Our featured celebrity, 65-year-old Rick Springfield, has maintained a magnetic presence in the public eye for decades. Perhaps known best for his musical accomplishments––25 million records sold, a Grammy Award for his smash-hit Jessie’s Girl, and a whopping 17 Top 40 hits––Springfield has excelled in many different roles over the years. As an actor, he’s known for his iconic part as the dashing Dr. Noah Drake on the long-running soap opera General Hospital. Meanwhile, his recent stints on Californication and Hawaii 5-0 helped introduce Springfield to a new generation of fans. His highly anticipated turn on the second season of the critically acclaimed HBO drama True Detective is but one of the many new projects he has in the works. Inside, we catch up with this ageless performer who continues to prove that it’s never too late to explore new opportunities.
You can’t make a living playing guitar,
Richard.” And perhaps his dear mother was right. “Because, over 40 years after
Rick Springfield’s mum uttered those fateful words to her son back in
Australia, Springfield has not only made a living playing guitar, but as a
songwriter, an actor, an author, and someone who has refused to give up despite
the odds that life has thrown at him. “My mom and I butted heads as a
teenager,” recalls Springfield, who first picked up a guitar at the age of 12.
“I was terrible back then. She said I was hanging out with kids that she
considered part of a rough crowd. She probably was right. She wasn’t always
there with a comforting arm because she just wasn’t that kind of mom. She
showed me the way to be by what she did. She taught me always to stand up and
never crumble. She has a ‘never give up and never quit’ mentality.” It’s that
mentality that has kept Springfield in the forefront of a number of industries
at the same time, whether via upcoming acting roles in shows such as the HBO
critically-acclaimed drama True Detective and movies such as Ricki and the
Flash starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Klein or as the author to books such as
his autobiography Late, Late at Night. Springfield has accomplished all of this
despite a slew of challenges, many of which would be enough to take down a
weaker heart and most of which he finds himself still battling today. Yet,
despite “a degree of attention deficit disorder” and his admitted frequent
bouts with depression, Springfield says the ideals that he learned from his now
94-year-old mom have helped him to battle on. “I have learned to live with it
to a degree and channel it into a direction so I don’t waste my time feeling
like crap all of the time,” he says. “Life is too short not to.”
His career known best for a long list
of musical accomplishments that includes 25 million records sold, a Grammy
Award for his #1 smash-hit Jessie’s Girl, and a whopping 17 Top 40 hits
including Don’t Talk to Strangers, Affair of the Heart, I’ve Done Everything for
You, Love Somebody, and Human Touch, Springfield has remained a force in the
music industry and a successful touring musician able to still sell out venues
throughout the country. Currently, Springfield is busy with his Stripped Down
tour, which has the singer/songwriter taking the precious time to reflect on
the music that has made him famous. “After I finished with my
autobiography, I realized that I had a lot of stories,” Springfield says. “A
lot of those stories did come out in my songs in one way or another. We thought
doing a ‘stripped down, storytelling thing’ would be a good idea. But yes, I am
nervous up there. It’s just me. You can’t really fall back on sounds and lights
and the other band members. It’s a much more intimate setting than what I am
used to.” And while thousands of adoring fans still come out to his concerts
for the music, many continue to relate to Springfield as the dashing Dr. Noah
Drake on the long-running soap opera General Hospital. “I only took the job
because I had no money,” laughs Springfield, who took the role back in March of
1981 and made recurring appearances on the soap through 2013. “I really thought
that the role would have no effect on my music. As far as I was concerned, it
was just a bunch of blue hair ladies ironing in the afternoon and killing time
watching soap operas. I didn’t realize where it would go and what it would mean
and that people would still be calling me Noah Drake 30 years later. It’s been
a double edged sword.” Yet, the sheer art of acting is something that still
intrigues Springfield to this day. “Acting has always been more about
expression rather than hiding,” says Springfield, who has also landed roles on
shows such as Californication and Hawaii 5-0. “I mean obviously you can say and
do anything as a character. It goes back to what we did as a kid playing cops
and robbers. It’s really the love of acting as much as the love of role playing
and being able to do and say anything in a role that’s really not you. I get
the same kind of charge after finishing a scene I feel like I nailed as I do
after writing a song.” Last year, Springfield pushed his creative boundaries
even farther with the release of his first fiction novel and New York Times
Best Seller Magnificent Vibration. “Being a journalist was the first thing I
ever wanted to be,” Springfield says. “So, putting out more avenues out there
and trying my hand as a writer wasn’t as big as a sidestep as some people might
have thought.”
His well-being long ago, the now
65-year-old Springfield realized the importance of keeping in shape both
physically and mentally. So whether running across the stage with a guitar
swung around his neck or stopping to spend some cherished quiet time with his
family, Springfield continues in his attempt to live life as well as he can. “I
have always been able to keep in relatively good shape thanks to all the
aerobic stuff I end up doing on stage,” remarks Springfield, who also practices
meditation and visualization. “But I really started watching what I ate when I
was 25 years old, just around the time my dad got sick. (Springfield’s father
died in 1981) I have read a lot of books on the good and bad of eating, and on
the road it can be tough in certain towns getting the requirements you need.
It’s a major part of our lives to put fuel in our bodies if you want your body
to perform at the best of its capability.”
His future living a well-fed physical
and emotional life continues to spur Springfield to create new music to this
day. He started work on the recording of a brand new album earlier this year.
“I thought it was a great way to start the New Year,” says Springfield of the
new project that will include 15 new songs. “I feel like it’s the best record
that I have ever done. It’s definitely a rather positive record. I actually
write from a rather dark place due to the depression…I mean, that’s what I do
with my depression. But this time around, I seem to have made the most positive
record I have ever done. It’s about time I think.”
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