Remembering David Cassidy

David Bruce Cassidy was born on April 12th, 1950 at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City. His parents were the famous singer and actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward. Ward was a descendant of Colonial Americans of Irish and Swiss origin. Some of Ward's ancestors were founders of Newark, New Jersey!

Since his parents were always on the road touring, the young David spent his early years living with his maternal grandparents in an middle class neighborhood in West Orange, New Jersey. In 1956, Cassidy learned from the neighborhood children that his parents had been divorced for TWO YEARS and had not told him! The reason for this? Cassidy's parents had decided that due to his young age, it would be better for his emotional stability to not mention the divorce. After all, they were often gone with theater productions and their home life remained the same. In 1956, Jack Cassidy married Shirley Jones. The couple had three children -- Shaun, born 1958, Patrick, born 1962 and Ryan, born 1966.

In 1968 after completing one final session of summer school in order to receive his high school diploma, Cassidy moved into the rental home owned by his parents Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones. The house was in Irvington New York. His half brothers also resided in Irvington. While there, Cassidy sought fame as an actor/musician. At the same time, Cassidy worked half days in the mail room of a textile firm. Cassidy moved out when his career began to flourish. Jack Cassidy was responsible for getting David Cassidy his first manager. After singing with Universal Studios in 1969, Jack introduced him to former table tennis champion and close friend Ruth Aarons. Aaron had a theater background from which she later found her niche as a talent manager. Aarons had represented Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones for several year prior to this (Aarons would also represent Shaun Cassidy later on). Aarons became both an authority figure and a close friend to Cassidy and the guiding force behind his on screen success.

After not making much money on season one of the Partridge Family from Screen Gems, Aarons found a loophole in Cassidy's contract. Aarons managed to get Cassidy an much better deal. The new contract not only had far superior terms and a four year stipulation. This was a rare stipulation for the time. Cassidy made his professional Broadway debut in 1969. The musical was named "The Fig Leave Are Falling". The show closed after only four performances . However, a casting director saw the show and asked Cassidy to make a screen test.

In 1969, Cassidy moved to Los Angeles. 1969 was also the year that Cassidy starred in episodes of Ironside, Marcus Welby, M.D., Adam-12 and Bonanza. In 1970, Cassidy landed the role that made him a household name. He was cast as "Keith Partridge" on The Partridge Family!

Furthermore, his real life stepmother, Shirley Jones, was cast as his mother, Shirley Partridge on the show as well! He was hired based on his good looks. The people behind the show had no idea of his singing abilities. This changed after the series had started and Cassidy sang on the show.

Once the song "I Think I Love You" became a huge hit, Cassidy expanded into solo recordings. He went on tours and sang both songs from his solo efforts and from the Partridge Family. Cassidy had aspirations of being another Mick Jagger. Instead, he became a teen idol. Cassidy loathed this and it took him many years to be at peace with his bubblegum pop music roots. Ten Partridge Family records and five solo albums were released during the run of the series. Cassidy became a HUGE singing star.

He sold out concert after concert after concert. But tragedy struck at one of Cassidy's concerts. At a show in London's White City Stadium on May 26th, 1974, nearly 800 people were crushed at the front of the stage. 30 people were taken to the hospital. Fourteen year old Bernadette Whelan died without ever regaining consciousness. The girl turned out to have a pre-existing heart condition. Cassidy said that the event would haunt him until the day that he died. From this, Cassidy decided to quit the Partridge Family and touring. In 1978, Cassidy appeared in an episode of Police Story titled: "A Chance To Live" and won an EMMY for his performance. NBC created "David Cassidy: Undercover" but the show was cancelled after one season.

The 1980's were not kind. Cassidy , despite earning a fortune in touring, was broke by 1980's. Cassidy still had musical success, however. The single "The Last Kiss" was included on the album "Romance" which went gold in Europe and Australia. Cassidy also had some success in the field of musical theater during the 1980's. In 1990, David hired his "TV Brother" Danny Bonaduce as his warm up act. Cassidy also returned to the top 40 with the single "Lyin' To Myself".

In 1998 , Cassidy scored with the Adult Contemporary hit: "No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross" from his "New Trick: Old Dog" album. Cassidy appeared in the movie "Popstar" and starred alongside his brother Patrick in "Ruby And The Rockits", a short lived show produced by Shaun Cassidy. Cassidy appeared on (and was the first to be fired) Celebrity Apprentice in 2011.

Cassidy married three times, had two children and had to file for bankruptcy in 2015. Cassidy was an alcoholic who was arrested twice for DUI. On February 2nd, 2017, Cassidy announced that he had dementia. He retired from performing.

David Cassidy died from liver failure on November 21st , 2017. He was only 67 years old. And so, Mr. Bronze Age says a fond farewell to yet another icon of the 1970's & 1980's. R.I.P. to Mr. David Bruce Cassidy.