relationship with his father, actor Jack Cassidy.

In the late '70s, Cassidy withdrew from the spotlight after his father died in a fire and his personal finances took a nose dive. He blamed business partners for mismanaging his money. Musical tastes also were changing and he was no longer a teen idol.

He says he took a few years off to re-think his career because he didn't want to compete with his fame. He continued to write music and occasionally perform.

By the 1990s, he was attracting national attention on Broadway in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' and "Blood Brothers.'' He also made a splash in Vegas, starring in the $75 million "EFX'' musical show at the MGM hotel and casino.

He then co-produced the long-running "The Rat Pack Is Back'' at the Sahara Hotel, a Vegas salute to legendary pals Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. He also wrote and co-produced "At the Copa,'' a musical stage show that played last year at the Rio hotel and casino.

He says writing and producing are fine but his first love is performing before a live audience.

""I like the feedback, the intimacy and the connection with the audience,'' he says.

David Cassidy is "delighted with the outcome" of a two-year court battle with the beneficiaries of Frank Sinatra's estate. Cassidy, who co-produces "The Rat Pack is Back," was involved in a suit filed against the Desert Inn by the families of Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. involving ownership and licensing issues stemming from the public use of such terms as "Rat Pack." Last week a judge dismissed the case, exonerating both the property and Cassidy, who says the decision was "what I expected all along." Cassidy is on tour promoting his newest album, "Then and Now," which is No. 5 on the U.K. charts this week. (Don't ask. They also fancy haggis and monarchies. Search me.)

Cassidy was represented by local intellectual property specialist, attorney Mark Tratos. Tratos, who works with many Strip casinos and entertainers, introduced the Right of Publicity Statute in 1989. (Kate Maddox's column)

David Cassidy is happier than he’s ever been. At 51, the once-shaggy haired teen heartthrob of the ’70s still has dimples, a dazzling smile and looks great in tight black pants. He is also still making fans swoon. Except this time, instead of on Broadway (where he broke box office records in “Blood Brothers”) or in Las Vegas (where he is a hugely popular headliner), Cassidy is in the middle of his first concert tour in more than a decade, which hits Harrah’s Atlantic City on Nov. 1st and 2nd.

“It’s been incredible. To describe it to you on a scale of 1-10, it’s a 23. The reaction has been extraordinary. The fans voices are just as loud and intense, but they’ve dropped an octave,” laughs Cassidy.

The teenyboppers who grew up screaming for Cassidy are still screaming, except they’re bringing new fans with them. “I see people bringing their kids with them, and the kids are singing along, too. It’s a whole new generation of fans,” says Cassidy.

Back in the early 1970s, even if you weren’t a card-carrying member of the official David Cassidy fan club (in the early ’70s, his club grew to become the largest in history, exceeding those of Elvis Presley and the Beatles), if you were a baby boomer, or the parent of one, you probably knew who David Cassidy was. He rose to fame as Keith Partridge on the hit TV series, “The Partridge Family,” and his records immediately struck gold. His face was plastered on everything from posters to lunch boxes to bubble gum cards and cereal boxes.

By age 21, David was the world’s highest paid performer, playing soldout concerts while on hiatus from “The Partridge Family” at the largest arenas and stadiums in the world. Cassidy broke box office records at London’s White City Stadium, Houston’s Astrodome and Madison Square Garden and his concerts created such hysteria that by the end of his world tour, at a 1974 London concert, one fan died of a heart attack, three were hospitalized and some 800 were treated by medics.

The tragic events proved too much for an already-strained Cassidy, and he went into retirement for about 10 years. A hardcore fan base stayed remarkably loyal, waiting for their favorite pop rock star to return. “The last time I played Harrah’s, it was their biggest weekend in 13 years,” says Cassidy. Indeed, fans tore down every poster and piece of paper with Cassidy’s face or name on it. “The audiences are incredible. I love what I do. For an hour and a half, I get to bring light into people’s lives. It’s better now than it’s ever been.”

