David Cassidy Bio

David Cassidy Biography

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David Bruce Cassidy (born April 12, 1950) is an American actor, rock singer and guitarist, known for his character and stage roles. Cassidy is best known for his role as Shirley Jones's oldest son, Keith Partridge, on the 1970s musical/situation comedy, The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974. He went on to a successful pop career in the mid to late 70s, and still performs.

David Cassidy: Biography

David Cassidy - His early life

David Cassidy was born at Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York, New York, the son of Irish American actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward. He has three half-brothers, Shaun Cassidy, Patrick Cassidy and Ryan Cassidy, who were born after his father married actress Shirley Jones.

David Cassidy - His career

In his early career Cassidy featured on Bonanza, Adam-12, and Ironside. In 1970, he took the part of Keith Partridge, son of Shirley Partridge, who was played by Cassidy's real stepmother Shirley Jones. When he was signed to play Keith on The Partridge Family, he was not to sing on the recordings. Series creator Bernard Slade and producers Paul Junger Witt and Robert "Bob" Claver did not care whether Cassidy could sing, knowing only that his androgynous good looks would guarantee success. But shortly after production began, Cassidy convinced music producer Wes Farrell that he was good enough and he was promoted to lead singer for Partridge Family recordings. Once "I Think I Love You" became a hit, Cassidy began work on solo albums as well. Within the first year he had produced his own hit single, "Cherish", which reached #9 in the US, and began tours that featured Partridge tunes and his own hits. He became a teen idol.

Ten albums by The Partridge Family and several solo albums were produced during the show. Cassidy was one of the world's highest paid live entertainers. His record sales, while declining in the USA by 1972, topped charts around the world, with number 1 singles and albums in Europe, South Africa, Japan and Australia. His concerts were sellouts to thousands of teenagers in stadiums including Wembley Stadium (6 sold out shows in one weekend), Houston Astrodome (where he holds the seating record) and the MCG in Australia.

Yet of approximately USD $500 million that The Partridge Family and Cassidy merchandising made internationally, he was allegedly paid only $15,000. It was claimed that Cassidy's fan club had more paid-up members at any one time than any other in history. Cassidy's autobiography C'mon Get Happy: Fear And Loathing On The Partridge Family Bus (1994) provides an account of most aspects of his fame, including contracts, money and his female following.

Rebelling against the squeaky-clean character of Keith Partridge, Cassidy shocked young fans by posing nude in the May 11, 1972 edition of Rolling Stone magazine, for Annie Leibovitz.

A turning point in his live rock concerts (while still filming the Partridge Family) was a gate stampede which killed a teenage girl. At a show in London's White City Stadium on 26 May 1974, 650 were injured in a crush at the front of the stage. Thirty were taken to hospital, and one, 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, died on May 30 from injuries. The show was the penultimate date on a world tour. Cassidy later faced the press. After the incident, he no longer wanted to continue his week-end concert jaunts.

By this point, Cassidy had decided to quit both touring and acting in The Partridge Family, concentrating instead on recording and song-writing. International success continued, mostly in Great Britain and Germany, when he released three well-received solo albums on RCA between 1975 and 1977. Cassidy became first to have a hit with I Write The Songs, a Top 20 record in Great Britain before the song became Barry Manilow's signature tune. Cassidy's recording was produced by the song's author-composer, Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys.

In the late 70s, Cassidy starred in an episode of Police Story titled "A Chance To Live," for which he received an Emmy nomination. NBC created a show based on it called David Cassidy: Man Under Cover but it was not a hit, cancelled after one season. However the format was used in a well-received show called 21 Jump Street, Johnny Depp playing the part Cassidy vacated.

Music success continued with the 1985 Arista release of Last Kiss (#5 in the UK), with backing vocals by George Michael, and the album Romance. These went gold in Europe and Australia and Cassidy supported them with a sellout tour of the UK which resulted in the "Greatest Hits Live" compilation of 1986. Cassidy returned to the American Top 40 with his 1990 Lying To Myself, released on Enigma. In 1998, he had a Top 10 AC hit with No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross from his album Old Trick, New Dog. His 2002 CD Then and Now went platinum internationally and returned Cassidy to the Top 5 of the UK album charts for the first time since 1974.

Cassidy has appeared in Broadway musicals, including a version of Little Johnny Jones (played on-screen by James Cagney) and the original version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Time in London's West End, and Blood Brothers alongside Petula Clark and his own half-brother, Shaun Cassidy. In 1996, he replaced Michael Crawford in the Las Vegas show EFX, re-writing it into one of the Strip's favorite shows - although Cassidy was forced to resign after he injured his foot during a performance. He also created The Rat Pack Is Back, in which he made guest appearances as Bobby Darin, and which ran successfully. In 2000, he wrote and appeared in the Las Vegas show At The Copa, with Sheena Easton as both the young and old versions of the lead character, Johnny Flamingo. In 2005 Cassidy played the manager of Aaron Carter's character in the film Popstar. In 2006, he made a guest appearance for BBC Children in Need performing live, then assisting Terry Wogan collecting donations from the studio audience.

Cassidy has continued to record and has toured almost continuously around the world.

David Cassidy - Personal life

Cassidy's first wife was actress Kay Lenz, whom he married in 1977 and divorced in 1982. According to their friend, Sandie Clark, David and Kay were best friends before they married and it didn't work out. His second wife was South African sportswoman Meryl Tanz, whom he married in 1984. This marriage ended in 1985. On March 30, 1991, Cassidy married Sue Shifrin-Cassidy, by whom he has a son, Beau Devin Cassidy. He also has a daughter, actress Katie Cassidy (born in 1986), from his relationship with 70s model Sherry Benedon.

The Globe reported that Cassidy once slept with his Partridge Family co-star Susan Dey. He said he loved the teenage actress like a sister when they were shooting The Partridge Family but that she was (unbeknownst to Cassidy) in love with him. When the show ended, Dey confided her feelings and that couple slept together once, but Cassidy regretted it. He told The Globe "I find a certain sluttiness very attractive in a woman, and Susan just didn't have it. She was sweetness and innocence, a good girl, and I couldn't think of her as anything but my sister whom I love dearly to this day.". In 1990, Cassidy hired his recalcitrant TV brother Danny Bonaduce as his warm-up act.

Cassidy has written another memoir that was published in Great Britain in March 2007. "Could It Be Forever" tells of drug use, wild sex, infatuation with Partridge Family guest star Meredith Baxter, a romp with "Barbara the Butter Queen", and an encounter with 1950s screen star Gina Lollobrigida. "I've always been very comfortable with my sexuality and my brothers call me 'Donk' - as in Donkey. People have talked about me being 'blessed' in my physique," Cassidy writes in the book. "The first time [I met Gina] she looked me up and down and said: 'I hear you're a monster. I want to meet the monster.' Well, I decided that if I had it, there wasn't any point in just keeping it in the holster all the time." A spokeswoman for Cassidy said "Could It Be Forever" was published in the UK first because he is still almost as popular there as in his heyday.

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