Rick Springfield
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Rick Springfield (born Richard Lewis Springthorpe on August 23, 1949 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is a pop singer and actor. Image:200510085a5d29b3.jpg
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Background
Rick Springfield began his career as a singer in the band Rock House. This band was followed by Zoot. Zoot became of the most popular Australian groups of the late Sixties.
Springfield then went solo in 1971. He had a one single, Speak to the Sky. At this point he relocated to Hollywood, California.
Springfield was unable to maintain a career at the top of the charts during in the 1970s. So, he decided to branch off into acting. This action was taken predominately due to the fact that although his music career was not going very well, he did have a cartoon series that featured him as the main character. This cartoon had an immediate popularity with children all around the world.
Acting Career
Springfield starred in the cartoon series Mission: Magic, produced by Filmation in 1973, where he appears in the animated format, along with the teacher Miss Tickle and her teenaged students. He had a successful acting career, beginning with a brief role as Zac in the 1978 movie Battlestar Galactica. He then became a soap opera star on General Hospital.
Hit Singles
Though he never left music behind, these acting jaunts relaunched his music career as he had developed a very enthusiastic teenage fanbase. Springfield returned to music with the album Working Class Dog. Most noteably on this album was the smash hit singles, "Jessie's Girl" and "I've Done Everything for You".
Springfield won a Grammy in 1981 for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Jessie's Girl". Springfield was also nominated for two Grammys in 1982 and one Grammy in 1983.
By this point, Springfield was already in his 30s and became uncomfortable with the teen idol image he potrayed.
His subsequent release in 1982 Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet also contained a string of top 40 hits, including "Don't Talk To Strangers" and the soft ballad "What Kind of Fool Am I?" His 1983 release, Living in Oz, contained more serious subject matter, a more hard-rock sound, and more technological sound. The album went platinum on the strength of the hits "Human Touch", "Souls", and "Affair of the Heart". His 1984 single "Love Somebody" (from the album Hard to Hold) was his last top ten hit in the U.S.
After a few albums with some hit singles, Springfield's lack of critical acceptance slowed his career, though he continued releasing albums throughout the 1980s. He played a few minor roles on television in the 1990s, and released his latest album in 2005. Although his achievements are not well recognised in Australia, he has long maintained a large and fiercely loyal fan base in the United States and his many career achievements include a Grammy Award, four platinum albums, twenty US Top 100 singles and seventeen Top 40 hits including a US #1 and #2 single. From February 2001 through December 2002, Springfield performed in EFX Alive! at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada to critical acclaim.
In 2005 Springfield returned as Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital [1]. His run was subsequently extended, although he remains a guest star and not a full cast member. [2] In Springfield's current run on GH, his character is now a recovering alcoholic and widower who is trying to patch things up with estranged son while also dealing with a diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver.
Albums
- Beginnings (1972) #35 US
- Comic Book Heroes (1973)
- Mission Magic (1974)
- Wait For Night (1976)
- Beautiful Feelings (1978)
- Working Class Dog (1981) #7 US
- Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982) #2 US
- Living In Oz (1983) #12 US
- Hard To Hold (1984) #16 US
- Tao (1985) #21 US
- Rock Of Life (1988) #55 US
- Sahara Snow (1997)
- Karma (1999) #189 US
- The Greatest Hits ALIVE (2001)
- Platinum & Gold Collection: Rick Springfield (2003)
- Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance (2004) #8 Top Independent Album
- Written In Rock--Anthology (2005)
- The Day After Yesterday (2005) #197 US, #16 Top Independent Album
Singles
- "Speak To The Sky" (1972) #14 US
- "What Would The Children Think" (1972) #70 US
- "American Girls" (1974) #98 US
- "Take A Hand" (1976) #41 US
- "Jessie's Girl" (1981) #1 US - 2 weeks
- "I've Done Everything For You" (1981) #8 US
- "Love Is Alright Tonite" (1981) #20 US
- "Don't Talk To Strangers" (1982) #2 US
- "What Kind Of Fool Am I" (1982) #21 US
- "I Get Excited" (1982) #32 US
- "Affair Of The Heart" (1983) #9 US
- "Human Touch" (1983) #18 US
- "Souls" (1983) #23 US
- "Love Somebody" (1984) #5 US
- "Don't Walk Away" (1984) #26 US
- "Bop Til You Drop" (1984) #20 US
- "Taxi Dancing" (1984) #59 US
- "Bruce" (1984) #27 US
- "Celebrate Youth" (1985) #26 US
- "State Of The Heart" (1985) #22 US
- "Rock Of Life" (1988) #22 US
- "Beautiful You" (2004) #26 US