'Don't Call Me A Former Teen Idol'

David Cassidy :' I always back away from labels (..) Man, don't call me a former teen idol. Don't call me a heartthrob. Don't call me a sex symbol. Tell me I'm bad, tell me I'm lousy. But don't call me that.' /Lyndsey Parker : David Cassidy Gets Happy. June 15, 1998. www.music.yahoo.com./

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/David_Cassidy_Allan_Warren.jpg

For many people (also for some fans ) David Cassidy means Keith Partridge and a teen idol. It was  hard for David, that whatever he did later in life as a singer, actor, music composer or producer , every time he appeared as a guest star, every tv or radio interview (and he made a lot of them) started with a fragment of 'I Think I Love You' or 'C'mon Get Happy' and such introduction - ...a former teen idol..unforgettable Keith..his posters...every girl's dream.' You must have really tough skin to endure something like that, decade after decade.It's such a curse to be so successful at the beginning of one's career, to play an iconic role in such a legendary tv show. And in DC's case it was even worse, because at the same time he had a great career as a pop singer, he played countless concerts and recorded some very popular hits. He did everything he could to destroy KeithP's and his teen idol's image, he was very successful again in the 90s , became a celebrity, a wealthy man , but he couldn't have made people forget about his young and beautiful self. Of course DC was smart and had a great sense of humour , he knew why people loved KeithP. , and he sang those Partridge Family's songs and his old solo hits at every concert, to the end, whatever he thought about them and whatever he thought about his fans. It was also his work.

It wasn't supposed to be like that. ' I've often dreamed of becoming a singing star, but I never dreamed it would happen this fast or in this way' (The Movie World, November 1972).Sure, he knew that the show could be a hit, teen mags started to be interested in David in the early 1970, he wasn't naive, on the contrary, I think that even 19 or 20 year old David Cassidy  was very aware of the situation, he was from a show business family, he knew what was to win and also that there was price to pay..but no one could have predicted something like that.. Very soon he felt trapped, pigeon-holed and lonely. There were people who didn't understand why he complained so much, people who didn't like anything he'd done.'poor little pop star, lonely at the top'..When I listened to Elliot Mintz's tapes ( interview from 1974) the saddest moment was when David said that after the MSG concert in 1972, he had a kind of breakdown, depression and started thinking that maybe he was wrong about the show business, about a career he was certain for nearly 20 years, that he'd have wanted to do it. 

But of course nothing is black or white, and he had more than his share of those pleasant things which come with fame and success, glamour and women and adulation, big money, he knew fans loved him, he had a happy family life for some years,  he had his horses which were probably most important for him..

For me he was first of all a great singer , so underestimated by the industry..And , sorry David, but he should have got an Academy Award for his creation - the best teen idol ever. After all, we, who became fans in the 70s, still feel that magic half a century later.