Fans remain his driving force. When Cassidy decided to tour again, he polled his following on his official Web site (www.david cassidy.com) asking for their top five favorite songs. The No.1 favorite by far was his hit single “Cherish,” but surprisingly, two songs that made the top five were from his most recent album “Old Trick New Dog.” When he plays Harrah’s next month, fans can also expect to hear chart-topping singles from his “Partridge” days, including “I Woke Up In Love This Morning” and “I Think I Love You” (the best selling record of 1971), as well as a rendition of Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” that “blows the roof off.”

They’ll also see another side to Cassidy, who was influenced by his own idols — Marvin Gaye, B.B. King, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. “I also loved Bobby Darin, Sinatra and Sammy Davis. My dad [actor Jack Cassidy] exposed me to that music and it had an incredible impact on me. I loved that whole skinny tie thing,” says Cassidy, who in 1999 partnered with writer-producer Don Reo to create “The Rat Pack Is Back!” The show played to soldout Vegas crowds and garnered critical acclaim with Cassidy paying homage to the greats, singing standards like “Mack the Knife” and “That Old Black Magic.”

All these influences create an unpredictable, exciting show mixing Sinatra-era hits with ’60s R&B, ’70s pop classics and recent chart hits like his 1990s “Lyin’ to Myself.”

Although his heady early career included the thrills of jamming with Elton John and playing Beatles songs one night in his basement with John Lennon, Cassidy is happy to be where he is today. “It’s been a fantastic decade. I’m proud of the work I’ve done, and I’m glad I didn’t become some sad joke. I never focused on PR or fame, I just tried to do work with integrity.”

Cassidy, who just finished recording a new album to be released in 2002, is embracing life on tour again. “I had been working eight shows a week in Las Vegas, which was terrific, but a rough schedule. Now even when I do eight shows a month, I can come home and spend time with my family,” says Cassidy, who lives on the West Coast with his 10-year old son, Beau, and wife, songwriter Sue Shifrin-Cassidy. When he’s not singing, you can find him at his “favorite place on the planet,” Saratoga Springs — he owns several thoroughbred horses that race there and around the country.

Cassidy, whose records have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, was recently asked to give a guitar and other memorabilia to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum for a major exhibit on teen idols. When asked about his indelible mark on pop culture and rock history, Cassidy says most of the credit lies solely with his fans. “If it weren’t for them, I’d be pumping gas today.”

Keith Partridge never seemed to have a bad day.

David Cassidy, on the other hand, is a real person. And he's stuck in a crowded  airport in San Jose with 13 musicians, a weak cellphone and no Reuben Kincaid to help bail him out.

No wonder he seems a little tense.

The king of the red velvet pantsuit is calling to talk about his career, which has ranged from the Tiger Beat heaven of The Partridge Family to his U.K. album Then and Now, which currently sits at No. 5 on the British charts. In between came successful stints on Broadway (Blood Brothers) and in Las Vegas, where he top-lined EFX and co-starred with Sheena Easton in At the Copa.

He stops at the Arizona State Fair on Friday. The shag haircut is gone, but after all these years, a good portion of the public still thinks they love him.

QUESTION: What has the response to your concerts been like?

ANSWER: It's truly remarkable. It's a celebration, in a lot of ways, of the impact of the music and what I've done. Very few artists have careers that span this long, that have had so many different aspects and metamorphoses.

Q: How do you choose the songs?

A: I actually asked the fans on my Web site (www.davidcassidy.com) what they wanted me to play, what their top five choices were. I went back and picked a lot of the early jewels, some of which I never even played live. And there's early Partridge Family stuff, stuff in the middle of my career, stuff from Vegas.

Q: What's it like singing the Partridge Family songs now?

A: It's very cathartic in a way. The innocence of those lyrics became something that was really more difficult for me than I thought it would be. They were designed for a character I was playing when I was 19, 20. But the songs are great. Good songs survive. But I'm a very different guy right now. No one is the same at 50 as they are at 20.

Q: You seem very comfortable with the legacy of The Partridge Family.

