David Cassidy: The Last Session

[BW Manilowe]

55 minutes ago, jumper sage said:

I think it was all tied up in a package.

If you're responding to my post, it was. As in, if those publishers got access to David back, then they'd write about any/all of Jack & Shirley's 3 kids (unless you meant Jack & Shirley's sons came in a "package" to be written about), & those kids would get mini bikes. It was a quid quo pro.

What I was trying to say was I thought the magazine publisher went to Jack about getting access to David back. It wasn't the producer of The Partridge Family as was said.

[jumper sage]

I got what you said but back in the 70s the shows, the music and the magazines were all tied together.  Without the magazines you wouldn't have a show.  The lady reporter did say she complained but David said that the producer or whoever on the show rewarded the dad with the mini bikes.  He definitely said he and not she.  I took it that the lady complained to someone on the show who then called David's dad and cut him in too.  That is why David explained how his dad got a percentage of him.

[msrachelj]

On 6/14/2018 at 10:20 AM, SunnyBeBe said:

Thank you for that information.  It might have been helpful, if the producers had provided some context for David's words. It sounds like he was saying that his dementia was due to alcoholism and that his odd behavior was not just dementia. People with dementia and alcoholism, often continue to drink, which is very destructive.    I think someone upthread posted about one kind of dementia that that is common with alcoholics. I don't take this as him lying about having dementia at all.  Maybe, he was confused or didn't know how to explain his condition.  

I have a family member who I am responsible for, who has dementia.  She is David's age and was stricken with it before he was diagnosed. So, I've become quite familiar with it, due to research, discussions with doctors, psychiatrists, memory care representatives, dementia patients and their families.   My loved one, has Vascular Dementia, which is not caused by alcoholism, but, many long term alcoholics do have dementia due to long term drinking. Dementia can come from a number of conditions, including, alcoholism, Alzheimers, Lewy Body disorder, Parkinsons, etc.  Dementia patients can make many contentions that are not accurate.  That's why when dementia patients go for medical treatment, they have family members or their healthcare Power of Attorney accompany them, because they are often unable to provide accurate information to the doctor.  They may claim they are taking medications, but they aren't. That they eat well, but, they don't. That they have no sleep problems, but, they wander all night, etc.  They may fall down frequently, but, not report this to doctors.  Their sense of reality is often off and they aren't able to function or even take care of themselves, depending on the severity.  Of all those with dementia that I have met in the last 4 years, I don't know any who wouldn't deny having it. 

At this point, I'm not positive of what David's medical condition was, prior to his death, but, I hate to think that some of his behavior that was obnoxious, is attributed to him personally and not to his brain damage. Dementia can make a person snappy, unreasonable, aggressive and intolerable. Some of them have to be placed into memory care facilities due to agitation and resistance to care.   So, I just hope that the real David isn't blurred by his brain damage. 

it looks like he was a bit of an ass. no dementia, just alcoholism and all that does to you. he seemed phony to me. he was a liar obviously, and how his daughter was not even mentioned is abhorrent. of course, he abandoned her so.....makes a person feel bad to think this was one of their first crushes. how is bobby sherman doing?! anyone know? :)

On 6/14/2018 at 10:34 AM, Blergh said:

Of course, one thing that I think needs mentioning here is that via claiming to have lied about dementia (despite having told a heartbreaking account of his own afflicted mother), the now deceased Mr. Cassidy has just handed those disbelievers ammo. IOW, it's tough enough for those afflicted by dementia to be taken seriously and be given the help they need but now they (and their caregivers) will have to deal with the added ' David Cassidy said he had dementia but then said he really was  drunk so how do we know so-and-so who said they had Alzheimer's isn't lying for pity's sake like David Cassidy did'.

Sorry but the above makes me rather angry and all his talent doesn't erase the needless extra burden he's put on authentic dementia sufferers and their loved ones.

it was a totally shitty thing to do. 

[Angeltoes]

Bobby went in a whole different direction and became an EMT/police officer.  I can remember he delivered a baby and the mother named it after him.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Sherman

I think David came across as a huge narcissist. He really was his father's son.  The one woman in the band looked like she was pretending to be interested in his ramblings while really thinking,"Here we go with this shit again."

