Could It Be Forever? My Story (43 page)

BOOK: Could It Be Forever? My Story

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We headed back to New York, where I was then living. There are quicker ways to drive to New York from West Orange now than there were when I was a kid. But we drove there the old way. And as we drove we talked about Kevin Hunter and Ruth Aarons and the others from my past.

Then I realised where we were.

‘This is Route 3, isn’t it?’ I asked.

My friend nodded. We were very near the spot where my father, in that shiny new Cadillac that was just
so Jack
, had casually shattered my world with the news that he and Mom were divorced. I remembered. I remembered the exact spot.

And I realised that I’d made my peace with Jack Cassidy. I hadn’t exactly forgiven him, but I’d made my peace with him. There were no ghosts I needed to do battle with here.

A car pulled up alongside ours. The driver honked and signalled for me to lower my window.

‘We saw you in
Blood Brothers
,’ said the guy, who looked around my age.

The woman sitting alongside him added cheerfully, ‘We love your work.’ And they drove off.

Afterword

F
or me, the important thing about this book is that people begin to understand who I really am, not just the events that took place in my life. I know who I am – I know I’m a human being who is genuinely caring about other people – and I would like people to know the real me. But I don’t care what people think about me. I no longer worry about it.

I have gone through so many changes as a human being, but the one thing that’s stayed with me is, I believe, my compassion; my ability to connect with others. My son has compassion. My daughter has it. My wife has it. And the people I like, the ones I’m attracted to, have it. If I have any gift, it’s that I’ve been able to lift people up.

I am a non-violent guy. I abhor violence. I abhor people who propagate violence. And the world is filled with it. I believe part of my purpose now, especially since the traumatic wake-up call of 9/11, is to help people to celebrate life. I like to think that I am able to touch people through what I do, make them feel uplifted, even if it’s just for a couple of hours when I perform.

The more I look at our society, the more I realise that most people don’t make any contribution whatsoever. I applaud people who go out and do community work. Helping others is so important. It’s why we’re here. The more selfish we are, the more vulnerable and the weaker we are. The more we practise the things we preached in the 60s – ‘Come on, people, now. Love one another’ – the better off we will be. That’s not just crap. We live in such a cynical world and I feel so saddened by the loss of many of the voices of my generation – the people I admired, like John Lennon. He stood by what he believed in.

My brother, Shaun, came over the other day and we played
Cream – Live at The Royal Albert Hall
. That’s the only band other than The Police that I would care to go and see these days. If they ever come to any place near me, I’m going. Those three guys started 40 years ago and are still embracing their music, which is what the David Cassidy show is all about.

The Partridge Family music was great music for what it was. I love it, I embrace it, I’m not sick of it. People perceive that I hated
The Partridge Family
and the fame that went with it. I never did. I loved it. I just wanted people to see
the real me. And I couldn’t let them. There was no way to break through the machine that had created my persona. The little voice inside me was going,
But it’s not me. It’s not really me.
But the essence of me came through. I think I know that now.

What I’ve also learned is not to compare yourself to other people. Be the best you can be and don’t try to be 19 again. Don’t try to be a legend. Don’t try to be James Dean or Elvis or John Lennon or Madonna, or anyone else. Be yourself. Embrace what you are. Only take baby steps, don’t try to grab it all. And don’t let money or fame seduce you down that road. The journey is the journey, it’s not the result.

The Legacy: A Note from Beau

A
friend of mine, who helped me edit this book, asked my son (without my knowledge) to write down what he would like people to know about me and this is what he said:

Beau Cassidy:
Having a famous father has its ups and downs. The ups are that you get an opportunity to be around a guy who has experienced a lot of unusual things and has learned from his mistakes. The downs are that you don’t get to see him enough and you are under much more of a microscope because of being the son of a famous person. But, I really don’t want to talk about his fame. What I really want to do is talk about who he is as a person.

My dad is a really interesting guy. A lot of the things that have happened in his life, he tries to avoid talking about to me. He’s complicated in the fact that he has such deep pain, so it’s hard to get an idea of who he is. He’s been so damaged by people deceiving him and his parents not being there to give him guidance when he was in need of it.

His father, being an alcoholic and an egomaniac, had a big impact on him. I know it’s gotta be tough to live with that. There are a lot of things that he has never told me, and I don’t think he will ever tell me.

Dad has a very sarcastic sense of humour and this has rubbed off on me because I want to connect with him. Sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s inappropriate, to say the least, but 95 per cent of the time it is all meant in good humour.

But, you know, we share a lot of things. We are both avid Yankee fans. This past July, we attended a Yankee/Red Sox game and we sat right behind home plate. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, partly because we were watching the greatest rivalry in sports, but mostly because I was spending it with my father, and I saw how much joy it brought to him seeing how happy I was being there with him. We also share a love for music. I remember him telling me that when he was my age he was in a band, and now I am in my own band called Cooper with my high-school friends. He loves to sing; I love to sing. He loves to act; I love to act.

Another memory that I have is getting a chance to sing with him in front of 15,000 people at Wembley Arena, where he met my Mom 30 years before. This marked the first time that I had ever sung publicly with my dad. The feeling of being in front
of so many people with him and hitting that last harmonic note gave me an exhilaration that I have never felt before or since.

The second time that I sang publicly with him was this past summer when he and I got a chance to sing the
Star Spangled Banner
at Wrigley Field in Chicago at a Cubs game, this time in front of 35,000 people! To tell you the truth, all that I can really remember from that experience, because it was so amazing, was giving Dad the biggest hug I can remember giving him, at the very end. How many kids get to do what I did with my dad?

When all is said and done, he really is a wonderful father. I know without a doubt that he loves me more than anything on the planet and that he would jump into a pit of spikes for me. He wants what is best for me, but he’s told me that I have to work to get it and it won’t just be given to me. He wants me to earn what I get, and that’s a wonderful quality.

As I get older, our relationship gets better because we are able to talk on almost the same level about things, communicate our feelings openly and share passions with one another. He pays more attention to me now than all of the other things in his life put together, and that’s really hard to find in a dad.

He’s my dad and I’m darn proud of it.

I was grateful for my life before I wrote this book, but how could any man be happier or prouder than I am after reading this? This is what it’s all about, folks.

Index

Aarons, Alex
see here

Aarons, Ruth
see here
,
see here
; character
see here
,
see here
,
see here
; as DC’s manager
see here
,
see here
,
see here
,
see here
,
see here
,
see here
,
see here
,
see here
,
see here
; persuades DC to audition for
The Partridge Family
see here
; no experience managing teen idols
see here
,
see here
; mismanagement of DC’s and other clients’ money
see here
,
see here
,
see here
; advises DC not to do naked photographs
see here
,
see here
,
see here
; introduces DC to doctor who prescribes him Valium
see here
; impact of DC’s retirement
see here
,
see here
; as Shaun Cassidy’s manager
see here
,
see here
; concern over Jack Cassidy’s behaviour
see here
; impact of Jack Cassidy’s death
see here
; loses clients
see here
,
see here
; drug use and deterioration
see here
; death
see here