Historical records matching David Cassidy
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About David Cassidy
The son of Irish-Catholic Jack Cassidy, a respected stage and television star, and actress Evelyn Ward, of English Protestant descent., David Bruce Cassidy has had one of the most variety-filled careers in the entertainment industry. He is best known for his role as the character of Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family. He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and still performs today.
Cassidy made his stage debut in ‘The Pyjama Game’, followed by the Los Angeles Theatre Company’s ‘And So To Bed’, during his senior year at Rexford High School in 1967. His professional debut on Broadway was in the production of ‘The Fig Leaves are Falling’ (1969).
People started to notice him and he moved on to make appearances in various television shows during the late 1960s and early 1970s. These included ‘Marcus Welby, M.D.’, a medical drama; ‘The Mod Squad’, a police drama; ‘Bonanza’, an American Western/cowboy programme (the first regularly broadcast television programme to be filmed in colour); and ‘Ironside’, a police drama series.
His big break came with the hugely successful television series ‘The Partridge Family’, in which he starred from 1970 to 1974. It was the story of a family who travelled the country, playing rock music. Cassidy was eldest son and singing teen heartthrob, Keith Partridge, alongside his Academy Award winning step-mother, Shirley Jones, who played Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of the five talented children. The show catapulted Cassidy to fame.
He sang the lead vocals for ‘The Partridge Family’ recordings and during the run of the show, ten ‘Partridge Family’ albums and several solo albums were produced. The biggest recorded hit, ‘I Think I Love You’ (1970), helped Cassidy become a teen idol in his own right. He received Grammy nominations, won a Golden Apple Award and had some hit singles outside of the show. His fan club became the largest in music industry history, even outstripping those of Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
With his growing fame and singing success, Cassidy was keen to shake his squeaky-clean teen idol image and to pursue a solo career. He decided to leave the show, and ‘The Partridge Family’ was cancelled in 1974, after 96 episodes.
Concentrating for a while on his singing, Cassidy had many chart-topping singles, including ‘Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted’, ‘I Woke Up In Love This Morning’, ‘Breaking Up Is Hard To Do’, ‘Cherish’, and ‘Rock Me Baby’. In 1974, Cassidy went on a concert tour that began in New Zealand, and took him to Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and ended in England.
He married his first wife, Kay Lenz, in 1977 and they divorced in 1982. The following year, he received an Emmy nomination as Best Dramatic Actor for the television film ‘A Chance to Live’ (1978).
Cassidy continued to act, making many notable television and stage appearances for a number of years. He worked in several Broadway musicals, including ‘Little Johnny Jones’ (1981) and the part of Joseph in the original version of ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ (1983).
Moving to England in 1984, Cassidy concentrated on writing new songs, and married his second wife, South African sportswoman Meryl Tanz. He recorded the album ‘Romance’ in 1985 and enjoyed sold-out British concert tours. In 1986, a mere two years after they married, Meryl and David divorced.
Cassidy was gaining considerable credibility as both a dramatic and a musical theatre actor. He took over from Sir Cliff Richard to play the Rock Star in the London West End production of ‘Time’ (1987), with Sir Lawrence Olivier and played opposite his half-brother, Shaun Cassidy, with Petula Clark, in ‘Blood Brothers’ (1994).
He turned his hand to film making, back in America, and the feature film ‘Instant Karma’ (1990) was the result. He married his third wife, singer/songwriter, Sue Shifrin on 30 March 1991 and they had a son, Beau Devin Cassidy (born 8 February 1991).
Next up was big production Las Vegas shows. In 1996, Cassidy took over ‘EFX’, reworking it and turning it into a money-spinning success. The show received many awards and he only retired from it when he injured his foot during a performance. In 1999, Cassidy started up the ‘Rat Pack is Back’, a sell-out success, receiving much critical and popular acclaim. Then he wrote and appeared in ‘At the Copa’ (2000) with Sheena Easton and the largest big-band orchestra in Las Vegas.
Cassidy set off on a world tour in 2001 and secured a record deal in order to release his high-concept stage/music ideas to home audiences.
January 2005 found Cassidy spending a week on a morning radio show at WJMK-FM, in Chicago. He chatted happily to fans and lunched with the winner of a competition the station ran.
A life’s passion for Cassidy has been horses and he breeds and races thoroughbreds. He and his wife are also committed to helping the needy, involving themselves in activities such as the 1994 Rebuild LA campaign, with spin-offs to help the children in Kosovo and the formation of KidsCharities.org.
- Reference: The Biography Channel
Actor, Musician. Born David Bruce Cassidy, he was best known for his role of Keith Partridge on the 1970s ABC sitcom "The Partridge Family". He also was a popular teen idol and pop singer during the 1970s. The son of actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward, he was eighteen years of age when he performed in the play "The Fig Leafs are Falling" in New York. He made his television acting debut in 1969 on the television series "The Survivors" He would appear on other television series such as "Ironside", "Marcus Welby M.D." and "Adam-12" before gaining the role of Keith Partridge on "The Partridge Family" in the fall of 1970. This role, which lasted four years, made him popular and brought his music career to the forefront of the American television viewer. Besides the ten albums that were released by the Partridge Family, he had five solo albums and went on music tours. In 1974 he decided to quit touring and acting on the Partridge Family and to continue with his solo music work. He later had his own television series in the late 1970s with "David Cassidy: Man Undercover". He would go on to appear in various television series for the rest of his career, but primarily focused on his music career, appearing either solo or on the musical stage. In the late 2000s, he had several legal problems and admitted that he had an alcohol problem. In early 2017 he announced that he was living with non-Alzheimer's dementia. He passed away after suffering from liver and kidney failure. (bio by: [fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=46542485" target="_blank Mr. Badger Hawkeye)]
- Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: May 27 2018, 5:55:30 UTC
- Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Dec 12 2021, 22:02:15 UTC
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David Cassidy's Timeline
| 1950 |
April 12, 1950
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Manhattan, New York County, New York, United States
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| 1986 |
November 25, 1986
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Los Angeles, California, United States
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| 2017 |
November 21, 2017
Age 67
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Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida, United States
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