Love Is All That I Ever Needed. Chapter 38. Fighting With The Image, Sweet Vendetta, And A Cry For Help
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In January of 2005 a lot was written that David topped the new American poll of TV’s greatest
teen idols. He beat John Travolta, Ricky Nelson and Johnny Depp.
There was news about his
upcoming tour in the UK, called ‘Once In A Lifetime’. David was to perform alongside The
Osmonds, David Essex and Bay City Rollers. David asked his fans via his website what songs
they would like him to sing during the tour. He also announced that the tour was going to be
special as the last one outside the USA.
‘It was a hard decision but I made a promise to my son Beau never to leave the country for
months at a time again and I intend to keep it. I can’t do that to my son or my wife any more.’
He took his family to the UK and 14 year old Beau accompanied him for about 10 minutes on
stage at nearly every concert.
In 2005 it seemed that at last David had a horse for the Kentucky Derby. A very special one
and David didn’t hesitate and bought that 2 year old colt for $210,000 in 2004, and renamed
him Mayan King. Everyone had great expectations for that wonderful and unique animal. He
won in every race he took part in, but he suffered an ankle injury 6 weeks before the Kentucky
Derby and was never the same on his return.
It was a huge blow for David.
In 2006 he was ranked 56th as a North American Horse Breeder, and that year another horse
he co-owned, Half Heaven made headlines winning important races. David sold this horse in
November, and also Mayan King.
The horse business brought him a lot of joy, but also a lot
of disappointments and financial loss.
In 2006 he played only 20 concerts, and they looked different. David didn’t perform with sexy
backing girls any more, and left his Las Vegas image behind. No more shiny outfits but black
jeans and white shirts instead. He had on stage with him just four very good musicians, Matt
Sullivan, Frank Fabio, Teri Cote and Rob Cooke. Together they looked like a band.
A longtime fan, Cat Ortiz-White, who saw many of David's concerts in every decade, wrote
that the one he gave on August 19, 2006 at Canyon Club, Agoura Hills in California was one
of the best. David was in great form and ‘he was trying to make physical contact with as many
fans as possible’.
In the audience were also 83 year old Evelyn Ward and all David’s brothers. It was very moving
when David dedicated the last song to Jack Cassidy who died 30 years ago, ‘With my brothers
and my mum all here, I think they know he is shining his light down on us tonight’. And he
sang ‘Cry’, Johnny Ray’s old hit, the song Jack loved and sang to his small son.
"This time
David’s performance was more moving than usual. It literally sent chills down my spine, and
you could see David started to shake and almost cry while singing that powerful song. At the
end of the number there was a pause of utter awe and then a roar of thunderous applause
and cheers.’’
He didn’t keep his promise and was again in the UK for another nostalgic tour in 2007, with
the Osmonds, David Essex and Showaddywaddy.
He sold some of his memorabilia from his pop career during the auctions, and Sony released the album called ‘David Cassidy and The
Partridge Family Could It Be Forever - The Greatest Hits’.
He was only 57, but he became a
nostalgic act. Something he always dreaded to happen, he wanted to change his music and
move forward. Meeting and working with Craig J. Snider helped him to do it.
Craig J. Snider was not only a very successful and sought producer and remixer but also a
multiinstrumentalist, with a degree in piano and composition. They became friends, and Craig
started touring with David.
Craig J.Snider produced David’s new album released by 180 Music and Target. That CD was
available only at the company's stores. Called ‘David Cassidy: Part II - The Remix’, it was a
dance album, club rocking remixes of four of David’s Billboard hits and seven Partridge Family
songs, including three versions of ‘C’mon Get Happy’. David recorded fresh vocals and was
very excited with this new sound and so happy that his son’s friends thought that music to be
cool.
But not everybody was impressed. There were disappointed fans who didn't like the changes
he did in the old hits. They didn’t want David to move forward, they wanted everything to stay
the same. For some time David played those new versions, but in later years he gave up, he
lost faith his fans ever let him change, and no longer had the strength to fight.
On March 8, 2007 Headline published a ‘new’ David’s autobiography, called ‘Could It Be
Forever? My Story.’ It was a much less controversial version of the first book, published in
1994.
There were new chapters - mostly about the Las Vegas experience and David removed
some of his sex adventures and the part about his encounter with Susan Dey. The book was
still a great read - even if a lot was written as PR, and not very well edited, with some mistakes
regarding dates or even names.
The book looked like it was written by two different people or
like two different attitudes were present. David’s memories were much more sincere in the first
part of the book. The reader felt that he didn’t write about many things which happened in the
90s and later years, and he portrayed himself at the end as a happy, mature, and family man.
