Love Is All That I Ever Needed. Chapter 41. I Know I Love You..
2015 started better. In January David ended a long three year battle with Sony, He sought
millions but got just $158,000.
And it was good to be on tour again, with people he loved and
trusted, his band and his fans. That year he played 12 concerts, all in the USA.
On January 10 he performed at the B.B.King Blues Club in New York. He looked older, tired,
he suffered back pains, on the photographs it’s painful to see his tragically sad eyes, but his
voice was still great, the concert was fantastic. "We witnessed a vocal showcase as he proved
how good his voice is, still after 40 years. David talked to his crowd as if we were old friends
sitting at the table having a coffee with him. The personal touch in each story makes you feel
as if you just spoke one to one. If he had the long hair it would have looked like the moves of
a young man all done with his natural rhythm. Total class act. This man, David Cassidy, still
has it."
On January 24 speaking by phone he took part in ‘Tony Perkins Show’, it was a podcast on
which two known radio personalities were talking with their famous guests. David told how in
the 70s he was robbed by people who handled his money, he had no financial education and
he trusted them.
He cried when he talked about Jack, that his father only once saw him on
stage, how he and his step brothers were scared of him, he also said that he started drinking
seriously in 2002 and one of the reasons for it was his unhappy marriage.
In February David was again written about in every tabloid when he filed for bankruptcy. He
was also in a legal dispute over horses he co-owned.
Sue, who didn’t live in Florida any more,
demanded he keep her informed if he sold any assets or properties.
Teri Cote decided to leave the band and Felipe Torres, a New Jersey man and experienced
musician became a new drummer in the band.
On April 27, 2015 at the age of 52 Suzanne J. Crough, ‘Tracy Partridge’ died. After TPF she
took part in a short-lived TV show, ‘Mulligan’s Stew’, and in 1978 played in a docudrama called
‘Teenage Father’ for which Taylor Hackford got an Academy Award.
But Suzanne left show
business, she chose real life, she finished college, ran a bookshop, was a very happy wife,
mother and in March 2015 just became a grandmother. She said she wasn’t in love with David
on the set of The Partridge Family, because he was more like a brother..
David, like
everybody, was very saddened by her death.
In September David auctioned off his Florida house. It was a very painful experience, he spent
a lot of time, work, thought and money to make this place a home, to feel good, safe and
comfortable there. But the price had to be lowered a few times and at last was sold for about
$ 2 millions.
September 9 was another very difficult day for David. And very unlucky. He was involved in a
car crash where he allegedly tried to cover his driving plates before driving away. He was
identified by the witnesses. What more he was driving on a suspended license because
David’s license was suspended for 6 months on May 12 when he was sentenced for 2013
charge while driving intoxicated in New York.
Later in October David was sentenced to 2 years of probation and had his driving license
suspended again, this time until 2021
In 2016 he played 20 concerts. Three in January. Walking on stage for the first time that year
he said : ‘How do you do, God bless you for all being here, this is so fantastic!’ This time the
opener was ‘C’mon Get Happy’ and David said - ‘Remember this time in your life when there
was nothing but fun and happiness..’
He looked fit and healthy, the audience was enthusiastic, at the brink of ecstasy. David’s
voice was still so powerful, he rocked the bluesy ‘Sweet Little Angel’ and ‘Feeling Alright’.
Everybody had a lot of fun when David played ‘Rock Me Baby’, hadn't done in many years,
and Dave Robicheau added : ‘And I’ve never played that song’.
The author of the review,
Lucio, saw David’s concert the next day too and he wrote : ‘We all know what a DC fan is, but
‘who’ is David Cassidy? If you listen closely to the words and then the song you will hear a
man baring his soul to everyone each night on stage. No longer artificial due to Teen
Magazines and TV Executives, he is now REAL for all of us to witness. Attend a concert, watch
some videos, pay attention, and you’ll get a glimpse of his greatness.’
On March 11, 2016 David again played a great concert at the sold out B.B. King Blues Club
in New York. He had a great duet with a blues singer, J.Craig’s friend, Lynne Jordan. They
sang together ‘Sweet Little Angel’..
March 12, 2016, Wolf Den, Uncasville. ‘He looked great, sounded great and had the audience
in the palm of his hand. You’d never known he was 65, so much energy and enthusiasm and
obvious love for the audience’.
April 16, 2016, Riviera Theater, North Tonawanda, NY. ‘The voice was smooth and clear with
David effortlessly gliding up and down octaves as he did over 40 years. He came, they saw,
he conquered.’
April 27, 2016. Sue and David divorced, 30 years after they met for the second time..43 after
they met in London..