[jumper sage]

30 minutes ago, msrachelj said:

his daughter was not even mentioned is abhorrent. of course, he abandoned her so

Just like his dad did, hmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Maybe he should have talked to John Gotti Jr. and how he broke the father/son cycle.

30 minutes ago, msrachelj said:

how is bobby sherman doing?! anyone know? :)

Check out his wikipedia page.  Or click on the link above my post.

[msrachelj]

20 hours ago, Angeltoes said:

Bobby went in a whole different direction and became an EMT/police officer.  I can remember he delivered a baby and the mother named it after him.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Sherman

I think David came across as a huge narcissist. He really was his father's son.  The one woman in the band looked like she was pretending to be interested in his ramblings while really thinking,"Here we go with this shit again."

i agree. that woman knew what was up. i'm sure they all did. they have been putting up with his bullshit for years. so sad to remember the cute young man who could have made a better life for himself. yes he was typecast as a bubble gum musician, but then don't go out on tour with that crap and change things. your father was a p.o.s. , you don't even recognize your own daughter. aacckk... wasted. he was right wasted time, wasted life.

[BW Manilowe]

On 6/14/2018 at 7:10 AM, ShowsILoveToHate said:

I really want to watch the documentary but I don't think that I want to ruin my memories of him. I thought he was so adorable, and I loved his voice. I can still hear every song in my head, all of these years later.  

I had a life-sized poster of David on the back on my bedroom door when I was a kid. lol  I saw him twice in concert, and I remember that one of the concerts was right after he had his gall bladder removed, and we could his bandages underneath his white jumpsuit. 

Was he on Celebrity Apprentice? I think I remember some of the other castmates, the men, treating him badly.  Then again, there was some ignorant person who also was mean to George Takei.  People can be real jerks. 

Thanks to everyone for posting about the documentary, and about your personal experiences.  :) 

Yes David was on The Celebrity Apprentice a few years ago; the season with Richard Hatch, the first winner of Survivor (the 1 who went to prison because he thought CBS was supposed to pay the taxes on his winnings, but CBS said he was supposed to, & he went to prison for 51 months for tax evasion afterwards; then he went back for another 9 months for not amending 2 of his tax forms involved in the tax evasion case). David was the first to be fired, at least partially because he got in a spat of some kind with Richard Hatch, relating to a task assigned to the celebrity teams.

[BW Manilowe]

On 6/19/2018 at 11:48 AM, msrachelj said:

i agree. that woman knew what was up. i'm sure they all did. they have been putting up with his bullshit for years. so sad to remember the cute young man who could have made a better life for himself. yes he was typecast as a bubble gum musician, but then don't go out on tour with that crap and change things. your father was a p.o.s. , you don't even recognize your own daughter. aacckk... wasted. he was right wasted time, wasted life.

I've been trying to figure out how to say something I've wanted to for a few days, but wasn't sure how to without it being misunderstood somehow. Hopefully the comment bolded above might be able to help me out with that.

David was, unfortunately typecast, both musically & actingwise, as a "bubblegum music teen idol", which he never really escaped from. Speaking for myself, I don't think the music was crap (but also, I probably didn't know any better about music at the time, because the 4 years/4 US TV seasons the show aired were when I was in the 2nd-6th grades, around ages 7-11... probably pretty much in the target demographic for listening to "bubblegum music"). As silly as it probably sounds, I actually have all of The Partridge Family's albums & David's, like, 1st 3 solo albums on my iPod. I have a lot of good memories attached to that music/that era, &, for me, it holds up/has held up over the years (I'd like to hear somebody current cover "Song for a Rainy Day" from David's Rock Me Baby album).

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that, whatever else he sang, David knew that he'd have to sing at least "I Think I Love You" in his concerts, since that's the "signature song" of The Partridge Family, & was his actual first hit; not singing it would be like Barry Manilow not singing "Mandy" &/or (his version of, since David also covered it) "I Write the Songs" in concert. I'm also betting that David's first tour had more music in the shows from The Partridge Family than any other source--which was probably to be expected until he got more records, & outside material, under his belt. And David singing stuff to remind the audience how he got to be famous is perfectly fine.

