Wham Bam, Glitter'n'Glam! Shaun, in the shadow of half-bro David's teen idolotry/personal hell combo, rockets to teenybop stardom from the seedy stages of W. Hollywood haunts. We go behind the shag!
OMG, Shaun Cassidy was the first full concert I ever saw, the first poster I ever hung, the main reason I watched The Hardy Boys. I got to see him just before the pandemic in an intimate show. I never knew beyond the hits although my friend and I did pull up Wasp to listen to on the way home from the concert. Going to check out that post next!
Well, if you don't bump into it in either my Shaun articles, or my David ones (includes my recorded 1975 interview with David, and my 2022 podcast interview by Louise Poynton), remind me to tell you about bumping into Shaun, and my close friendship with one of the PR gals in David and Shaun's management office of Ruth Aarons!
When I did my Partridge Family post I had no idea you had this wealth of info about David's career. I should have just linked here!
I have run across your connection with Ruth Aaron. I read David's book Could It Be Forever and it broke my heart what a prison his fame became and in the end he didn't even get the money that was made off of it. That book introduced me to Ruth Aaron.
I met Shaun when he was doing a show at Stage West. I took a photo of us that I still treasure. It was a reminder that dreams come true, since when I was 13 I wanted nothing more than to meet him, and I accomplished that at 25. A wonderful gentleman.
Very cool! I think what broke my heart about David's life, ultimately, was that he never got the love and respect from Daddy he wanted so badly. Jack was such an insecure, petty, jealous, and ungrateful ham, that he couldn't see David needing to reach out to him. All David wanted (like most sons want/need from Dad), is his love, acceptance, and to know how proud he is of him!
Would love to see that pic of you and Shaun if you're game to share it....you could e-mail it, but only if you're comfortable! It was about the same age I met Shaun....maybe around 26 or 27, in the early '80s, waiting for a table at the same restaurant in the Valley.....with Ann Pennington in tow.....on HIS arm, not mine!
Wow, I don't know how you do it--the wealth of detail, especially in the backstories of even peripheral characters. Of course I grew up aware of the Partridge Family-It took me years to get over my crush on Susan Dey. But I never paid attention to DC's career after that-not unlike many other people, which of course is part of his tragedy. And Shaun was just a momentary pretty face on the supermarket checkout rags--thanks for filling in a bit of the real history.
Wow, thanks, Charles! Believe me, it's my pleasure! I lived it, read about it, and my OCD-Lite forced me to collect it all--records, promo items, and mags, alike, all directly from the day (no Google research here, except to spell-check)!
If you haven't read my interview (with attendant audio....yes, I recorded it on reel-to-reel in '75!) with David, please do. It also introduces FR&B's Stephen Michael Schwartz into the picture....astoundingly so! It's here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/in-a-houston-penthouse-with-david
I just comped you a paid sub. You're gonna wanna see my latest Shaun piece (I'll release two versions....one, for paid subscribers only, with tons of "degrees of separation" side stories, and one for "general consumption," without all the "degrees of separation" side trip threads and links), which focuses on Album #6, his "Wasp," produced by Todd Rundgren, whom I met two years before.
As I'm writing it, there's no way "the general public" will care, or want to sit thru, my (what's turning out to be) voluminous related "side-trips" before I can even GET to Shaun and his album! I've got enough "industry types" paid-subbing to me, and I know they'll dig it/get it!
Small example: I know a gal who worked at Shaun and David's manager's L.A. office, Ruth Aarons Mgmt. in the '70s. That gal had a daughter whom I dated briefly in the late '60s. That daughter had an album produced by Jeff Barry, who co-wrote (among dozens of other massive hits for various artists) Shaun's "Da Doo Ron Ron" smash. I met Jeff in 1980. Jeff and Stephen wrote a song together in the late '70s, "Light Years Away" that can be read about here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/stephen-michael-schwartz-off-the-6a1
One more (believe me, there are MANY!): Shaun's "farewell concert" was at Houston's Astrodome, where I virtually lived in the '70s to see my beloved Astros play. That gal mentioned above (I'll disclose who she is in the actual article...she's been married to a wildly famous country singer for 30 years) had songs written for her Barry-produced album written by Dene Hofheinz Mann, WHO'S THE DAUGHTER OF JUDGE ROY HOFHEINZ, WHO DREAMED UP THE ASTRODOME, where Shaun held his last concert! Oh yeah, I met Shaun shortly after "Wasp" was released. Details will be included in the Exclusive Version!