In August David recorded the EP 'David Cassidy Christmas’, it was released in November,
available on Amazon and iTunes. Total length 15.45, six Christmas classics, the same he
recorded for The Partridge Family in 1971. (except Silent Night). The recordings had a great bluesy feeling, but it was painful to listen to them for fans who remembered his magical young
voice singing ‘My Christmas Card to You’ 45 years ago.
In December David promoted his EP on some TV programs, but he didn’t look well, his voice
was hoarse, he had a bloated face, he looked like someone who was trying to keep on the
surface at all cost. And like he was drinking heavily again.
On December 15 while on tv
program, ‘Doctors’ he talked about his alcoholism and how much he missed his son.
Since 1971 David Cassidy has played about 600 concerts, everywhere in the USA,
everywhere in the UK, in Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Sweden,
Denmark, Japan and Hong Kong. He brought love, joy and happiness for hundreds of
thousands of people who saw him performing for them.
In 2017 he played his last 5 gigs. Not
all of them were great. After the one played on February 18, at Canyon Club, Agoura Hills in
California, David announced two days later that he had been living with dementia and he would
retire and never perform any more.
The last concert was played 46 years after that first one in Seattle. This time it was in the city
he loved, the city he was born in 1950. In New York. Mark Wyckoff wrote a touching article
called ‘In My Life I Love You All’ about two last David Cassidy’s concerts, from March 3
Greenwich Odeum, Greenwich, RI, and March 4, B.B.King Blues Club.
Craig J. Snider, who
became like a younger brother for David, said : ‘It’s time. It’s been coming for a while’. Teri
Cote appeared on stage too. For David.
David had back pain and had problems with his eyes. He asked the audience :’My eyes have
become so sensitive to light that I ask please turn the lights off or go. No flashes.’ He recently
had laryngitis and fought with his voice. David said that playing concerts never was a job,
always fun.”I owe it all to you. I’m nothing without you, your support for me and your love for
me. I gave it back to you thousands of times'.
It’s difficult to imagine the level of emotion during that last concert. Everybody on stage and in
the audience knew it was really the end of that amazing journey, that no one would ever see
David Cassidy performing live, and that they witnessed the end of one in a kind career.
The last song was his first and the biggest hit, ‘I Think I Love You’. With the crowd on his feet,
David was leaving the stage shouting :’Thank you. For all of it. For all the decades. I don’t
think I do..I know I love you..’
David still wanted to make one more record. He talked about it for a few years. He wanted to
do it before it was too late. That record was a throwback to the beginnings, a labor of love.
David at the end of his life did this EP for himself, for his father, but it was also his last gift for
his fans. ’Songs My Father Taught Me’.
And he gave us even more, because he agreed to
have those music sessions to be filmed.
Fate meant that David Cassidy didn’t live to see his last album released or the film.
The EP called ‘Songs My Father Taught Me’ had just five tracks. ‘Night and Day’,
‘Summertime’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Sweet Little Angel’, and Craig J. Snider's composition,
‘Till We Meet Again’. It was released on May 24, 2018 by Mixkitchen Musica, Craig said : ‘We
captured that little bit of flame before it was out.’
The EP became number one, the top selling jazz release on Amazon. From an Amazon review
:’ This is his last gift to the fans who stayed with him over the years, and for people who should
listen and hear David’s heart, despite his falling voice and declining health.’
On June 11, 2018 an amazing and very moving A&E documentary was aired. ‘The Last
Session’. From the start that film aroused a lot of emotions, the family and many fans were
against showing David Cassidy as he was at the end of his life. Because it was made just a
couple of weeks before he died. He knew it himself. Also why he was dying.
For millions of people all around the world November 21, 2017 was one of the saddest days
of their lives, they believed to the end that David could do it. His fans so many times saw David
Cassidy reinventing himself, starting all over again. He and his music were with them all their
lives. That was much too soon, they wanted to see David getting old, happy and healthy
surrounded by love he was seeking all his life.
It was a nightmare to read Jo-Ann Geffen, David’s
publicist statement :
‘David died surrounded by those he loved, with
joy in his heart and free from the pain that had
gripped him for so long. Thank you for the
abundance and support you have shown him
these many years.’
'Are you sleeping my baby? Just close your eyes and let me run away..’..’I guess this is good-bye..’
David Bruce Cassidy died on November 21, 2017 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
I want to thank Jane Reaburn for her support and patience and believing in me, and
understanding, and Tammie Pursley and Mary Anthony for their friendship and helping me
with editing this book.
And David Cassidy..Long Live his Legacy.
Weronika Cyrynger. Warsaw, Poland. January-April 2023
This is the link to chapter 1(ond others)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful summary of the life of a man who was so loved and is so missed.
Thank you so much for all the time & effort you have put into this - it was obviously a labor of love!
Thank you xxx we all love David, and I think we need such a book, a summary of everything he's ever done. His was amazing career, and he still brings love and happiness. He is so missed...
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