David Cassidy
April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017
David Cassidy, who became one of the biggest teen idols of the ’70s passed away after being hospitalized with kidney and liver failure. He was 67. Born into a show business family – his father was actor and singer Jack Cassidy, his mother, actress, Evelyn Ward – Cassidy began his career as a stage actor. He made his Broadway debut when he was just 18. At 20, he was offered the superstar-making role of Keith Partridge, on a new television show musical comedy that was loosely based on real life family pop band, the Cowsills. His stepmother, Shirley Jones who his father married after divorcing Cassidy’s mother, played his mother on the show. The program was hugely popular, and Cassidy – who played the band’s front man, quickly became a teen idol around the world. During the course of the show, the Partridge Family released eight studio albums and several compilations and singles. Cassidy and Jones, backed by session players, were the only cast members on those recordings. Their single, “I Think I Love You,” reached number one on the Billboard Singles Chart in August of 1970. What followed for Cassidy were countless magazine covers, concerts in front of 30,000+ screaming fans, and television appearances across every network. His solo albums during the mid- to late-70s even outsold those by the Partridge Family. Unfortunately for Cassidy, he wanted to be seen as a true rock star in the vein of Mick Jagger, but his adoring fans wouldn’t let him escape his bubble-gum teen idol image. While the hysteria eventually died off, Cassidy continued to record, perform live, and act in one form or another for the rest of his life. In his final years, he continued to endear himself to his most loyal fans, by adding question and answer segments at the end of his concerts.
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