Having said that, I was looking at the track lists for the stuff I don't have by David, & the the track lists for the stuff I hadn't heard by him in so long, I'd forgotten the track lists. I was, or maybe I wasn't, surprised to find that David started doing remakes of songs from The Partridge Family on his solo albums as far back as his 3rd solo album, Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than Wishes. He covered "Summer Days" by The Partridge Family on that's album.

That's fine that he wanted to see if he could put a different spin on something he originally did under the name of The Partridge Family. But, I'm pretty sure David also did more than 1 remake of "I Think I Love You" (not counting live versions on records/CDs), & he did a "dance remix" album that was mostly old stuff by The Partridge Family, along with a handful of cuts from his 1st 2-3 solo albums. I think there may have been at least a couple more albums/CDs with remakes of The Partridge Family songs on them (the track lists kind of blurred together/got confusing after awhile). I guess my point is, while I get that maybe David wanted to see if he could "improve" the old material by The Partridge Family, which is fine, if he felt that material was "an albatross around his neck" that wasn't helping him be taken as seriously as a musician as it seemed he wanted to be, then maybe he shouldn't have covered so much of it--or the same handful of songs more than once, it seemed--as a solo artist.

I think, by having done that, he's responsible in at least some way(s) for his not being able to escape his "bubblegum music teen idol" persona, even though he really was more than Keith Partridge. Among other things, he starred in the house production shows in at least 2 different Las Vegas resort hotels (& when he was working in 1 of them, at the MGM Grand, that was the era when the hotel had its own theme park on the property, as well as what they called a "Youth Center"--which was, basically, a supervised activity center available to 3-12-year-old children of registered guests for in-house activities, as well as to 6-16-year-old children of registered guests for "supervised excursions"; 1 of my BFFs, who at the time was a teacher without a teaching job, worked there when we met & she said David's son, Beau, would hang out at the center sometimes [& so would David Hasselhoff's 2 daughters]... this was in the early to mid 1990s) & he appeared on Broadway with his half-brother, Shaun, & Petula Clark in Blood Brothers (& there was a Cast Album recorded of them singing the songs).

But if he didn't wanna be known as "Keith Partridge" for the rest of his life, he shouldn't have perpetuated things by doing solo cover versions of as many of the Partridge Family songs as he did. At least that's what I think. He was gonna be "stuck" with at least "I Think I Love You"; he didn't necessarily have to remake it more than once, or remake enough songs by The Partridge Family to fill an album/CD. Sadly, like he said in the A&E special, only then it was about the alcoholism which very likely was at least an underlying cause of his somewhat premature death, "I did it to myself, man.", as far as NOT really being able to escape the "Keith Partridge, bubblegum music teen idol" persona as he so wanted to do.

I'm hoping this is relatively understandable. I tried, at least. 

[BW Manilowe]

Phone Interview Between a DJ in NJ and Danny Bonaduce in Seattle About David's Special; Danny Called It 'Horrendous'

[MsTree]

BW Manilowe, just a brief note to once again tell you how much I thoroughly enjoy reading your celebrity stories. They are always so interesting, insightful and detailed.

If you haven't already done so, you should compile all your stories and write a book. I will be the first to stand in line for an autographed copy.

[msrachelj]

not to mention, did he ever contact the family of the little girl was accidentally killed during one of his concerts? i remember seeing a short clip of an interview many years ago where he was asked if he feels guilty about the accident and he said no, it wasn't his fault. i have to think a compassionate thing to do would have been to go see the parents,  pay for the funeral and maybe set up a small scholarship or something in her name. my takeaway is he stuck his head in the sand and did nothing. of course this is a man who neglected his own daughter. i hope she was at least in the will. i can't believe how much i dislike him.

[BW Manilowe]

On 6/25/2018 at 2:27 PM, msrachelj said:

not to mention, did he ever contact the family of the little girl was accidentally killed during one of his concerts? i remember seeing a short clip of an interview many years ago where he was asked if he feels guilty about the accident and he said no, it wasn't his fault. i have to think a compassionate thing to do would have been to go see the parents,  pay for the funeral and maybe set up a small scholarship or something in her name. my takeaway is he stuck his head in the sand and did nothing. of course this is a man who neglected his own daughter. i hope she was at least in the will. i can't believe how much i dislike him.