A: It made me a very successful young guy. People have always thought that I don't want to be remembered for The Partridge Family. It wasn't ever the case. I didn't want to be just that. I have a lot more to offer. But it was great for what it was. It gave me the opportunity to go and perform for millions of people around the world, to play the biggest stadiums and arenas. I have no reason not to appreciate it.

My teenage rampage

Caroline Storah cherishes the moment she talked to the man of her young dreams, David Cassidy

David Cassidy thinks hard before admitting that, at the age of 51, he still gets knickers thrown at him.

They might be several sizes larger than in his 70s heyday - when he was the super-sexy darling of Jackie and Fab 208 teen mags - but he still gets them.

So, what does he do with them?

"Mmm, I keep them close to my heart, Caroline," he says in a teasing voice. "What else?"

And the screams, are they still there?

"Their voices are an octave lower than they used to be, but they're still screaming. I've had a lot of it in the last two months," he laughs.

It's obvious he loves what he does, both Then and Now (coincidentally, the name of his new CD). This is reflected in a tongue-in-cheek TV advert where a woman fan swoons when she sees him... and he rolls his eyes in a mock seen-it-all-before gesture.

It's evident, too, that he still loves singing live for his adoring fans. Now, having just finished a US tour he'sabout to deliver the goods to his UK followers.

His fans will be able to see him in Manchester - 27 years on after his UK debut Belle Vue concert where screaming girls, including a 13-year-old me, broke down security fences to get at their idol and burst into tears when they first clapped hormones on him for real.

There he was, with that flyaway run-your-fingers-through-it-girls hair, crinkly eyes and wearing white Lycra. God, he was sexy.

"The outfits were fine for then," he says. "But now it is like watching another person.

"Things were wild. I used to get wild with the guys I was travelling around with... and there were lots of women. I suppose it was as good as it gets.

"But it could also be a lonely time and I felt isolated sometimes on the road."

You should have said something, David lad.

Back then you were either for him - or a Donny Osmond fan. The sexy and dangerous David or the too-sweet-to-be-true Donny.

David with longer, sweatier, dishevelled hair or short back and sides Donny.

No contest, but are they friends from all those years back?

"I have met him a few times," says Cassidy cautiously, adding: "He and I had our own careers which were very different.

"He was the genuine innocent. I was quite a bit more mature."

I'll say. He and Donny were once the cause of a major cat fight in our street when my best pal and a Donny fan said Donny was better because his brothers loved him while David came from a broken family, so he wasn't as good.

She ended up in the rose bed. David won.

It's his fans from the heyday who make up the majority of the packed audiences which greet him today... along with their daughters!

"It's amazing. We play just two notes of an intro and the place erupts," he says, raving about the audiences of 2001.

"Cherish is the one that always get the biggest reaction. But How Can I Be Sure and Could It Be Forever get a tremendous roar too. I love it. I may be 50, but I love entertaining. No-one is putting a gun to my head."

Off-stage, he hangs out with his 10-year-old son and breeds horses.

He admits: "I'm much happier and I think a lot better now than then. I have been very successful and I love doing what I do."

'Then' is the heady days when girls' bedrooms across the country were plastered with pull-out posters of him. His eyes positioned to stare into theirs, his lips at just the right height for pretend kissing.

Back 'then' nothing prepared him for the screeching welcome at Heathrow Airport. he had no idea he was so adored in the UK until he arrived.

"I was blown away," he recalls. "In Manchester, there was a crush. Luckily no-one was hurt.

"But in those days there was no global media coverage. I had no idea what reaction I would get here. I just got off a plane and, wow, there they all were."

Be warned, David. They'll be back... but this time with bigger knickers!

• David Cassidy plays the Apollo, Manchester, on November 9.

The last time David Cassidy played the North-West, Maria Hampson, 51, risked her job just to see him.

That was 27 years ago, but the grandmother from Gateacre still clearly remembers how desperate she was to watch her idol playing at Belle Vue.

So much so that she told a little white lie to make sure she had the best possible view.

