#2550 - Rick Springfield

Rick Springfield said he considered himself a writer before a performer, starting to play guitar at 11 and writing songs as a way to give his playing direction. He grew up between Australia and England before returning to Australia, where he began performing with a school band at about 15. Depression and being kicked out of 11th grade disrupted his education; music and reading horror writers became central to his life. After moving to the United States in 1972, he briefly went along with managers’ efforts to promote his looks, but left when the strategy brought no hits and conflicted with the songs he wanted to write.

At 18, Springfield spent about four months in Vietnam in 1968–69 as a guitarist entertaining troops, not as a combatant. The band played at fire bases, sometimes from a truck, and was occasionally exposed to gunfire, rockets and mortars. At Marble Mountain, Springfield was asked to fire mortars after reports of movement and no friendly forces nearby. He fired five or six and was told the next day that one had hit a Viet Cong fighter. He still finds it difficult to face the possibility that he caused someone’s death. His band leader, Pete Watson, died about a year later at 25 from a rare lung disease; doctors could not establish whether it was connected to Agent Orange or something he contracted in Vietnam.

“Speak to the Sky,” which Springfield wrote for his mother, reached number 10 in the United States and was a hit in Canada before his biggest breakthrough. After four albums achieved little, he took a role on General Hospital partly for the money, earning $500 an episode in 1980. Producer Keith Olson had advised against it because he believed Springfield’s record was strong, but the label had delayed the album, uncertain how to promote guitar-based pop amid disco and ballads. Olson brought Sammy Hagar’s “I’ve Done Everything for You” to the project; Springfield initially preferred his own songs but later agreed Olson had made the right call.

“Jessie’s Girl” was not initially chosen as a single, but DJs played it and listener calls persuaded the record company to release it. Springfield recalled the song climbing slowly in 1981, though he was unsure whether it had begun rising in 1980 or 1981, and said he had nearly given up hope before learning it had reached number one. He wrote it about a woman he met in a stained-glass class who had a boyfriend and showed no interest in him. He tried the names Gary and Randy before choosing Jesse because it sang better, and never learned the woman’s name. She never knew the song was about her, he said; an attempt by Oprah to locate her fell short after the stained-glass man had died and his paperwork was gone.

Springfield’s acting role and musical success converged unexpectedly. He said people began recognizing him on the street after two weeks on General Hospital, where he joined during the Luke and Laura storyline. The couple’s 1982 wedding drew 30 million viewers, and some universities rearranged classes because students would skip them to watch. Springfield described the show’s audience as a surprise alongside his concert following and number-one hit. He learned to work with a teleprompter and prepare lines between takes, and credited producer Gloria Monty with helping shape the show. He also recalled about 4,000 fans surrounding a police car and trying to tip it over.

Springfield said performing remains compelling because the audience’s energy makes repeating a song worthwhile. He sees concerts as a communal respite, giving people 90 minutes to two hours away from everyday troubles, while the stage also frees him from his own thoughts. He believes artists create because they have to, even though they want the work to be liked; focusing on making it excellent, rather than chasing approval, helps protect that impulse. He works out six days a week, eats clean food with his wife and monitors his health with scans and blood tests. He also writes books, including the novels Magnificent Vibration and World on Fire, and said luck matters—but preparation, craft and staying in the game help a person make use of an opportunity.