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Shaun Cassidy Says Teen Idol Fame Left Him Isolated Before He Quit Touring at 21
ReShaun Cassidy Says Teen Idol Fame Left Him Isolated Before He Quit Touring at 21
Shaun Cassidy, the late-1970s teen heartthrob behind the No. 1 hit «Da Doo Ron Ron» and «The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries,» says he stopped touring at 21 because fame made him a «prisoner» in his own home. He chose writing and producing television, and now prepares a holiday tour.
Shaun Cassidy, one of the biggest teen stars of the late 1970s, says he walked away from touring at 21 because celebrity life had turned him into a «prisoner» in his own home. In a conversation on the «Naked Lunch» podcast, Cassidy explained that the isolation of fame, not a loss of love for the stage, drove the decision that reshaped his career.
«I stopped touring when I was 21. Astrodome was my last show — not because I didn't love touring. I did, I loved performing, loved singing, but I found that writing and producing TV gave me, frankly, a much better life,» Cassidy said. The move came after he had already become a fixture in American homes. His 1977 self-titled debut album produced the No. 1 hit «Da Doo Ron Ron,» and his role as Joe Hardy on ABC's «The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries» made him a familiar face across the country.
Cassidy described how visibility narrowed his daily life. «Because once you are well-known — at least in my case — I became insulated. I couldn't go out … kind of a prisoner in your house,» he said. He added that he did not want to end up like other stars consumed by fame, invoking the isolation associated with Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. «I don't want that life. I don't want the Michael Jackson isolation, it's not healthy,» he said.
Instead, Cassidy chose family and work behind the scenes. «I got to stay home. I had kids at a young age. And I love writing,» he said. Writing and producing, he explained, offered a creative satisfaction that performing could not match. «I was a magician as a really young kid … when you write something, it's like magic. You pulled something out of the air and 200 people have a job on a sound stage,» he said.
By the mid-1990s, Cassidy had largely traded the stage for the writers' room and the producer's chair, working on shows including «American Gothic,» «Roar» and «New Amsterdam.» He said the choice paid off personally. «I'm glad I made the choice I did because now I've got a great life, I've got a great family, I've got … 107 children, and I'm a lucky man,» he joked. Cassidy is father to seven children.
His complicated relationship with fame predates his own stardom. He grew up as the son of Broadway and television star Jack Cassidy and Oscar winner Shirley Jones, who became a television icon as Shirley Partridge on «The Partridge Family.» Jack Cassidy and Jones married in 1956 and divorced in 1975. Cassidy has previously described his late father as a «phony,» saying Jack's larger-than-life showman persona did not translate into fatherhood. He has said that he and his brothers, including actor Patrick Cassidy and the late David Cassidy, experienced a very different reality behind the family's Hollywood image, and that he essentially raised himself while his parents pursued their careers.
Cassidy is now preparing for his «Unwrapped: Songs & Stories for the Holidays» tour, which is scheduled to kick off in November. The return to performing follows a period in which he has revisited his own catalog, including relearning his hits for his first major tour in 45 years. For Cassidy, the decision to leave the teen-idol machine at 21 was not an ending but a redirection — one that traded screaming crowds for a writers' room, a sound stage and a family life he says he would not swap.
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