Singer, actor David Cassidy dies at 67
1970s teen idol played Keith on The Partridge Family television series
Entertainer and 1970s teen idol David Cassidy died Tuesday.
The musician and actor, 67, who starred in TV’s The Partridge Family (1970 to 1974), died in Florida after being hospitalized with organ failure, according to a statement sent to USA TODAY on behalf of the Cassidy family by his representative Jo-Ann Geffen.
“David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long,” the statement read. “Thank you for the abundance of love and support you have shown him these many years.”
In February, Cassidy announced that he had been diagnosed with dementia and was retiring from touring.
He acknowledged that a family history of dementia had haunted him because he watched his grandfather struggle with dementia and saw his mother “disappear” from it as well.
“I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I’ve been without any distractions,” he said at the time. “I want to love. I want to enjoy life.”
A child of Hollywood, he was the iconic teen idol of the 1970s. Before Justin Bieber and Zac Efron, there was pop star Cassidy in his colorful polyester ensembles featuring giant collars and flared slacks. And while he did perform as a solo artist, he and The Partridge Family had a No. 1 hit with the catchy tune I Think I Love You in 1970. His biggest solo single was a version of Cherish, which peaked at No. 9 in 1971.
“Musically, I never became what I thought I could become,” Cassidy lamented to USA TODAY in 2000, noting that his taste tended more toward Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon than vanilla pop. “I dreamed of some musical highs that I never quite achieved. But everybody has that stuff in their lives. If you’re mature, you deal with it.”
He was at peace with his place in teen fandom. “I used to think of The Partridge Family as an albatross,” Cassidy told USA TODAY in 1993, while promot- ing the series’ resurrection on Nickelodeon’s Nick at Night lineup. “But it’s given me wings.”
He continued to act, appearing in TV shows such as Fantasy Island, Malcolm in the Middle and CSI, as well as the movie Popstar.
His father was actor Jack Cassidy, who suffered from bipolar disorder and alcoholism; the elder Cassidy died in a fire in 1976. His mother, actress Evelyn Ward, died in 2012.
Cassidy’s stepmother, Shirley Jones, was married to Jack for nearly two decades until they divorced in 1975. She costarred with David in The Partridge Family, a musical sitcom based on a real family about a widow and her children who embark on a musical career. He played the oldest son, Keith.
David, with his shaggy brown hair, and half-brother Shaun Cassidy (Jones’ oldest son with Jack), with a similar blond shaggy ’do, dominated the covers of teen magazines.
“I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I’ve been without any distractions.”
David Cassidy Announcing in February he was retiring from touring.