READERS WHO ARE NOT PAID SUBSCRIBERS: To receive the Exclusive "Behind the Curtain"/Mega-Degrees-of-Separation Edition to the next Shaun article, NOW'S THE TIME TO GO PAID (MONTHLY OR ANNUAL)! Hopefully, both versions will see the light of day Tuesday or Wednesday!
Cross-posting your article helped "buy me some time" to get that out, for which I'm eternally grateful, Charles! Even without that, I'd-a cross-posted it, because I knew that my subbies would love and appreciate it!
Thank you so much for another great article. I read all of them, but I'm the DC fan so..but I also know a little bit about the Shaun's career too. Btw. he was very known in Poland in the late 70s, on the other hand DC wasn't popular at all. I don't know why. Poland was still a communist country at the time and the censorship was much stronger in the early 70s. so maybe it's the reason. I never heard the DC's music or TPF's played on our radio. We had more freedom after 1976 and more American music was avalieable. I can tell you the exact date of that pic with Shaun and David. April 3, 1977, Las Vegas. DC's wedding day. He married Kay Lenz on this day, and Shaun was his best man. Thank you very much again.
Wonderful info, Weronika! Thanks so much! I just added that wedding day info in the article on the site! I got the year right, and it was just a guess! Whatever you think about Shaun and his music, it's always fascinating and informative to compare and contrast the careers of David and Shaun!
Oh yes, it's just amazing that both of them were teen idols on such a scale in the 70s. But for David being a teen idol was a devastaiting experience, on many levels, and for many reasons. He had such a great, magical voice, it's a shame he didn't record more music..Shaun wasn't bad either, not a great singer (for me) but it was such fun, his hits in the 70s, and I really like his version of 'Rebel Rebel' , from 'Wasp' album. Two different personalities, Shirley Jones obviously was a wonderful mother, all her boys are happy and successful...and also Shaun didn't treat his teen idol career seriously, he always wanted to do other things.
Great observations! In writing this, I was struck by being reminded (a smack in the face, really!) that David's singing career was really only by accident. Acting audition? Check. Pass? Check. Oh, BTW, Shirley and studio singers will be singing music we're gonna put out. What? You sing? And, it all began from there!
I'd bet money I don't have that that exact notion came up when Shaun was confronted with seeking a recording deal (or having been approached first...again, I'd love to know who did what first!). But, with no TV show he was attached to, I'm sure Shaun was provided guidance that encouraged him to sally forth, unimpeded, into his singing career.
On a personal front, unlike David's career (for me), I was on Shaun's career from his Rodney's Disco days, 2-3 yrs before he got signed! I was glued to all the rock mags of the day, anyway, and while David was filling all the teen mags at the time (that I read profusely from '65 to about '70), Shaun would show up quite regularly in things like the aforementioned Hit Parader, Creem, Phonograph Record Mag (PRM), Andy Warhol's Interview Mag (I'm guessing), and probably a couple other scene-covering mags o' the day!
So, Shaun's musical tastes and Anglophile bent was what I was all about, too....Bowie, Sparks, Dolls, Roxy Music! Plus, knowing the local Houston Warner Bros. rep during Shaun's album-releasing years gave me immediate access to all his promo vinyl + t-shirts, posters, you-name-it! But, you're right, mad props to Shaun for building a career in TV, ultimately, that HE wanted, and was talented in, and succeeded in!
Yes Anglophile bent..It's interesting to know about their personal tastes in music. They were teen idols in the same decade, but actually there was a huge age difference. 8 years when you are a teen, that's a lot. So DC loved the English music, but from the 60s, The Beatles and also Eric Clapton. During his concerts in the 70s he performed Spencer Davis Group's ,'I'm A Man' (really outstanding with his own drum solo) and Clapton's 'Living On A Blues Power'. He was a kid from the 60s, that was his music. Crosby, Stills & Nash.. The last song he performed live at the White City concert in 1974 was Dylan's 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue'. On the other hand he loved the music his dad played for him - Cole Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers&Hammerstein, Sinatra and Darin. He didn't really like hard rock or punk. And Shaun was that next generation, he loved Led Zeppelin, he loved hard rock and punk. But he had to record 'Da Do Run Run..
