David Cassidy

Born the son of actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward, in New York on April 12th, 1950, David Cassidy started to make his mark as a teen hero in the clean-cut family television show The Partridge Family (having moved to Hollywood when his parents divorced). By the mid 70s he was a bona fide idol to millions of teenyboppers - a mega-star of the order only approached by The Osmonds and The Bay City Rollers.

In 1972 and 73 he enjoyed singles success with How Can I Be Sure?, Daydreamer, Could It Be Forever?, Rock Me Baby, If I Didn't Care, Darlin' and I Write The Songs. During this time, David toured extensively in America and Europe and appeared on the cover of every teen magazine in the western world. Meanwhile, hysterical girls sobbed and screamed whenever he appeared

On his 1974 tour of Britain, in a concert at White City Stadium in London on May 26, the crowd of teenyboppers ran out of control resulting in over 1,000 needing medical attention and six girls being taken to hospital. One 14-year old girl died four days later from injuries sustained in the crush. David was not emotionally equipped to deal with the event or the stresses of his awesome popularity, and turned his back on his career while he was at the top. In 1977 his young fans received their final blow when he married actress Kay Lenz and retired from show business to live in Hawaii.

Kay - who appeared in the mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man - later revealed that David was plagued by insomnia and haunted by the tensions of his former stardom. He - for his part - admitted that being a teen idol had been a living hell; "I had become a freak attraction to the kids. My world was a hideous fantasy. The people who manipulated me, the agents and the record companies, made me into a monster that teenyboppers could go crazy and scream over. I hated to get up each day because I despised myself!".