In my life I have had a few celebrity crushes

  1. Bobby Sherman- singer
  2. Davey Jones- Singer – The Monkees
  3. Lee Mazzilli – New York Met Baseball player
  4. David Cassidy

David Cassidy dies last night.  This pretty much broke my heart.  David Cassidy was the idol that made me buy Tiger Beat Magazine.  I had his poster on the wall.  I owned every Partridge Family and David Cassidy record.  I lived for the TV show.  He became a part of my reality.  I still have “I Think I Love You” on my ipod.  For those of you that don’t know him, he was the largest pop idol of his generation, and this was without internet or 8000 tv channels.  He was the man.

Now I know he had his battles.  They were well documented and difficult.  I think to be young and have all that fame and fortune in your immediate path is extremely difficult.  His home life was a bit precarious too.  His life was one of extremes, the highest of highs, the lowest of lows.

But none of this matters.

David Cassidy represents a part of my youth.  He represents hopes and dreams of a young girl living in suburban Long Island.  Sitting in my blue and green bedroom, hairbrush microphone in my hand. belting out “Come on Get Happy”.  When the world seemed unfathomable, I had David and his songs and his rockin 70’s clothes- for 3 minutes and 45 seconds the world made sense.  For the length of an episode, I was a part of something larger than myself- before the age of recordable TV, we sat ourselves down and watched the episodes as they aired.  We talked about it the next day.  For a shy girl as I was, this was the moment, the moment when I was just a little bit cool, and I could discuss the latest doings of Keith and Lori Partridge.  I could sit at the lunch table and actually be a part of the conversation instead of a part of the décor.  These were the moments when I was happiest, when I felt like I belonged, even if it was just for a little while.

Now, as I get older, more recognizable faces will pass.  The past few years have taken a brutal toll on my memories.  But I can only think of the little moments that these celebrities afforded me, these little beacons of happiness.  I know celebrity crushes are silly, but I think they are also important.  They define moments in our lives, they remind us of who we were.  They remind us of how far we’ve come.

I was fortunate enough to have seen David Cassidy in person once.  He and his brother Sean were performing on Broadway about 20 years ago.  I think it was Blood Brothers.  Not only did I see the show, on a different night I had been at a Manhattan restaurant in the theater district.  Sean and David came into the place.  It was surreal.  No, I didn’t ask for his autograph, I figured he had a right to dine in peace, but oh, seeing him walk by….

So rest in peace David Cassidy.  Thanks for the memories.

 

 

49 thoughts on “Come on, get Happy…….”

  1. My celebrity boyfriend growing up in the Catskills was Barry Manilow: Can’t Smile Without You. That must have been surreal seeing him enter the restaurant. I never went to any of his concerts and eventually I moved on but I was always interested in seeing him perform live. And he is still alive.

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  5. Ahhh tiger best magazine and posters on the wall. This brings back a ton of memories. My crush was Leif Garrett. I too love i think I love you. Ill be singing it today as I thank I him for the memories.

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  7. Davy Jones of the Monkees for me…probably the British thing no doubt. Oh, but there were so many to choose from back then. I always envied David’s hair, the feathery look rather than just hanging… Great memories of my youth thanks to so many of these idols.

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  9. David Cassidy was my first crush. I had teen magazine pictures of him plastered all over my walls. I lived for the Friday night line up, which included The Partridge Family. I was brokenhearted to hear that he’d died so young, and suffered so much. May he rest in peace.

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  13. Pingback: I think I love you! – Fiction in My Head

  14. I can so relate. This hit hard. When Davy Jones died my BFF from high school called me and we cried. When John Lennon was shot I walked into the school where I was teaching and a group of women my age sat in the teacher’s lounge and sobbed. Some people represent our youth and their music our cherished memories. I posted the song, “I think I love you” on Facebook and twitter last night because I felt so sad. Another one bites the dust… Rock and Roll heaven is getting really, really large. A little bit of my heart is shattered each time a part of my youth is taken away. Thank you for this lovely tribute to a beautiful young man I remember fondly. xo

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  16. Davie Bowie and Prince totally had me weeping. Their music, the memories… But David Cassidy was of an era. He was simply adorable. And the fact that he and I were only a year apart in age and that he actually sang and played guitar too made me relate to him even more. . Young girls thought he was dreamy, which he was, but he was actually very talented too. He had a challenging life in many ways… so far removed from the characters he portrayed on TV. But, that smile of his… Oh, that charming, youthful smile, even as he got older could inspire my heart to flutter at a moment’s notice. What a shame that he is gone…. I very much appreciated your tribute. And no doubt he does too as he floats among the stars above and becomes a muse to those of us, who write.

    To quote Shakespeare as Juliet said, “Give me my Romeo. Take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun.”
    I often think that those creative souls who pass away turn into evening stars to guide and inspire us. So let all those beautiful memories of your youth become creative forces for you in the here and now. David Cassidy certainly inspired you enough to write your lovely tribute. He was special and his impact on you was special as well.

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  17. I didn’t move to Canada till 1980 as a shy 11yo girl so I missed some of this Partridge Family phenomenon. Of course I saw the show in syndication here and there…was fascinating in a strange kind of way, but obviously by the time I learned English enough to follow along, that show and its stars seemed ‘over’…still, his name was recognizable to me, too, and today with the Internet you can look up anything anywhere anytime…

    Poor guy. It sounds like he had quite the life!

    For me, as a teenager in the mid 80s and onward, it was the Outsiders. Major obsession that started with the book and then the movie (and, as these things go, Tiger Beat and other magazines like it). My dad used to HATE that I had my walls plastered with all of these faces but I didn’t care, I dreamed my dreams. 😛

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  19. My number one crush was Bobby Sherman, but I still thought David Cassidy was rather cute. It is odd how we lose those icons of our youth…makes us realize that time is marching relentlessly on, and I guess that is as it should be. Still, I’m very thankful for the memories!

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  21. I think many of us as young girls had crushes on him! Great post that had me nodding to all that you said, in agreement! I could sing with that hairbrush microphone like nobody’s business lol! So cool that you got to see him in real life too…

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