OMG, Shaun Cassidy was the first full concert I ever saw, the first poster I ever hung, the main reason I watched The Hardy Boys. I got to see him just before the pandemic in an intimate show. I never knew beyond the hits although my friend and I did pull up Wasp to listen to on the way home from the concert. Going to check out that post next!
Well, if you don't bump into it in either my Shaun articles, or my David ones (includes my recorded 1975 interview with David, and my 2022 podcast interview by Louise Poynton), remind me to tell you about bumping into Shaun, and my close friendship with one of the PR gals in David and Shaun's management office of Ruth Aarons!
When I did my Partridge Family post I had no idea you had this wealth of info about David's career. I should have just linked here!
I have run across your connection with Ruth Aaron. I read David's book Could It Be Forever and it broke my heart what a prison his fame became and in the end he didn't even get the money that was made off of it. That book introduced me to Ruth Aaron.
I met Shaun when he was doing a show at Stage West. I took a photo of us that I still treasure. It was a reminder that dreams come true, since when I was 13 I wanted nothing more than to meet him, and I accomplished that at 25. A wonderful gentleman.
Very cool! I think what broke my heart about David's life, ultimately, was that he never got the love and respect from Daddy he wanted so badly. Jack was such an insecure, petty, jealous, and ungrateful ham, that he couldn't see David needing to reach out to him. All David wanted (like most sons want/need from Dad), is his love, acceptance, and to know how proud he is of him!
Would love to see that pic of you and Shaun if you're game to share it....you could e-mail it, but only if you're comfortable! It was about the same age I met Shaun....maybe around 26 or 27, in the early '80s, waiting for a table at the same restaurant in the Valley.....with Ann Pennington in tow.....on HIS arm, not mine!
It doesn't look like I can attach a file here so I'll send it.
Yeah, these comment boxes are pretty lo-fi! Thanks!
Wow, I don't know how you do it--the wealth of detail, especially in the backstories of even peripheral characters. Of course I grew up aware of the Partridge Family-It took me years to get over my crush on Susan Dey. But I never paid attention to DC's career after that-not unlike many other people, which of course is part of his tragedy. And Shaun was just a momentary pretty face on the supermarket checkout rags--thanks for filling in a bit of the real history.
Wow, thanks, Charles! Believe me, it's my pleasure! I lived it, read about it, and my OCD-Lite forced me to collect it all--records, promo items, and mags, alike, all directly from the day (no Google research here, except to spell-check)!
If you haven't read my interview (with attendant audio....yes, I recorded it on reel-to-reel in '75!) with David, please do. It also introduces FR&B's Stephen Michael Schwartz into the picture....astoundingly so! It's here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/in-a-houston-penthouse-with-david
I just comped you a paid sub. You're gonna wanna see my latest Shaun piece (I'll release two versions....one, for paid subscribers only, with tons of "degrees of separation" side stories, and one for "general consumption," without all the "degrees of separation" side trip threads and links), which focuses on Album #6, his "Wasp," produced by Todd Rundgren, whom I met two years before.
As I'm writing it, there's no way "the general public" will care, or want to sit thru, my (what's turning out to be) voluminous related "side-trips" before I can even GET to Shaun and his album! I've got enough "industry types" paid-subbing to me, and I know they'll dig it/get it!
Small example: I know a gal who worked at Shaun and David's manager's L.A. office, Ruth Aarons Mgmt. in the '70s. That gal had a daughter whom I dated briefly in the late '60s. That daughter had an album produced by Jeff Barry, who co-wrote (among dozens of other massive hits for various artists) Shaun's "Da Doo Ron Ron" smash. I met Jeff in 1980. Jeff and Stephen wrote a song together in the late '70s, "Light Years Away" that can be read about here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/stephen-michael-schwartz-off-the-6a1
One more (believe me, there are MANY!): Shaun's "farewell concert" was at Houston's Astrodome, where I virtually lived in the '70s to see my beloved Astros play. That gal mentioned above (I'll disclose who she is in the actual article...she's been married to a wildly famous country singer for 30 years) had songs written for her Barry-produced album written by Dene Hofheinz Mann, WHO'S THE DAUGHTER OF JUDGE ROY HOFHEINZ, WHO DREAMED UP THE ASTRODOME, where Shaun held his last concert! Oh yeah, I met Shaun shortly after "Wasp" was released. Details will be included in the Exclusive Version!
