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by Jim Longworth
 My wife Pam once told me that there are only three men she would ever leave me for: Tom Selleck; some guy named Jessie who she dated in college; and Rick Springfield. I am relieved to report that Selleck lives two thousand miles away, and Jessie is in prison making stained glass.
However, hunky Rick Springfield is winding his way to us at this very moment, claiming that he’s scheduled to perform in Boone later this month. A likely story.
Rick’s story began in Guildford New South Wales, Australia. He was born Richard Lewis Springthorpe on August 23, 1949. Developing an early love for the guitar, Rick joined a number of different bands in both Australia and England (his Dad, a career military man was stationed on both continents), but as he turned 20, his vocal and instrumental talents really began to gain notice with the pop rock group Zoot.
Rick’s first big solo hit came in 1972 with “Speak to the Sky”, but it was “Jessie’s Girl” that propelled him to superstardom in 1981 which coincided with his starring turn on General Hospital in which he played Dr. Noah Drake. That officially made Rick a quadruple threat: singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor, and a heart throb to millions of women. His TV credits include starring on 1992’s Human Target and 1994’s High Tide, and guest starring in shows like The Rockford Files, Supernatural, and American Horror Story. Rick has also appeared on the big screen with Meryl Streep and even took his talents to Broadway in Smokey Joe’s Café.
 This year his tour includes a concert at Appalachian State University’s Schaefer Center on July 23. I caught up with my rival a few days ago, and here are some highlights from our conversation.
Jim: My wife has had a thing for you since 1981.
Rick: (laughs) She doesn’t know me.
Jim: Don’t you feel guilty that millions of husbands still feel threatened by you?
Rick: No, my wife has her hall passes too, so it all works out.
Jim: OK, let’s go back to before you became a Rock superstar. I understand that you first picked up a guitar at around age 13. The question is, at what age did you know you were good?
Rick: Oh wow, I’ve always been trying to get better, so I never really felt like I was where I wanted to be. I got a couple of awards in Australia for being the best guitar player, or the most popular guitar player. Anyway, it was sometime in the early seventies, so I started thinking I was OK at that point.
Jim: Were your parents musically inclined?
Rick: My Dad entered some singing competitions, and he had a great voice, but he never really pursued music professionally. We grew up without TV because of where we lived in Australia, so we would gather around the piano after dinner and sing show songs. That’s how I got started with music. It was great for us.
Jim: Did your mom play an instrument?
Rick: No, she couldn’t even sing, God bless her (both laugh). She had a horrible voice.
Jim: Who was your favorite singer when you were a kid?
Rick: The first one I really became aware of and was a big fan of was Cliff Richard, that’s when we lived in England. Cliff was sort of a mix between Elvis and Ricky Nelson. He was wonderful and he had a great band (The Shadows), featuring Hank Marvin, the first English guitar hero.
Jim: Your fans all know that you take great care of your body, you eat right, and go the gym almost every day, but let’s talk about how you take care of your voice. Twelve years ago, I was talking with Pat Boone as he turned 80, and he told me that to keep his “instrument” in shape, he worked with a voice coach to help him retrain his tone. What if anything do you do to keep your voice in shape and ready to perform?
Rick: Nothing really, I mean I’ve never been good at that kind of thing. I just scream for a couple of minutes and that’s about it (laughs). I’ve never really had a focus on my voice, I was mainly into writing songs, so my voice was kind of secondary. It was really just to facilitate the songwriting. I didn’t really view my voice as my instrument. I viewed my guitar as my instrument.
Jim: In 1981 you were touring while also appearing on General Hospital. I’ve talked to a number of actors who told me how demanding it is to work on a soap, so just how difficult was it for you to do a soap and tour at the same time?
 Rick: It was pretty rough. I was doing the soap Monday through Friday, then on a plane out to the weekend shows and then I had to be back at General Hospital by 6am on Monday, so I really didn’t sleep much.
Jim: You’ll be performing at the Appalachian Summer Festival in Boone on July 23. In general, when you’re touring, do you ever changeup the set or add material from city to city?
Rick: Yeah, we change it around and play what the people come for. We pull out the newer stuff later on just to keep it interesting for us.
Jim: Dating from the late 1950’s young actors who starred in a TV series were expected to cut a hit record in order to boost ratings for the show. But you sort of turned that formula on its head. Help me out here. What was the timeline for when and how you were cast in General Hospital. Did having a hit record land you that job?
Rick: I had just finished recording “Working Class Dog” and RCA didn’t know what to do with it. It was a guitar-based pop rock album, and the radio was all disco and ballads, so they just held onto it and I thought, “Oh, they’re not going to release it”. Meanwhile I went up for the soap opera. I didn’t think I would get it, didn’t think I was right for it, and didn’t think it would have any effect on my music because I thought it was just for blue-haired old ladies watching it while ironing (laughs). But I landed General Hospital that summer and it became the biggest show on television. College kids were re-arranging their class schedules because they wouldn’t show up when the soap was on. It was serendipitous that I was on the show at that time because RCA decided to release the album. They didn’t know I was on the TV show, and the TV people didn’t know I had a record coming out, and suddenly it all came together.