It was too candid to be true. More wishful thinking.
The great value of the book were contributions from people who knew or worked with David
Cassidy through the many decades of his career.
After so many years he still felt the pain and
self pity because of the way his dad treated him and being a father himself didn’t change his
attitude regarding Jack. Unintentionally, David Cassidy portrayed himself in this book as a very
self centered person and that ‘pity me’ attitude from a 57 year old man, was in some parts of
the book irritating.
In 2007 ‘Rolling Stone magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary and in every article about it,
the May 1972 issue with David’s photograph on the cover was remembered. Jim Farber wrote
for New York Daily News that ‘A great star image gracing a magazine cover does more than
simply sell the publication. It burnished an icon.’
The next year turned out to be very important. In February 2008 David appeared on the most
popular and influential American talk show, ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. He sang I Think I Love
You at the beginning, and at the end of the program the new dance version of ‘I’ll Meet You Halfway’. The audience was screaming and singing with him. He talked with Oprah about his
career, the loneliness on the top, his friendship with John Lennon, and his children.
That year he played 20 concerts in the USA and Canada, and again in the UK. It was called
‘This Could Be The (3) Night Tour’. Shaun Curran wrote about the Manchester concert: ‘At
58 he still looks fantastically well with perma-tan and a constant grin. To say he is a hit with
the women in the audience is understatement. The trouble, to put it bluntly, is Cassidy’s
ego. Seldom has a performer have spoken so much yet said so little of interest. Voice
still intact. ‘70s mega-hits sung untainted, show what he’s all about. He just can’t help
himself..’
On May 16, 2008 David Cassidy had his great moment of glory as a horseman, breeder and
an owner. It was the greatest victory in his career, and one of the happiest moments in his life.
The horse, 3 year old Sweet Vendetta, bred by him and co-owned by him, won in the mile and
eight Grade II, $200,000 Black Eyed Susan stakes, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore,
Maryland. Besides the Kentucky Oaks and Acorn Stakes, that race is the most prestigious
race in the USA.
Those races are unofficially known as ‘the Filly Triple Crown’.
Black Eyed
Susan was inaugurated in 1919, and for David that victory was like a dream came true - bliss
and sheer happiness.
Sweet Vendetta was trained by Gary Contessa and at the race she won under Channing Hill.
The race was in difficult conditions, but in spite of the bad weather and heavy rain there were
more than 28,000 people in a crowd.
One month later Team Penny Racing, the horse's co-owner, decided to sell Sweet Vendetta.
The most important thing in 2008 took place in August, in David’s beloved Saratoga Springs.
On Monday, August 11, 2008 at the fundraising gala for The Alcohol and Substance Abuse
Prevention Council, at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga, David Cassidy said: ‘Tonight, I’m
publicly stating that I’m an alcoholic. I was in denial about it and the problem was getting
worse. Three weeks ago I came out of the Betty Ford Center. (..) This is my favorite place in
the world. I played here in ‘72. ‘73, ’74. And what was ironic, when I drove up was that I realized
this journey has been going on for many years. And the journey is now, every day, 24 hours,
to stay sober.’
Sue and Beau were by his side.
There was a crowd of about 250, and no one expected anything like this. When David asked
for support, he received a standing ovation for his courage. At Cassidy's table there were his
very close friends, Garry and Jeniffer Contessa, Jerry and Darlene Bilinsky, and many local
politicians including the Mayor of Saratoga Springs came out to lend their support. David was
very well known there, a part of the community, and it was a shock for many.
David Cassidy was genetically burdened from the start, and alcohol was always a danger.
Already in 1974 during the conversation with Elliot Mintz, it was obvious that David had a
serious problem. Because of the amount of work, David said that he didn’t drink - just a beer or two while eating dinner. But beer is also alcohol and dangerous while drinking every evening
after a stressful day, and all his days were difficult when he was a teen idol. What’s more David
was so skinny and that’s why more susceptible. It was easier and faster for him to become
addicted. He wrote how once in the early 70s, he was so drunk that he fell asleep in his car,
and the police officer woke him up. When he recognized David, he let him go. Reading David
Cassidy’s autobiographies or listening carefully to his interviews, we can find quite a lot of
references to alcohol and that he was scared he was going his father’s way. Was his drinking
one of the reasons for working so hard in the 90s? He was also the worst kind of alcoholic,
because he did a lot of things people didn’t know about. On his own. And one of those things
was his drinking.
Admitting the problem was a cry for help..
This is the link to Chapter 1 (and others)
Jim Farber ‘Under Cover’ www.mydaily.news, July 15, 2007
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