By Vanessa FrankoThe Press-Enterprise
The inspiration of relationships has never been lost on Rick Springfield.
The trials and tribulations of couples have spawned some of the soap-opera star's biggest hits, such as the Grammy-winning ditty "Jessie's Girl," an iconic song from 1981 about coveting a friend's main squeeze.
The pop star, who is playing Morongo Casino on Sunday, said his new album, due out later this spring, continues to delve into the emotional territory.
"They're relationship songs, basically. They always have been," Springfield said in a recent telephone interview. "They're hopefully a little deeper than the relationship songs I was writing when I was 30 years old, and I think they are."
Springfield, 58, rose to stardom in 1981, playing Dr. Noah Drake on the popular soap opera "General Hospital."
His album "Working Class Dog," featuring the aforementioned "Jessie's Girl,"came out later that year and sold more than 1 million records by the end of the year. Follow-up albums spawned other big hits for Springfield, including "Don't Talk to Strangers" and "Affair of the Heart."
After taking time off to spend with his family through the 1990s, Springfield released "Karma" in 1999 and has been releasing music steadily since.
Springfield said the new record has come together faster than anything he's ever done.
While he's written most of the songs in his catalog on his own, Springfield has been working on the new record with bassist Matt Bissonette.
"I've written with other people and most of the time it really doesn't amount to much, you know, it's just a song you would have written by yourself anyway," he said. "But sometimes you meet somebody who you create a third mind with and I think that's what's happening with Matt."
Some of the songs on the upcoming disc were inspired by Sahara Aldridge, a young girl who Springfield knew since she was 5 years old. In 2006, at the age of 11, Aldridge was diagnosed with a malignant tumor on her brain stem. She died in November.
"It hit us all really hard, so that came out in a few songs," he said.
Despite working on the new album, he said only one of the songs, "Who Killed Rock 'N' Roll," which debuted on "General Hospital" last year, would be in the set list, which features tunes spanning Springfield's catalog, as well as "songs from my childhood and songs with just me on the guitar," he said.
"We try to vary the set as much as we can," he added.
Reach Vanessa Franko at 951-368-9575,
vfranko@PE.com
www.myspace.com/Audio_File or www.PE.com/blogs/music
The trials and tribulations of couples have spawned some of the soap-opera star's biggest hits, such as the Grammy-winning ditty "Jessie's Girl," an iconic song from 1981 about coveting a friend's main squeeze.
The pop star, who is playing Morongo Casino on Sunday, said his new album, due out later this spring, continues to delve into the emotional territory.
"They're relationship songs, basically. They always have been," Springfield said in a recent telephone interview. "They're hopefully a little deeper than the relationship songs I was writing when I was 30 years old, and I think they are."
Springfield, 58, rose to stardom in 1981, playing Dr. Noah Drake on the popular soap opera "General Hospital."
His album "Working Class Dog," featuring the aforementioned "Jessie's Girl,"came out later that year and sold more than 1 million records by the end of the year. Follow-up albums spawned other big hits for Springfield, including "Don't Talk to Strangers" and "Affair of the Heart."
After taking time off to spend with his family through the 1990s, Springfield released "Karma" in 1999 and has been releasing music steadily since.
Springfield said the new record has come together faster than anything he's ever done.
While he's written most of the songs in his catalog on his own, Springfield has been working on the new record with bassist Matt Bissonette.
"I've written with other people and most of the time it really doesn't amount to much, you know, it's just a song you would have written by yourself anyway," he said. "But sometimes you meet somebody who you create a third mind with and I think that's what's happening with Matt."
Some of the songs on the upcoming disc were inspired by Sahara Aldridge, a young girl who Springfield knew since she was 5 years old. In 2006, at the age of 11, Aldridge was diagnosed with a malignant tumor on her brain stem. She died in November.
"It hit us all really hard, so that came out in a few songs," he said.
Despite working on the new album, he said only one of the songs, "Who Killed Rock 'N' Roll," which debuted on "General Hospital" last year, would be in the set list, which features tunes spanning Springfield's catalog, as well as "songs from my childhood and songs with just me on the guitar," he said.
"We try to vary the set as much as we can," he added.
Reach Vanessa Franko at 951-368-9575,
vfranko@PE.com
www.myspace.com/Audio_File or www.PE.com/blogs/music
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