Jim: In general, musicians and actors don’t have a great track record with marriage, and yet you and Barbara have been together for 42 years. How have you been able to sustain that relationship?
Rick: Through the good graces of my lovely wife. She’s the reason we’re together. She’s the best person I’ve ever known. We’ve had our ups and down, but when people ask, “How come you’re still together?”, I say, “Don’t get divorced, work through it”
Jim: Does she ever go on tour with you?
Rick: She comes on tour to the fun places, big cities, and whenever we go overseas. It’s not really a lot of fun on the road, because the travel is pretty frigging brutal at times.
Jim: Speaking with Men’s Health recently, you were asked, “Who would you most like to work out with at the gym?”, and you said, “My future self”. (Rick laughs) Which I thought was a really brilliant answer. So then, how old will your future self be when he stops performing?
Rick: I’ll keep going as long as I’m not in pain and having fun and can still do it. If I feel like I’m not putting out 150% on stage, then I’ll stop. But I love those moments on stage. They’re awesome.
Jim: I mentioned that my wife has had a crush on you since 1981, so let me bring her to the phone. Pam, what would you like to say to Rick?
Pam: I love the eighties and Rick you made the eighties great. You’re awesome and I love your music.
Rick: Thank you very much, we’re just finishing up a new record right now and it should be out in a couple of months.
Jim: One final thing. I know that sometimes you take your shirt off during your concerts, so is that shirt going to come off in Boone?
Rick: (laughs) I don’t know, it’s a momentary thing and if I feel the energy. It’s like a party on stage and it varies, the energy varies, but it’s not written into the act.
Jim: We’re about the same age, but I’m not in the same shape as you, and when I take my shirt off, it frightens young children.
Rick: (laughs) Well I work out 5 days a week.
Jim: I think Pam just fainted. I’ll see if I can bring her around, but right now we have several days of 100 degree temperatures ahead of us.
Rick: Well, YOUR shirt may be coming off then (laughs).
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For tickets to Rick’s concerts, visit www.rickspringfield.com or call (828) 262-4046. The Appalachian Summer Festival runs through August 1. For a complete schedule visit www.AppSummer.org
THE
EIGHTIES: EARLY
EIGHTIES NETWORK PROMOS / TV 1986 / WOODY HARRELSON AS WOODY ON CHEERS / FALCON'S GOLD: CABLE TV'S FIRST MOVIE / BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES SITCOM / CREATORS & CAST OF IT'S A LIVING THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY / MOST UNEXPECTED MOMENT IN TV HISTORY / NORMAN LLOYD TRIBUTE / THE CHARMINGS / ORSON WELLES INTERVIEWS ANDY KAUFMAN / EARLY MTV STARS MISSING PERSONS / FALCON CREST / CATCHING UP WITH RICK SPRINGFIELD / PEE-WEE HERMAN / THE TWO OF US / MURDER SHE WROTE / 1981 CHARLES GRODIN INTERVIEW / THERE ARE FUNNY EPISODES OF MAMA'S FAMILY - HONEST! / HANGING WITH SEAN PENN 1986 / 1985 GEORGE CLOONEY INTERVIEW! / IT'S A LIVING / EDDIE MURPHY AS JAMES BOND? IT ALMOST HAPPENED! / AUNT BEE'S DYING WORDS TO ANDY GRIFFITH / THE GOLDEN PALACE / MARRIED WITH CHILDREN'S ED O'NEILL & AMANDA BEARSE'S LONGTIME FEUD / PAUL McCARTNEY vs MICHAEL JACKSON / HOW
NBC GOT ITS GROOVE BACK / 1980's WCW WRESTLING / When Pinter Came to Primetime / ALAN ALDA DISCUSSES THE M*A*S*H FINALE / I WAS ALMOST CUJO IN THE STEPHEN KING MOVIE / 1986-87 TV SEASON / 1988-89 TV SEASON / 1990-91 TV SEASON / 1991-92 TV SEASON / WHY SHELLEY LONG LEFT CHEERS? / JASON ALEXANDER BEFORE SEINFELD / PEOPLE vs JEAN HARRIS / TROUBLED 1980-81 TV SEASON / "KISS MY GRITS" FLO HAD HER OWN SHOW? / CULLY HOLLAND / ONE SEASON WONDERS... THAT GOT RENEWED! / DWIGHT SCHULTZ ON WORKING WITH GEORGE PEPPARD / DEMPSEY & MAKEPEACE / THE BAXTERS / G.L.O.W. / FRIDAYS / GREATEST AMERICAN HERO / Great 1983 Carson Tonight Show / EARLY '80s TV COMMERCIALS / LOST
MOVIE POSTERS /RICH
HALL /FILTHY
RICH/1980's
TV WRESTLING STARS / TV
DADS / FOX'S JOAN RIVERS / CHEVY CHASE DEBACLES |
