The Last Kiss /Alan Tarney , David Cassidy

-

Dick Leahy (1937-2020)  (in the 70's he was also famous for  his very posh suits and full length mink coat ), was a very successful music industry executive and publisher.  

He had a real talent for spotting hits, eg he backed David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' to be a hit when nobody was playing it on the radio. He worked with Dana, Donna Summer, he signed Bay City Rollers after seeing them performing in a club in Edinburgh, he guided George Michael's career with 'Wham' and  solo. He was not only George Michael's publisher, but also his guru and guide.  As a Bell Records' manager in the UK from 1971, he supervised David Cassidy's career in Europe, and he made David a big star there. They became friends..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVvkmFfq8I0

And it was  Dick Leahy who  welcomed DC when he first came to London in February 1972.  In 1984 when David was making the 'Romance' album, he lived with Dick and his wife Tinca , at the Wick on Richmond Hill.

David told many times that Richmond was his favourite part of London. When Sue and David wrote 'Lyin' To Myself', they took the song to Dick. Sue Shifrin : "..we played it for him and he said, 'This song is fantastic, but you need to rework the chorus'. We changed it and Dick said , 'This is  a number one record.' (David Cassidy: Could It Be Forever ?, 2007)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9abTz7tVGA

It was Dick Leahy (again) who in 1984 introduced David to  George Michael. He arranged  a dinner for them. 

George Michael..On June 25th was his birthday, he died nearly 5 years ago. Born in 1963, he knew how big was DC in the 70s.  They became friends. They partied and worked together and that friendship was written about a lot : 'Wham ! heartthrob George Michael joined David Cassidy to help The Last Kiss rocked to #6 in the charts. Award-winning musician George, was happy just to sing backing vocals on that hit. George worked to help David with his comeback hit and David was happy to be the subject of his friend's first interview when George tried his hand at rock writing'' (August, 1985). 

So first the song. This is my number 1 DC's performance of 'The Last Kiss' , since that video has appeared on YT on April 9th, 2021..A great song and David Cassidy is breathtaking..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxTcoUyxcgs

And the interview. It was on 'Ritz Magazine' in June 1985, and it's something really special. This is more like a conversation, sincere and  sophisticated. They were talking about life, showbusiness, music, fame, money and horses. When asked what he thought about being famous again, David said - 

'I want success again. I wouldn't be doing it otherwise. Singing and performing, it becomes like a drug. When 'The Last Kiss' was in the Top 10, I looked up and said - thank you Jesus. I can still make it'. About The Last Kiss :' It's about something very real and important that actually happened to me. Every time I sing it I keep going to the experience in order to be real for me.' 

About money  he earned in the 70s : 'I was tragically wealthy and unhappy. You are making more money that you ever imagined - filthy money that people are constantly trying to steal from you' ..and the last fragment : 'If anyone asked me what I really wanted in the world, that would be to win the Kentucky Derby'...

http://www.davidcassidy.com/fansite/InPrintPages/Mag1985JuneRitz.html



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kay Lenz, an Actress

-
Image
Don't get me wrong, I'm not writing today's blog just to gossip about DC's private life, it's because I always admired that amazing woman, Kay Ann Lenz. She had birthday yesterday. 3 years younger than David, a few years older than a typical DC's fan.  In the 70s I heard quite a lot about Kay Lenz . She was very popular in Poland, like the rest of the cast of 'Rich Man, Poor Man'. That tv series was shown in my country I think in 1978, and everybody watched it, also a lot was written about the cast. So one day I read that Kay's husband was a former teen idol, David Cassidy. There was also a pic and I thought that it was just wonderful, I thought they were the most beautiful couple in the world. There was something very moving about Kay. I thought she was different than typical American actress. Such beautiful eyes, but her beauty wasn't an ordinary kind, not for everybody so to speak. When I was a teen I couldn't put in words what I thought a
Read more

They Said I Changed A Lot..

-
Image
Let's first listen to something which was not released, why they didn't want David singing that song is a great mystery for me. Listening to his young, sincere, innocent and magical voice is one in a kind moving experience. You can just imagine David sitting next to you, with his guitar...and.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PbghG6czuw&t=6s Amazing. And of course we believe in David Cassidy and love songs. When I became a real DC's fan in 2018, there was something I used to discuss a lot with my English friend B. How David Cassidy kept changing. A completely different person in each decade. Or even more often. It was something difficult to understand for me. The many faces of David. Each album different from the previous one, different style and even his voice.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4gvxt1WgaA B. thought there was nothing unusual about how David was changing, and I simply didn't follow his career from the beginning, I didn't grow with him, I didn&#
Read more

'I Just Hated Being In The Show..'

-
Image
Last week someone posted a screenshot of the article from May 1974, unfortunately without the date or the name of the paper. Written by a popular journalist Roderick Gilchrist, I think it was Daily Express. We can read that this interview took place at London Weekend Television's Building, on the day before the DC's last concert in Manchester.  And David said, "I feel like the door to the cage has just been opened. And, any minute now I'm going to be able to fly right away from my prison. I can't tell you how happy that makes me feel because I'll be free again.." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG0hjhwKx5s His prison..Of course there have been other teen idols in the history of pop culture, but somehow for those from the 70s it was like someone put a curse on them. Nothing David Cassidy recorded later in life hasn't changed a bit that first opinion some people had of him and his music. My FB friend, Laurie Eby has written, "I researched 'New Y
Read more