Love Is All That I Ever Needed. Chapter 39. David At 60. Saying Goodbye To His Mother..
In 2008 David needed a lot of support from his friends and family, and he had an opportunity
to spend and work with his step brothers.
‘Ruby & the Rockits’, the ABC comedy 30-minutes
sitcom, was created and co-written by Shaun Cassidy. David and Patrick played Gallagher
brothers, former teen idols, who in the 80s performed together in The Rockits.
Patrick’s
character led a quiet life with his wife and two sons, while David’s still performed and led a
rock star lifestyle. One day, quite unexpectedly, he discovered that he had a teenage daughter, Ruby.
Ryan Cassidy also worked at the production.
Alexa Vega, a well known young actress and singer (born in 1988) played Ruby. Austin Butler,
at the beginning of his great career, played her cousin, Jordan.
The first episode was aired on July
21, 2009, the last one on September 2. It was a musical, comedy and family sitcom, all in one.
In every episode Alexa was singing a song which was released onto the iTunes store.
Everybody thought the series would be a great success. The first episode was watched by 1.6
million viewers and had nice reviews. But it changed very quickly, and the show was canceled.
Why?
It seems that the producers had trouble figuring out who the show was for. It was for every
one so for no one really.
The old The Partridge Family viewers obviously noticed that some
ideas were borrowed. Alexa and Austin were very attractive, both sung very well, and the
acting was very good, but for the young audience the series was too polite and too correct.
Gone forever were the times when the parents watched TV with their teenage kids, and it
looked like Shaun Cassidy didn’t know about it.
And David ?
Like always 100% professional, and he had very funny moments. But in general
he looked tense and like he was thinking about something else on the set, and didn’t care
much.
It was the same when he promoted the series on TV with his brothers. Tense, with the hair
dyed too dark, hoarse voice and very tired and sad eyes.
In 2009 he played only 12 concerts in the USA and Canada. Some of them were quite big
outdoor gigs. Some in small showrooms just for around 200 people. Sometimes he was tired,
and there were technical problems to deal with. But David always gave everything.
2010 was to be very special. David’s 60th birthday and the 40th anniversary of The Partridge
Family. There were a lot of articles about his music, but first of all about his contributions to
popular culture. His image in the 70s - his unforgettable style, shag haircut still in vogue with
both sexes, puka shells, his shirts, and bell bottoms. David became a pop icon. That was not
what he wanted to achieve, but that was what people wanted to remember.
He played his first concert in 2010 on February 6, with Davy Jones, with whom he appeared
on stage since 2008. It was noticed that David wasn’t as professional as always. "I would think that if everyone in the audience knows the lyrics to ‘Point Me In The Direction
Of Albuquerque’, the guy who made it a hit couldn’t be bothered to remember the lyrics (..) He
was not able to get through ‘In My Life’ without flubs (..) It was his willful, downright boastful lack of personal preparation that grated. On the up scale, Cassidy’s voice is in fine form, and
he’s still got sexy moves."
In June 2010, a very popular British journalist and novelist, Allison Pearson published a book
called, ‘I Think I Love You’. It became an international bestseller and was translated into many
languages.
The first part of the book took place in the 70s and was about 13 year old Petra
Williams from Wales, who like millions of other girls all over the world, was in love with David
Cassidy. At the time she had no idea that she’d won the contest in which the first prize was
air tickets to Los Angeles and a meeting with her idol. She learned about it 24 years later after
her mother’s death, and when she herself was an unhappy, single parent. She was going to
Los Angeles with a school friend to at last meet David..
The book was very well written, funny, nostalgic, very truthful, also because Allison Pearson was
a David Cassidy fan herself.
David liked the book very much, and on February 10, 2011 surprised Allison
and appeared in the studio, while she was a guest on a very popular American breakfast
program, ‘The Today Show’. Allison wrote about it later for her column in The Daily Telegraph: "Through the door came David himself. There may be slightly less public places to come face
to face with your teen idol, but who cares. It was the first time I blushed since 1975 but he was
a gentleman (..) the thrill was still there. However corny our first love is, the young girl who felt
it lives on inside us."
In October 2010 a new list of the very popular TV show ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’. Season 4
Spring 2011 was announced. On the list were La Toya Jackson, Lisa Rinna, Meatloaf, Marlee
Matlin, Dionne Warwick, John Rich to name a few. And David Cassidy.
It was a big surprise
for many because David always said he couldn’t imagine himself competing with other artists on such shows. He agreed to do it first of all because of the chance to support the charity of
his choice with some really big money. David chose one related to Alzheimer and dementia,
because his mother Evelyn, once so beautiful, full of life and so proud of him, suffered severe
dementia.