According to David's Wikipedia page (under the 1970's section), regarding the death of the fan before/during a show in London, it says:

Quote

Out of respect for the family and to avoid turning the girl's funeral into a media circus, Cassidy did not attend the service, although he spoke to Whelan's parents and sent flowers. Cassidy stated at the time that this would haunt him until the day he died.

That's actually the first time I've read that--that he spoke to her parents & sent flowers, but didn't attend the funeral so it wouldn't become a media circus (which is understandable, & respectful of him, I think). Everywhere else I've read/heard about  the death of the girl, the only things that were said were some form of "David was devastated & decided he wouldn't tour again because of what happened to the girl."

According to the Concerts page of David's website, 

Quote

In 1974 a fourteen year old girl named Bernadette Whelan, was fatally injured at his White City concert. This was his next to last concert during that tour, in England where many of the fans were out of control. Bernadette was among many fans taken from the stadium by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where she managed to linger for four days before dying. David said he had no idea, the night he gave his final concert, that at White City Stadium one of his fans had been carried out in a coma. Many people had told David that she had gone to the concert with a known heart problem and that she suffered a heart attack during the excitement of the concert. However, while doing research for his autobiography in 1991, David found that she died of "traumatic asphyxia. In layman's terms, she had been crushed to death by the crowd." David had already decided this was going to be his last concert tour anyway, but this would later have a tremendous effect on David's mental health.

As for David's daughter, actress Katie Cassidy, she & her descendants were left out of David's will, which was written in 2004. But the magazine article I'm linking to does say, besides that the will was written in 2004, that Katie & David had an up & down relationship, as if to explain/apologize for that omission (& I'm not really sure it does, honestly). David's son, Beau, received the bulk of David's estate, which apparently was only $150,000 at the time of his death. His half-brothers, Shaun, Patrick, & Ryan, "were granted music memorabilia". I'm still not sure what that means.

Edited June 26, 2018 by BW Manilowe
To fix the spelling of a word.

[Mrs. Hanson]

17 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

As for David's daughter, actress Katie Cassidy, she & her descendants were left out of David's will, which was written in 2004. But the magazine article I'm linking to does say, besides that the will was written in 2004, that Katie & David had an up & down relationship, as if to explain/apologize for that omission (& I'm not really sure it does, honestly). David's son, Beau, received the bulk of David's estate, which apparently was only $150,000 at the time of his death. His half-brothers, Shaun, Patrick, & Ryan, "were granted music memorabilia". I'm still not sure what that means.

I read in interview that David and Katie had no relationship - she was raised by her mother and stepfather.  He did not seem bitter about it, it just was.  The "music memorabila" to me, means, his guitars, awards, sheet music, perhaps?

As someone who has wonderful neighbors, among them a long time married couple where the wife has severe dementia/Alzheimer's and has to be in an assisted living facility, the fact that David LIED about that so he could DRINK is just beyond horrible.  Did he live alone?  Did no one ever smell alcohol on him?  How could he lie about this for so long???

[msrachelj]

On 6/26/2018 at 11:46 AM, Mrs. Hanson said:

I read in interview that David and Katie had no relationship - she was raised by her mother and stepfather.  He did not seem bitter about it, it just was.  The "music memorabila" to me, means, his guitars, awards, sheet music, perhaps?

As someone who has wonderful neighbors, among them a long time married couple where the wife has severe dementia/Alzheimer's and has to be in an assisted living facility, the fact that David LIED about that so he could DRINK is just beyond horrible.  Did he live alone?  Did no one ever smell alcohol on him?  How could he lie about this for so long???

i saw him on some show not all that long ago where he said about his daughter, something along the lines of "i have no daughter" , "she is nothing to me", i can't remember exactly. maybe he didn't mean it to sound so harsh but it did. a man who willingly has no relationship with one of his children is a p.o.s in my book. was he paying child support at least?  

 i'm sure people knew he was full of shit about the dementia. i didn't believe it myself when he started talking about it. . no one went public with it. who knows what they were saying to him in private. what does it mean the dr. shil believed him? or pretended to?

