Rick Springfield

Rick Springfield, 2010

Rick Springfield (* 23. August 1949 as Richard Lewis Springthorpe in Sydney , Australia ) is a australisch- American musician and actor . He has been a US citizen since 2006.

biography

Rick Springfield was born in 1949 to Norman and Eileen Springthorpe. In 1959 the family moved to England because of the father's military career . On his 13th birthday, his father gave him his first guitar , which he converted into an electric guitar .

Career

In 1967 Rick Springfield left high school and played as a guitarist in the band Rock House, which appeared in 1968 under the name MPD, Ltd for troop support in Vietnam . In February 1969, Springfield returned from there. After formation and dissolution of the momentarily existing tape Wickedy Wak he was guitarist and backing vocalist of the group Zoot, as its member, he in Australia including through the Single Eleanor Rigby , a hard rock - cover version of the Beatles , a large awareness reached -Klassikers is .

After the dissolution of Zoot in 1971, Rick Springfield tried his hand at being a soloist . With his first single Speak to the Sky he had his first top ten hit in Australia. The song also made it into the top 20 in the USA, to which it moved in 1972. His first album, Beginnings, was only a moderate success commercially. The second album, Comic Book Heroes , was not a great success either , despite good reviews. Then the soundtrack to the cartoon series Mission Magic appeared . In 1974 Springfield recorded his album Springfield . Due to disagreements with management , the album was not released. The record company Chelsea Records released the album Wait for Night in 1976 , but had to file for bankruptcy a short time later .

In 1978, Rick Springfield signed an acting contract with Universal Pictures and appeared on numerous shows and series, including Battlestar Galactica , Wonder Woman and Detective Rockford - just give us a call .

The breakthrough came in 1981. The album Working Class Dog was a surprise success thanks to the number 1 single Jessie’s Girl and went platinum in the US for 1 million records sold . With Love Is Alright Tonight and I've Done Everything for You , the latter composed by Sammy Hagar , two more top 20 singles followed. That same year, Springfield was signed to the role of Dr. Noah Drake signed on the television series General Hospital because it was initially unsure whether his album Working Class Dog would be released at all.

In April 1981 Springfield's father died, to whom he dedicated the two songs My Father's Chair and April 24th . In 1982 he won a Grammy Award in the category "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" for his title Jessie's Girl , which was nominated for two other Grammys. The follow-up album Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982) was able to build on the success with the single hit Don't Talk to Strangers , received platinum and a Grammy nomination. In 1983 he left the General Hospital series to devote more time to his music. In the following years, Springfield released three other, equally successful albums: Living in OZ (1983), Hard to Hold (1984), a soundtrack to the film of the same name, in which he also starred, and Tao (1985) with the Single Celebrate Youth .

In 1988, Springfield had an ATV accident and broke his shoulder blade and a couple of ribs . The album Rock of Life , produced in 1988 , was not a great commercial success because it was unable to go on tour due to the accident. Until 1997, Springfield was largely musically inactive, but played in numerous films and series.

Together with keyboardist Bob Marlette and guitarist Tim Pierce, Springfield started a musical comeback in 1997 under the band name Sahara Snow and the album of the same name. From 1999 he appeared again as a solo artist and released the album Karma . In 2001 the best-of album The Greatest Hits… Alive followed . From January 2001 to December 2007 he starred and sang in the special effects show EFX Alive at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas .

Rick Springfield, 2011

In 2004 Springfield released the album Shock, Denial, Anger, Acceptance ( SDAA for short ), on which he struck a much more rocky sound than with Karma . In the following year he wanted to show his fans which music inspired him and which songs he would have liked to have written. The result was the album The Day Before Yesterday , which could not repeat the success of SDAA . The best-of double album Written in Rock , also from 2005, attracted more attention .

In 2006 the album Working Class Dog was remastered and re-released with three previously unreleased bonus tracks . Springfield's first Christmas album, Christmas with You , was released in 2007, followed by Venus in Overdrive the following year , with which it posted the highest album chart position in the US since the 1980s.

After Springfield found some old tapes in a drawer, he released them in 2009 under the title My Precious Little One . The record is a collection of lullabies which he wrote for his two sons, Liam and Joshua, when they were children. During the year he had some bigger guest appearances than himself on the series Californication (TV series, season 3), where he was portrayed as a dissolute 1980s legend on the way to comeback.

