Singer and actor

Born April 12, 1950;

Died: November 22, 2017

DAVID Cassidy, who has died aged 67, was a Seventies superstar who had a huge hit with the 1972 Could It Be Forever - yet this lyrical hope was never going to be translated into longevity for the troubled performer.

Cassidy, in 1973, was the most popular performer on the planet, a teen heartthrob who looked down on millions of teenage girls from their bedroom walls. But the singer, who sold more than 25million copies of his hits - songs which connected perfectly with the emotions of those who adored him - struggled to find happiness.

Stardom came to be a mask that ate into David Bruce Cassidy’s life, which for the most part, was one long existentialist crisis. He believed success had been down to his looks rather than musical talent. And he was not entirely wrong. He longed to be taken seriously as a rock musician, not simply worshipped by pop fans.

That didn’t seem to be the case however back in 1970 when he was a young struggling actor in Hollywood. After small parts in the likes of Gunsmoke and Marcus Welby MD, he seemed assured of some stability as a jobbing actor.

But then he landed a role in The Partridge Family, the American Von Trapps, playing the squeaky clean oldest son, Keith, alongside his stepmother, Shirley Jones. But it soon emerged Cassidy had reservations about the role which he felt painted him into a corner, although at the same time he didn’t for a minute think the show would be a success.

The Partridge Family was both a blessing and a curse. It propelled the performer onto solo success but in the next three years he had a series of traumas to contend with. He struggled to cope with losing a fortune due to bad financial advice and the constant attention of his fans. The very intelligent Cassidy struggled to process this journey.

“I can remember flying into Glasgow in 1974," he said. "I had my own plane back then - and doing an interview with the BBC before going on to do the concert at Shawfield Stadium.

"There were thousands of girls at the airport, but as we left the BBC to go to the stadium I was amazed to see girls lined up all along the streets, waving at me from both sides of the road."

When a fan died at one of his concerts in 1974 he retired. Cassidy took to drink and drugs, and there seems an inevitability about that. He had abandonment issues given his father, actor Jack Cassidy and his mother, actress Evelyn Ward had left their three year-old son to grow up in the care of grandparents.

Cassidy struggled to reconcile his feelings for his father. “He was a fabulous guy, I worshipped him,” he said in interview. "This is somebody who was obsessed with success. He had a very strong work ethic as an actor. He was charismatic. But he was half crazy. He had one foot in reality and one foot in his own reality. And if you disagreed - my brothers and I talked about this - you were off the show, you know.”

Jack Cassidy’s bipolar disorder and alcoholism saw him burned to death in his own apartment. Meanwhile, David Cassidy went on to develop clinical depression. He struggled with relationships. The groupies stormed the iron gates of his Florida home to get at him and Cassidy let them. “No one got hurt,” he once said of his many liaisons. But it seems David Cassidy was hurt.

In the Eighties however, the wispy-voiced singer retired from showbiz. He made a comeback. He had to reinvent himself as a performer, turning to musical theatre in Blood Brothers in New York, which led to a stint in Las Vegas, where he would go on to play more than 200 times.

The move appeared to signal a return to a happier Cassidy, a man more in control of his own destiny. He spoke of how years of therapy had helped the delicate balance of his mind. And in conversation his voice would become animated when he spoke of his children, Beau and Kate.

But he struggled to maintain relationships. He was married three times, to actress Kay Lenz in 1977 and to horse trainer Meryl Ann Tanz in 1984, but this lasted only two years. His third wife, songwriter Sue Shifrin, divorced Cassidy after 13 years of marriage in 2014.

It is not hard to assume Cassidy was a nightmare to live with. Performers in the business have spoken about his unprofessionalism, his pursuit of women and his mood shifts, perhaps as a result of growing alcoholism.

Yet, in interview he was not only slick and professional, always on time, but a real warmth emerged. He would ask questions, he would reveal a real vulnerability, whether in talking about the lost loves of his life or even his two hair transplants.

He seemed to enjoy the return to the pop stage when he appeared in Seventies revival tours. But the demons were always loathe to desert him. Cassidy was arrested several times for drink driving – and worse was to come.

The singer’s mother had died as a result of dementia complications and earlier this year he too revealed he was suffering from the heinous condition.

In a way he was doomed to die young. He never really got over the death of the father he adored. He never managed to reconcile his position as teen heartthrob, actor and musician.

In conversation with the man, he was always funny, sharp and warm. But at the end of each chat, he left the same impression. He simply didn’t want to be David Cassidy.

BRIAN BEACOM