2010 didn’t end well. On November 3, about 8 p.m. David Cassidy was arrested in Florida on
suspicion of DUI, after he was seen weaving on and off the road in his car, and a half empty
bottle of bourbon was found in his 2008 Mercedes. He told the police officers that he was tired,
having popped a hydrocodone tablet earlier.
He was released the next morning at 3.22 a.m. on a $350 bond.
In 2011 David Cassidy played 23 concerts in the USA, most of them at popular casinos, and
one concert in the UK.
Deb Pasco saw his performance on January 28 and also met him in person. ‘He is a
surprisingly small, wiry man. Up close he looks his age, having admirably refrained from
becoming a botoxed caricature of his younger self. And yes, his million-watt smile is a killer as
it was back in the day. (..) Watching him perform I wondered how it felt to achieve your greatest success at the age of 20. Wouldn’t ever subsequent success have a less-than
feel? (..) David - we still know we love you.’
On February 16 David Cassidy agreed to enter a no contest plea and instead was sentenced
to one year probation, license suspended for six months and required to complete 50 hours of
community service, complete an alcohol education course, pay $ 500 in fines and attend a
DUI ‘victim impact panel’.
The Celebrity Apprentice was a hugely popular TV reality competition series hosted by real
estate tycoon Donald Trump. Aired on NBC was viewed by more than 8 million people. The
first episode of 11th Season with David, was recorded in December 2010, and aired on March
6, 2011. The first task was to cook pizza for the charity, but David’s only big charity donation
was from his daughter, Katie. Katie grew into a beautiful woman and became a very popular
actress.
Making The Celebrity Apprentice turned out to be difficult. While in the pizza shop David was
pushed deliberately by another contestant, Richard Hatch. Everybody thought that Hatch
would leave the program, but Donald Trump fired David. He said that David lacked the required
passion and conviction for the competition. Many people also thought that Trump was thinking
about ratings, and every popular reality show needed a bully.
It was a hard experience for David. He didn’t expect that there would be a lot of preparations
and promotions. Making the episode took a lot of time. Later he couldn’t say for more than
two months that he was actually fired. In January 2011 he said in an interview published in
March : ‘I’m a really good team player. That’s what it takes to work in the theater. That’s what
it takes to work in the band (...) I’ve never done any reality TV and I looked at it as - a) an
opportunity to reach a lot of people, b) to try to raise a lot of money for the charity.’
In February David played three unusual concerts at the Holland Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
He performed with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra in the second part of each of the shows.
David sang beautifully and looked fabulous in the full length tuxedo.
At the end of March he had an eye surgery, but despite this and a cold he had, he played a
special concert at the Superstar Theatre in Atlantic City on April 9, 2011. A huge birthday cake
for David was brought on stage. He was accompanied by Beau with his band ‘Fates’, and
Danny Bonaduce. After 40 years Danny at last learned how to play the bass, and to the great joy of
the audience, together with David they performed ‘Doesn’t Somebody Want To Be Wanted’.
He had another birthday concert, in London. Before it, David appeared on the TV UK program,
‘The One Show’. Like always, he was so kind and friendly, but during the program, had an
argument with a fellow guest, former jockey and a known TV and radio presenter, Brough
Scott. Their discussion was so agitated that the host of the program had to interrupt them.
They quarreled about the Great National, the most famous and valued jump race in Europe.
David had his own strong opinions about it, and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind: "Your jump
racing (in Britain) is so incredibly challenging. We’re talking about horses and animals. I love racing with passion more than anyone. The breeding programs have gotten so unsound. The
breeders went for speed not for strength."He also said that some of the fences should be
lowered.
On April 12 David played his birthday show at the sold out London’s HMV Hammersmith
Apollo, Beau also performed with his band, and of course ‘Happy Birthday’ was sung.
In 2011 David had serious financial problems. In August Bank United filed for $916.488 from
him. In 2005 he’d bought a condo in Fort Lauderdale for $1.3 million but he stopped making
payments on its expensive $ 900,000 mortgage. In July 2012 in exchange for that residence,
the bank agreed to forgo his debt.
In turn, in October David sued Sony and Sony-owned Screen Gems for The Partridge Family
merchandise. He was only paid $5000 for all of the things sold with his name and likeness,
and he had never received his contractually owed share. His case had wide publicity, and
David gave a lot of interviews for the press and TV. Some of them were very emotional.