[Mrs. Hanson]

5 hours ago, msrachelj said:

i saw him on some show not all that long ago where he said about his daughter, something along the lines of "i have no daughter" , "she is nothing to me", i can't remember exactly. maybe he didn't mean it to sound so harsh but it did. a man who willingly has no relationship with one of his children is a p.o.s in my book. was he paying child support at least?  

 i'm sure people knew he was full of shit about the dementia. i didn't believe it myself when he started talking about it. . no one went public with it. who knows what they were saying to him in private. what does it mean the dr. shil believed him? or pretended to?

See, and I totally believed him as his mom died of dementia so I thought - poor guy.  But in all fairness, I did not look up any videos of him allegedly slurring then blaming it on dementia.  Perhaps if I had I would have changed my mind.

In a way it was a perfect "out" for him - HIPPA prevents anyone prying too deep plus it ran in his family.

[rmontro]

On 6/21/2018 at 2:09 PM, BW Manilowe said:

But if he didn't wanna be known as "Keith Partridge" for the rest of his life, he shouldn't have perpetuated things by doing solo cover versions of as many of the Partridge Family songs as he did. At least that's what I think. He was gonna be "stuck" with at least "I Think I Love You"

If he was set on changing his image, he could have kept doing the old songs that he was best known for, and add his own stuff into the mix.  I'm not all that familiar with his career after his heyday, so maybe he tried to do this.  There's no guarantee he was going to be successful, or be taken seriously though.  I've seen some "nostalgia acts" on tour though, and they seem to do alright for themselves.  And I like some bubblegum music, I think it could set well along some heavier material.  

I think the lady from Rolling Stone might have hit on something when she said that he was on the cover, but had done absolutely nothing to merit being on there.  That sounds harsh, but her point was you got on Rolling Stone (at that point, anyway) because of your artistic contributions, not because you were a teen idol.  It's one thing to talk about wanting to be taken seriously as an artist, but it's another thing to actually come out and do something that resonates with people.  It may be that he just didn't have the chops to be a serious musician, no matter his success as a teen idol/performer.

In any case, it all does come across as a sad story.  Danny Bonaduce also went through addiction problems, but he seems to possess a toughness that David didn't have.  It must be hard to have the world revolve around you at such a young age, and that have it all pulled away.

It also struck me that David seemed to have an odd sort of way of moving, when he talks when he sings.  And even in his younger clips, some of the ways he was moving his body to the music while performing looks kind of odd.  I'm not sure how to describe it beyond that, but I'm sure it got exaggerated with age and alcohol.

Some people have talked about how his band treated him.  I'm sure they knew he was their meal ticket, and had to tolerate certain behaviors from him.  But unlike some people, I do think there was some genuine affection there, even if it was in a subordinate way.  The girl drummer who comforted him reminds me that women can be such wonderful nurturers when they want to be.

[stinkogingko]

I loved the Partridge Family back in the day and still have some of their music on my iPod. This was just sad and terrible. I still don’t have a sense as to why he never really broke free of the teen idol mold. Was he just not talented enough? In retrospect i’m Surprised he didn’t do a CD of standards a long time ago, a la Rod Stewart. He at least had a real connection to that music. His interactions with his band were uncomfortable to watch. I think there was real respect and admiration on their part but I also got the sense that Cassidy could be a vampire, consuming those around him. Just a sad story.

[BW Manilowe]

14 hours ago, stinkogingko said:

I loved the Partridge Family back in the day and still have some of their music on my iPod. This was just sad and terrible. I still don’t have a sense as to why he never really broke free of the teen idol mold. Was he just not talented enough? In retrospect i’m Surprised he didn’t do a CD of standards a long time ago, a la Rod Stewart. He at least had a real connection to that music. His interactions with his band were uncomfortable to watch. I think there was real respect and admiration on their part but I also got the sense that Cassidy could be a vampire, consuming those around him. Just a sad story.