Maria, then aged 24, told her boss at the Mobil garage in Childwall that she was sick. But, what she didn't bargain for, was appearing on the front page of the ECHO that evening wearing an enormous rosette and an 'I love David' cap!

"Luckily he had a sense of humour. He started laughing when he saw me and he didn't even tell me off," she remembers.

Despite the passing years, Maria still counts herself among David's devotees. And she's planning to go back and see him next month when he plays Manchester again.

"I'll definately be going," she says. "He is such a good singer and I think his music has really stood the test of time. I know he's got a 'best of'  album out at the moment but I don't need to buy it because I've got all his records already, every one, in mint condition."

WHAT TO EXPECT: Cassidy, 51, is best remembered as the star and lead singer of the 1970s TV show, "The Partridge Family." He sold more than 25 million albums worldwide. He last performed in Atlantic City in the Showboat on April 27 and 28. During a concert in September 2000 at Harrah's, Cassidy sang the songs "Cherish," "Summer Days," "Rock Me Baby," "Come On Get Happy," "I'll Meet You Halfway," "I Think I Love You" and "I Woke Up In Love This Morning."

WHAT'S NEW: The singer has a new CD titled "David Cassidy: Then And Now" on sale exclusively in the United Kingdom.

He's offering a $50,000 reward for a family crest ring that was given to him by his father that he either lost or it turned up missing from his dressing room during one of his recent concert dates. A show he's co-producing, "The Rat Pack Is Back," has been extended through March 31, 2002 at the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

SHOW INFO: 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1 and Friday, Nov. 2 in the Broadway By the Bay Theatre at Harrah's Atlantic City. Tickets are $75, $125 and $250. Tickets in all price ranges for both dates were available as of Sunday, Oct. 21. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Harrah's box office or by calling (800) 2HARRAH.

Memories of a teen idol

By Richard Barber

Thirty years ago, David Cassidy posters adorned the bedroom walls of every female teenager in the land. Then he walked away from fame, went through two divorces and slowly began to rebuild his career. Now 51, the happily married father is touring the UK and has a new album, Then and Now.

Q: So, tell us about the early days.
A: It was pretty crazy. At one stage, I had a bigger fan club than either Elvis or the Beatles. You have to have an extremely strong constitution, a real belief in yourself and your ability to survive all of that and still be here three decades later.
Q: Do you regret that early success?
A: Not at all. I'm very proud of it. On the other hand, that level of global fame isn't good for a 19-year-old. I simply didn't have the emotional development to get a proper fix on it all.
Q: Where did you go for advice?
A: I was lucky enough to talk a lot to John Lennon about how to cope. It's wonderful to have people to love you but when it takes over your life, it becomes very difficult. He had no magic formula but it was great to share what was happening with someone who understood.
Q: When was the low point?
A: In the mid-80s. It was pretty dire. Professionally, I wasn't being given the opportunity to do what I felt I was capable of doing. Personally, I only seemed to move from one unsuccessful relationship to the next.
Q: What turned your life around?
A: Analysis and Sue Shifrin. We'd met after one of my Wembley concerts in the early 70s. She's a singer/songwriter who was signed to the same record label as me. We became friends and loosely kept in touch. In 1986 she rang my attorney for my number. I called back, we met for dinner and we've been together ever since.
Q: Why has this marriage survived?
A: Because it's built on trust and because we were good friends long before we became lovers.
Q: In the early days, you had a reputation for bedding a succession of young girls...
A: Yes, I was what the British call a bit of a Jack-the-lad. But show me the red-blooded male who wouldn't have done what I did. In fact, I think I behaved like a saint, I was never cruel to anyone.
Q: What if your son wanted to follow you into show business?
A: Beau, who's ten, has a great voice and is a natural performer, but I'd do anything to dissuade him. I want him to go to university, when is up to him. I don't think I've ever met a well-adjusted kid working in TV or films. Very often they end up unhappy souls and that's the last thing I want for Beau.
Q: How was your relationship with your father, Jack?
A: Complicated. He left home before I was four. I worshipped him but I felt rejected. Like most kids in that situation I thought there must be something wrong with me, that it was my fault.
Q: When did you come to terms with your feelings?
A: Only as an adult. I had boundless respect for him as a performer, but he wasn't a great father.
Q: What has been his legacy?
A: To be honest, I knew how to be a great dad because my own father had shown me all the things not to do. He'd come to the occasional baseball game and leave after 20 minutes. I go to all Beau's games and stay right to the end. My goal is to be there for him.
Q: It's said that you were left with just $ 15,000 from all those years of success.
A: That's right. I made millions and millions of dollars, but for lots of other people, it seems. I could have been bitter, I could have been angry about that. But when I walked away from it all, it was on my own terms. And that's exactly how I came back to it.
Q: Why's it better this time round?
A: Because I don't have a manager or hangers-on. In the end, it's not fame that survives but talent. To me, it's about entertaining. If you can hold an audience with your voice, your guitar, there's nothing more satisfying.
Q: And your greatest achievement?
A: I thank God that I've been dealt this kind of a hand and that I've been able to play it right; I survived superstardom.
Q: So how do you feel about having made it to 51?
A: Well, the alternative sucks.