He
was resentful of being treated that way by Screen Gems and Sony which still earned a lot of
money with reruns and DVD’s. David said that he never got any accounting records so he
even didn’t know how much money he should have got.
He said in an interview for CNN: ‘It’s just ludicrous and unfair and wrong. It’s greed’.
The
studio’s lawyer wrote to David’s lawyer: ‘Our right to use the name of Mr. Cassidy in
merchandise expired in the 70s. However, we continue to have the unfettered right to
merchandise The Partridge Family and Mr. Cassidy does not share in any such receipts.’
In 2011 David looked often tired and very serious, but also confused and vulnerable. And a
few times he said that as much as he loved performing, perhaps he would stop touring
completely. To concentrate on something that didn’t concern showbusiness. He was very
worried about his mother who since 2005 had severe dementia.
At the beginning of Evelyn’s
illness, it was possible to communicate with her, but in 2011, she was 87 years old, couldn’t
walk or talk and she received round the clock care. David was the only child, and he was very
conscious that there were millions of baby-boomers who had elderly parents in need of help
and support.
David wanted to do something to raise awareness of this problem and funds to find a cure for
that terrifying illness.
On May 18, 2012 David Cassidy took part in the Alzheimer's Foundation of America
Educational Conference as a keynote speaker and delivered ‘A Son’s Story’.
He also had a lot of personal and health problems besides financial ones. He tried to protect
his private life, but it wasn’t a mystery that his marriage had been fiction for some time. When
Beau moved out for college, he and Sue separated again. This time for good.
David was very saddened by Davy Jones’ unexpected death of a heart attack in February
2012. He was only 66. David performed with Davy Jones the previous year, and they had
another joint concert scheduled on April 14. They knew each other for so many years and had so much in common. Both actors who didn’t plan to become teen idols and both passionate
horsemen. Davy was even a jockey in the 60s. David said about his late friend: “People forget
he was a very good actor. He said to me once - ‘This Monkees thing ruined my acting career’.
He was a very loving and caring guy.”
That year he played really great concerts. On April 14 at Magic City Casino in Miami. He got
a standing ovation for his tribute to Davy Jones and singing ‘Daydream Believer’ and ‘I’m a
Believer’. But first of all David concentrated on music, and not chatting with the audience. No
more unfinished songs or forgotten lyrics.
Another great concert was on July 14, 2012 when David played for a 10,000 audience at the
Des Plaines Fling. A long 90 minute gig where again he didn’t chat much - only joking about
his thinning hair and fractured finger. Each member of his group had a solo performance.
On November 3 at Magic City Casino in Miami, David was honored at the Film, Recording and
Entertainment Council Gala. He was given a Life Achievement Award. He played two concerts
on 5 and 6 November and left for the UK. David again was there playing 7 concerts - the tour
ended in Liverpool on November 17 and it was his last ever performance in England.
The tour
was called ‘Once In a Lifetime’ and David performed with Smokie, Hot Chocolate and Leo
Sayer. David wasn’t in a good form, but he needed money. It was noticed by journalists that
he was struggling with some notes, chatted too much, but of course his fans were in ‘nostalgia
wonderland’ and didn’t care.
He had a lot of health problems in 2012. In September two
concerts were canceled because of his illness. In November he had a virus infection.
This year one more concert had to be canceled, scheduled on December 29..
On December 23, 2012, David Cassidy’s mother, Evelyn Ward, died.
Hi Weronika, thank you so much for all of this information! I really enjoy hearing about David's concerts! Since he was such great friends with Davy Jones, I am so glad that they were able to do some concerts together. I would love to read "I Think I Love You" by Allison Pearson! I'm so happy that David liked it. That was so sweet of him to appear on "The Today Show" to surprise (and thank, I think) Allison! I do not believe that our first love is corny. I believe that he is always in our heart, and with us forever. That is so sad that David's Mom suffered so much with severe dementia. David really suffered, seeing her go through this, too. My Dad had dementia too, and so does my sister in law's Mom. So many people suffer with it, and it is so sad and heartbreaking to see your loved one suffer with it. That was so wonderful of David to take this horrible cross, or burden, and appear on "The Celebrity Apprentice," to help raise money to try to end this horrible disease. I love the videos of David singing "Since I Fell for You" and Breaking Up is Hard To Do" in his full length tuxedo, at the Holland Center, in Omaha, Nebraska. I wish that we all could have been there! That is so sad that David's Mom, Evelyn, passed away 2 days before Christmas. It is SO sad to lose a loved one, especially around this time. In spite of all of David's problems and setbacks (we all have them), he gave his all, and helped so many of us, in so many ways. David, we will always love you!
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