In 2010 Springfield toured Europe and also gave a Germany concert , which took place in June in front of around 800 fans in Weingarten . The Italian record company Frontiers Records , known for rock and hard rock productions, previously had a rarity CD of songs that were written together with Jeff Silverman, and the album Venus in Overdrive with a bonus track and a live DVD ( Live in Rockford ) for the European market. In the fall of 2012, Rick Springfield released a new album with Songs for the End of the World . A special feature is that the CD was released with four different covers and each with different bonus tracks. In 2016 his 18th studio album Rocket Science was released . It was co-produced by Matt Bissonette .

In the fall of 2010, the autobiography Late, Late at Night went on sale and made it to the top ten in several US bestseller lists .

In 2011, Rick Springfield played a brief role in Hawaii Five-0 (Season 1 - Episode 22). He portrayed the photographer Renny Sinclair who was burned alive in his trailer. At the end of the episode, the photographer's case is also clarified and the perpetrator arrested.

In January 2018 Rick Springfield released the blues-influenced album "The Snake King".

Private life

In 1984, Rick Springfield married Barbara Porter, a secretary for RCA Records . The couple have two sons.

In September 2000, Rick Springfield was arrested after an argument with his wife. The next morning he was released on bail of $ 50,000.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	CH	UK	US
1972	Beginnings	-	-	-	US35 (17 weeks) US
1981	Working class dog	-	-	-	US7th platinum (73 weeks)US
1982	Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet	-	-	-	US2 platinum (35 weeks)US
1983	Wait for night	-	-	-	US159 (8 weeks) US	First published: 1976
	Living in Oz	-	-	UK41 (4 weeks) UK	US12 platinum (57 weeks)US	Chart entry in UK only in February 1984
1984	Hard to hold	DE24 (26 weeks) DE	-	-	US16 platinum (36 weeks)US	Soundtrack, with Graham Parker , Nona Hendryx and Peter Gabriel
	Beautiful feelings	-	-	-	US78 (13 weeks) US	with newly played instruments First published: 1978
1985	Tao	DE5 gold (30 weeks)DE	CH7 (23 weeks) CH	UK68 (3 weeks) UK	US21st gold (26 weeks)US
1988	Rock of life	DE16 (18 weeks) DE	CH14 (6 weeks) CH	UK80 (1 week) UK	US55 (16 weeks) US
1999	karma	-	-	-	US189 (1 week) US
2005	The Day After Yesterday	-	-	-	US197 (1 week) US
2008	Venus in overdrive	-	-	-	US28 (2 weeks) US
2012	Songs for the End of the World	-	-	-	US44 (1 week) US
2016	Rocket Science	-	-	-	US69 (1 week) US

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 1969: Just Zoot
• 1970: Zoot Out
• 1973: Comic Book Heroes
• 1974: Mission Magic!
• 1977: big hits
• 1997: Sahara Snow
• 2001: The Greatest Hits: Alive
• 2004: Shock / Denial / Anger / Acceptance
• 2005: The Day After Yesterday
• 2007: Christmas with You
• 2008: Live and Kickin '
• 2009: My Precious Little One
• 2010: From the Vault (A Collection of Works by Rick Springfield and Jeff Silverman) (with Jeff Silverman)
• 2013: Sound City - Real to Reel
• 2015: Stripped Down