Regarding the bolded: I don't think that was it, necessarily--that he wasn't talented enough. After all, he did get an Emmy nomination for his guest starring role in the Police Story episode that was the pilot for his other, more short-lived, series David Cassidy: Man Undercover. He had to have the skills/chops to be able to do something special enough with that role for the Emmys to have recognized him for it.

I think at least part of why his career maybe/probably didn't go like he wanted it to/was hoping it would was perhaps because of who his dad (& maybe, somehow, his stepmother) was--a Tony-winning character actor/singer who (I think, at least) was respected in his field (& his stepmother was an equally-respected Oscar-winning actress/singer). I think perhaps there were people who, unfairly, compared him to his father professionally & decided he didn't have whatever it was that his father had which made him--David's father--the star he became. 

[rmontro]

On 7/15/2018 at 6:02 AM, BW Manilowe said:

Regarding the bolded: I don't think that was it, necessarily--that he wasn't talented enough. After all, he did get an Emmy nomination for his guest starring role in the Police Story episode that was the pilot for his other, more short-lived, series David Cassidy: Man Undercover. He had to have the skills/chops to be able to do something special enough with that role for the Emmys to have recognized him for it

I think he had a better chance at having a good acting career than having a serious musical career, if he had focused on that.  I'm not sure that he was talented enough to sustain a serious musical career, but even if you give him the benefit of the doubt that he was:  I never got a sense of what style of music was really his.  He was singing the standards in tribute to his father, they talked about him playing blues on the guitar, but I don't get a real sense of identity musically for what he was all about.  The music that was popular in the years following his teen idol period had a harder edge to it than anything I recall hearing from David.  

[BW Manilowe]

From People: David Cassidy's Son to Receive Upwards of $1.68 Million--More Than 10 Times Initial Estimate

[rmontro]

On 7/18/2018 at 8:44 PM, BW Manilowe said:

From People: David Cassidy's Son to Receive Upwards of $1.68 Million--More Than 10 Times Initial Estimate

Well!  Good for Beau.  Reminds me of the line in It's a Wonderful Life from Mr. Potter to George Bailey:  "You're worth more dead than alive".

Sad, but I'm glad that David's son is making out well.

[BW Manilowe]

In case anyone’s interested, this special is available on iTunes, Google Play & Amazon.com (scroll down to season 2, episode 4 on this page; I couldn’t get a separate listing for it).

[BW Manilowe]

Also Ruby & The Rockits, the 10-episode TV series which aired in July-September, 2009, on what was then the ABC Family Channel & was basically a Cassidy family project (& perhaps really loosely based on David’s relationship/lack of a relationship with his daughter Katie), is available at iTunes, Amazon & Google Play.

As I said, it was basically a Cassidy family project (but sadly without Jack, thanks to his untimely, & too early, passing). For those who somehow haven’t heard of it, it starred David & his real-life half-brother Patrick as estranged brothers & former bandmates in The Rockits, who have to at least try to resolve their issues when David’s character’s newfound teenage daughter, Ruby (Alexa Vega, now known as Alexa PenaVega), comes into his life (of course with eventually discovered musical talent) &, as David wants to continue living the unencumbered rock star life (though he’s really just reliving his glory days performing what appears to be a regular gig at a local casino), he enlists Patrick’s character & his family to help him raise her, by letting her live with them & basically palming at least most of what should be David’s parental duties regarding her off on them & being more like a friend to Ruby than a parental figure (which I’m sure I remember David once saying about his relationship with Katie—she was raised by her mother & stepfather, & David was more like a friend, from their generation or close to it, that [or so he said] she could go to with stuff she didn’t wanna tell her mother & stepfather).

The show was created & produced by David’s half-brother & Patrick’s brother Shaun Cassidy, himself a former teen idol pop star like David; David’s youngest half-brother & Shaun & Patrick’s youngest brother, Ryan, worked on the show in an unspecified capacity behind the scenes; & David & Patrick’s characters’ mother was played by David’s stepmother (& co-star on The Partridge Family, where she played his character’s mother) & Shaun, Patrick & Ryan’s mother, Shirley Jones. Had he still been alive, I’m betting there would’ve been some sort of role for Jack Cassidy in the show too.

Edited July 27, 2018 by BW Manilowe
To fix issues with italics. To add a comment.