As Keith Partridge, he was the boy who had everything; looks, success, Susan Dey for a screen sister. Then he became David Cassidy, the first teenybop idol. Now 51, married and a father, he's back to promote his new album and his first UK tour in 15 years.

Who did you look up to?
Elvis and The Beatles. The Beatles had each other to share their success with, but for me it was like living in a vacuum - as I'm sure it was for Elvis and it killed him.

What was the maddest it got?
I guess the time I got most freaked was when I found a fan living in my air conditioning unit. She'd been there six weeks.

You found an unlikely friend in John Lennon. What did you talk about?
There were things I was going through that he could relate to. To leave a hotel, to get on a plane, to be anywhere. It just became more than I could bear. We used to wear disguises. It was the only way to get around.

So why the new album?
I've always gone on and done different work. So people's perception of me is that I've turned my back on the past.

Why do it now?
There's a time to look back at your work and your life and say this is a wonderful thing that I've been able to do. I loved it, I loved you for loving it,it was a great thing and I still enjoy singing.

David Cassidy, of "The Partridge Family" television fame, will return to perform Nov. 22-24 in the Samba Theater at the Rio. Tickets are $59 plus tax.

By age 21, pop idol Cassidy was the world's highest paid solo performer, and his fan club was the most popular in the world, exceeding those of both the Beatles and Elvis Presley. His musical success garnered multiple Grammy nominations. Eighteen of his recordings reached Gold or Platinum status, with four consecutive multi-platinum releases.

On "The Partridge Family" show alone, Cassidy had seven chart topping singles, including "I Woke Up In Love This Morning," "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" and "I Think I Love You," which became 1971's best-selling record.

In 1996, when Cassidy took over the starring role in the MGM Grand's $ 75 million extravaganza "EFX," he moved his family to Las Vegas. After two years in "EFX," he moved to the Rio to star in the semi-autobiographical show called "David Cassidy at the Copa," featuring co-star Sheena Easton.

"This is London" has 25 copies of David Cassidy's fantastic new album 'Then and Now' up for grabs!
 
'Then and now' features re-recordings with new arrangements of 23 classic songs, including his No. 1 single ‘Could It Be Forever’ performed as a duet with current chart toppers, Hear’Say, which is a bonus track.

Click here for your chance to win!

David Cassidy, multi-platinum recording artist, award-winning producer, actor and former television star of the 70s hit show The Partridge Family, will be coming to the UK for the first time in over 15 years to perform for his fans and to promote his new album Then and Now.

David will performing in London (Hammersmith Apollo, November 16 & 17), Manchester (Apollo, November 9), Glasgow (Clyde Auditorium, November 11) and Newcastle (City Hall, November 14). These dates have been initiated by David intentionally in intimate settings so he can feel closer to the fans that have supported him for 30 years.

His current show has received incredible reviews in America where David has been on tour playing to sold out audiences.

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