David Cassidy was every teenybopper's fantasy during the early 1970s. He was the most popular member of the singing "Partridge Family," the Friday night sitcom.
Cassidy's concerts filled arenas and stadiums. He was the king of the world, whose kingdom was ready to crash. On May 26, 1974, during a concert in London, the crowd surged toward the stage. A 14-year-old girl was killed, 800 people were injured.
Cassidy already had decided that that would be his last large-venue concert tour. He also planned to quit acting. He wanted to concentrate on recording and songwriting. He wouldn't play a concert again for eleven years. Cassidy continued to make hits through the 1970s and even into the 1980s, but he never saw the same kind of fame.
The boy next door image curated from the "Partridge Family" was a mirage. He was married and divorced three times. He filed for bankruptcy, despite making millions of dollars from his record sales. His drinking finally caught up with him. He died from liver failure in 2017. He was 67.
Cassidy had a string of hits with the Partridge Family. He and his stepmother in real life, Shirley Jones, were the two members who actually sang on the records.
Danny Janssen and Wes Farrell wrote the Song of the Day, "Could it Be Forever?" Cassidy was the first to cover it in 1972. It reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Sadly, the answer to the song for David Cassidy was 'no.'
Song of the Day is created by Sheldon Zoldan. Produced by Pam James with audio production by Simon Dunham for WGCU.