READERS WHO ARE NOT PAID SUBSCRIBERS: To receive the Exclusive "Behind the Curtain"/Mega-Degrees-of-Separation Edition to the next Shaun article, NOW'S THE TIME TO GO PAID (MONTHLY OR ANNUAL)! Hopefully, both versions will see the light of day Tuesday or Wednesday!
Cross-posting your article helped "buy me some time" to get that out, for which I'm eternally grateful, Charles! Even without that, I'd-a cross-posted it, because I knew that my subbies would love and appreciate it!
Thank you Brad! Of course, now I'm in danger of going down the rabbit hole and not getting my own work done. 🤣🧐 Oh what a tangled web....
Thank you so much for another great article. I read all of them, but I'm the DC fan so..but I also know a little bit about the Shaun's career too. Btw. he was very known in Poland in the late 70s, on the other hand DC wasn't popular at all. I don't know why. Poland was still a communist country at the time and the censorship was much stronger in the early 70s. so maybe it's the reason. I never heard the DC's music or TPF's played on our radio. We had more freedom after 1976 and more American music was avalieable. I can tell you the exact date of that pic with Shaun and David. April 3, 1977, Las Vegas. DC's wedding day. He married Kay Lenz on this day, and Shaun was his best man. Thank you very much again.
Wonderful info, Weronika! Thanks so much! I just added that wedding day info in the article on the site! I got the year right, and it was just a guess! Whatever you think about Shaun and his music, it's always fascinating and informative to compare and contrast the careers of David and Shaun!
Oh yes, it's just amazing that both of them were teen idols on such a scale in the 70s. But for David being a teen idol was a devastaiting experience, on many levels, and for many reasons. He had such a great, magical voice, it's a shame he didn't record more music..Shaun wasn't bad either, not a great singer (for me) but it was such fun, his hits in the 70s, and I really like his version of 'Rebel Rebel' , from 'Wasp' album. Two different personalities, Shirley Jones obviously was a wonderful mother, all her boys are happy and successful...and also Shaun didn't treat his teen idol career seriously, he always wanted to do other things.
Great observations! In writing this, I was struck by being reminded (a smack in the face, really!) that David's singing career was really only by accident. Acting audition? Check. Pass? Check. Oh, BTW, Shirley and studio singers will be singing music we're gonna put out. What? You sing? And, it all began from there!
I'd bet money I don't have that that exact notion came up when Shaun was confronted with seeking a recording deal (or having been approached first...again, I'd love to know who did what first!). But, with no TV show he was attached to, I'm sure Shaun was provided guidance that encouraged him to sally forth, unimpeded, into his singing career.
On a personal front, unlike David's career (for me), I was on Shaun's career from his Rodney's Disco days, 2-3 yrs before he got signed! I was glued to all the rock mags of the day, anyway, and while David was filling all the teen mags at the time (that I read profusely from '65 to about '70), Shaun would show up quite regularly in things like the aforementioned Hit Parader, Creem, Phonograph Record Mag (PRM), Andy Warhol's Interview Mag (I'm guessing), and probably a couple other scene-covering mags o' the day!
So, Shaun's musical tastes and Anglophile bent was what I was all about, too....Bowie, Sparks, Dolls, Roxy Music! Plus, knowing the local Houston Warner Bros. rep during Shaun's album-releasing years gave me immediate access to all his promo vinyl + t-shirts, posters, you-name-it! But, you're right, mad props to Shaun for building a career in TV, ultimately, that HE wanted, and was talented in, and succeeded in!
Yes Anglophile bent..It's interesting to know about their personal tastes in music. They were teen idols in the same decade, but actually there was a huge age difference. 8 years when you are a teen, that's a lot. So DC loved the English music, but from the 60s, The Beatles and also Eric Clapton. During his concerts in the 70s he performed Spencer Davis Group's ,'I'm A Man' (really outstanding with his own drum solo) and Clapton's 'Living On A Blues Power'. He was a kid from the 60s, that was his music. Crosby, Stills & Nash.. The last song he performed live at the White City concert in 1974 was Dylan's 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue'. On the other hand he loved the music his dad played for him - Cole Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers&Hammerstein, Sinatra and Darin. He didn't really like hard rock or punk. And Shaun was that next generation, he loved Led Zeppelin, he loved hard rock and punk. But he had to record 'Da Do Run Run..