Compilations

• 1971: Zoot Locker - The Best of Zoot
• 1977: big hits
• 1989: Rick Springfield's Greatest Hits
• 1993: We're Gonna Have a Good Time
• 1996: Best Of
• 1997: Rick Springfield
• 1999: Backtracks
• 1999: The Best of Rick Springfield
• 2000: Best Selection
• 2000: Working Class Dog • Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet
• 2000: VH1 Behind the Music: The Rick Springfield Collection
• 2001: Calling All Girls - The Romantic Rick Springfield
• 2001: Titanium series
• 2001: Speak to the Sky
• 2003: Legendary (3 CDs)
• 2003: The Best of Rick Springfield
• 2003: Platinum & Gold Collection
• 2004: 12inch Collection
• 2005: Written in Rock: Rick Springfield Anthology (2 CDs)
• 2006: We Are the '80s
• 2006: Catch Me If You Can
• 2008: Playlist: The Very Best of Rick Springfield
• 2008: great hits
• 2009: Fan-Tastic Rick Springfield
• 2011: The Essential Rick Springfield
• 2014: Original Album Classics (box with 5 CDs)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	CH	UK	US
1972	Speak to the Sky Beginnings	-	-	-	US14 (13 weeks) US
	What Would the Children Think Beginnings	-	-	-	US70 (4 weeks) US
1974	American Girls Springfield (unreleased album)	-	-	-	US98 (2 weeks) US
1976	Take a hand wait for night	-	-	-	US41 (9 weeks) US
1981	Jessie's Girl Working Class Dog	-	-	UK43 silver (7 weeks)UK	US1 gold (32 weeks)US	Chart entry in UK only in March 1984
	I've Done Everything for You Working Class Dog	-	-	-	US8 (22 weeks) US
	Love Is Alright Tonite Working Class Dog	-	-	-	US20 (16 weeks) US
1982	Don't Talk to Strangers Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet	-	-	-	US2 (21 weeks) US
	What Kind of Fool Am I Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet	-	-	-	US21 (12 weeks) US
	I Get Excited Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet	-	-	-	US32 (12 weeks) US
1983	Affair of the Heart Living in Oz	-	-	-	US9 (18 weeks) US
	Human Touch Living in Oz	-	-	UK23 (7 weeks) UK	US18 (15 weeks) US
	Souls Living in Oz	-	-	-	US23 (15 weeks) US
1984	Love Somebody Hard to Hold	DE23 (16 weeks) DE	-	UK95 (1 week) UK	US5 (16 weeks) US
	Don't Walk Away Hard to Hold	-	-	-	US26 (12 weeks) US
	Bop 'Til You Drop Hard to Hold	-	-	-	US20 (15 weeks) US
	Bruce Beautiful Feelings	-	-	-	US27 (13 weeks) US	First publication: 1981
	Taxi Dancing Hard to Hold	-	-	-	US59 (10 weeks) US	from the Hard to Hold soundtrack with Randy Crawford
1985	Celebrate Youth Tao	DE5 (18 weeks) DE	CH9 (12 weeks) CH	UK80 (4 weeks) UK	US26 (11 weeks) US
	State of the Heart Tao	DE44 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	US22 (15 weeks) US
1988	Rock of Life Rock of Life	-	-	UK83 (4 weeks) UK	US22 (15 weeks) US

More singles

• 1969: 4 Shades of Pink (EP)
• 1973: I'm Your Superman
• 1973: Wizard Preview (with Gary Young, Ross Wilson, Ross Hannaford and The Daltons)
• 1977: Treat Me Gently in the Morning
• 1982: Kristina
• 1982: Calling All Girls
• 1988: (This Is No) Honeymoon
• 2008: Who Killed Rock-n-Roll? (Download single)
• 2009: Jet (download single)

Video albums

• 1983: Live and Kickin '
• 1984: Platinum Videos
• 1985: Beat of the Live Drum
• 2001: Alive
• 2006: Live in Rockford

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Canada 1981: for the single Jessie's Girl 1983: for the album Living in Oz 1984: for the album Hard to Hold  Sweden 1987: for the album Rock of Life

Platinum record  Canada 1982: for the album Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet 2 × platinum record  Canada 1985: for the album Working Class Dog

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Germany (BVMI)	-	gold1	-	250,000	musikindustrie.de
Canada (MC)	-	3 × gold3	3 × platinum3	475,000	musiccanada.com
Sweden (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	50,000	sverigetopplistan.se
United States (RIAA)	-	2 × gold2	4 × platinum4th	5,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	-	-	200,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	7 × gold7th	7 × platinum7th

Filmography (selection)

• 1978: Rockford Files
• 1978: Wonder Woman
• 1978: Kampfstern Galactica ( Battlestar Galactica ) (TV series)
• 1980–1982, 2005–2007, 2008, 2012, 2013: General Hospital (TV series)
• 1984: Hard to Hold
• 1989: Midnight Cop
• 1992: The Mask (Human Target) (TV series)
• 1994: High Tide (TV series)
• 1994: Robin's Club ( Robin's Hoods ) (TV series)
• 1994: Kung Fu in the "Sign of the Dragon" (TV series)
• 1998: Legion - Experiment of Death ( Legion )
• 1998: Loyal Opposition: Terror in the White House
• 1999: Dying to Dance
• 2009: Californication (TV series, season 3)
• 2011: Hawaii Five-0 (Season 1 - Episode 22)
• 2013: Sound City (Documentation)
• 2015: Ricki - How family is like (Ricki and the Flash)
• 2016: Supernatural

Artist awards

grammy

• 1982 : for the single Jessie's Girl - Best Male Rock Vocal Performance

literature

• Stambler, Irwin: The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul . 3rd Revised Edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 633f - ISBN 0-312-02573-4 Joel Whitburn's Pop Singles Annual 1955-1990 Billboard .

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} timeline ( Memento from May 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ frontiers.it
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US

Web links

Commons : Rick Springfield  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Rick Springfield website
• Rick Springfield in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Rick Springfield at Allmusic (English)
• Rick Springfield at Discogs (English)