For all
of his accomplishments as an actor, best-selling author, and documentary
subject, Rick Springfield’s first love has always been music, a passion he’s
harbored since first picking up the guitar at the age of 12 in his native Australia.
With 25
million records sold, 17 top-40 hits, including Don’t Talk to Strangers, An
Affair of the Heart, I've Done Everything for You, Love Somebody and Human
Touch, as well as a 1981 Grammy® for Best Male Rock Vocal for his No. 1 hit
single “Jessie’s Girl,” Springfield shows no signs of slowing down. “I put everything I've got into making
records,” he says. “Sometimes people may think they have you pegged but I trust
the music to speak for itself.”
Never one to be confined to the recording studio where
the music is born, Springfield has toured for over 30 years,
hand-delivering the hits to millions of fans worldwide via his dynamic
live shows. His concerts are legendary with
their rock heavy, high energy full band sets. However, in fall 2013 Springfield
felt it was time to expand his live performance options. Hence the solo “Stripped Down” tour was
created to bring an intimate yet still lively performance to fans. The singer incorporates
personal stories about his music and life into the show and even adds a
question and answer segment as a way to truly connect with his audiences. The
“Stripped Down” tour gives Springfield a chance to perform some of his favorite
songs that he has written over the years that never quit fit in his full band sets.
Excited
fans and critics have made “Stripped Down” one of the most talked about tours
of 2014, receiving rave reviews and sold out seats across the country. “Setting
up shop at the intimate and stylish City Winery was the right call for this
rare solo set and the fans came in droves, selling out both shows practically
from the get go…The night as a whole achieved its purpose of revealing several
unseen sides of Springfield beyond just the most obvious oldies.” says the
Illinois Entertainer.
Although music is Springfield’s first love, the rocker knew
it was time to put more of an emphasis on his acting career. At the end of 2014
Springfield wrapped production on “Ricki
and the Flash” with co-star Meryl Streep and director Jonathan Demme. The
film is expected to release in the summer of 2015. Springfield is currently working on Season 2
of HBO’s critically acclaimed True
Detective, which will return to TV later this year. Along with his notorious role as Dr. Drake on
General Hospital, Springfield’s guest-starred on an episode of Drop
Dead Diva in 2014, and can
be seen on other notable TV roles including a 4-episode arc on Californication
and Hawaii Five-O.
Springfield
is not only gifted musician and actor he is also a talented writer proving to
Hollywood he is a triple threat. He released his first fiction novel MAGNIFICENT VIBRATION on May 6th, 2014.
The book received rave
reviews from literary publications Kirkus and Booklist. Booklist said, “Captivating, poignant, and
hilarious, MAGNIFICENT VIBRATION
proves that some of the most interesting stories can come from pretty unlikely
places.” Not only did the book receive great
reviews but MAGNIFICENT VIBRATION became Springfield’s second book
(First book, Late, Late at Night) to make
the NY Times Best Sellers List. The
deeply meaningful and over-the-top novel features a hero who has hit a dead end
in his life but who serendipitously receives an 800 connection to God via an
inscription in a mysterious self-help book and who just may have a shot at
saving the planet." The only good grades I ever got in school before I was
kicked out were for creative writing,” says Springfield. “I thought that
fiction might be in my future but then my career took a different path once the
Beatles showed me what a blast being in a band could be. Writing my
memoir reminded me how much I love the craft. So I decided to give fiction
a shot again. MAGNIFICENT VIBRATION
is the result. I’m still not quite sure where it came from, but once I
got going, it practically wrote itself. I’ve heard writers I admire speak
of that phenomenon, so maybe I’m on the right track.”
Right
after releasing MAGNIFICENT VIBRATION, Springfield was honored by the
Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for all his accomplishments by receiving his very
own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May, 9th 2014.
Springfield’s
autobiography, Late, Late at Night, published by Simon & Schuster’s
Touchstone imprint in 2010, entered The New York Times best-seller list
at No. 13 and hit the Los Angeles Times and Publishers Weekly
lists as well. Rolling Stone
named it one of the top-25 rock autobiographies of all time. In the book, which
he wrote himself; Springfield speaks frankly about the depression he’s battled
throughout his life. “I’m not the shiny,
happy guy people think I am. I suppose
they confuse who I really am with my stage persona,” says Springfield. “But good can come from hardship. Depression causes me to over-analyze events
in my life, and that’s actually a bonus when it comes to songwriting. Hey, if things had gone my way at the time and
I’d gotten laid, Jessie’s Girl would
never have been written.”
In 2013, Springfield
teamed up with Dave Grohl on Grohl’s multi-faceted passion project, Sound
City, which encompassed a documentary (Sound
City), an album (Sound City: Real to
Reel), and the Sound City Players tour, a string of critically acclaimed
shows with fellow documentary subjects including Stevie Nicks, Trent Reznor,
John Fogerty, and Lee Ving among others. Each
artist’s set was backed by The Foo Fighters, and Springfield’s own set included
notable declarations from Grohl such as, "I want to be Rick Springfield."
and “Bucket list. Check." CraveOnline
called Sound City: Real to Reel “a powerhouse collection of some of the
greatest musical talent ever assembled.” Springfield and Grohl co-wrote The
Man That Never Was, which was inspired by a true story from World War II.
“Writing music can be a solo endeavor but at its heart, rock is
collaborative. Working with Dave and the
Foo Fighters was collaboration at its best. Those guys are true musicians:
creative, spontaneous, generous, and talented.
Working with them was a great experience.” The Man That Never Was
has been widely recognized by critics as one of the best songs on the Sound
City album. “The highlights… are led by
Stevie Nicks and, yes, Rick Springfield.” (People) Springfield
has also been hailed for his part in the documentary: “The film's breakout
story is arguably Rick Springfield.” (Rolling
Stone)
The Sound City: Real to Reel CD also won the
2014 Grammy® for Best Compilation Soundtrack.
In
October 2012 Springfield released, Songs for the End of the World his 17th studio record, a
collaboration with songwriter Matt Bissonette. Songs for the End of the
World addresses the need to be consoled and cherished in an age of anxiety
about the future of the planet. Filled with personal lyrics and giant hooks,
it’s a pop/rock tour de force. “It's high energy,” he explains about the
album’s mix of moods. “At its core, it’s about looking for love and solace
while the world around us—everything we once felt sure
about—disintegrates. Even with the end
so palpably imminent, we’re still human beings, filled with longing and—maybe
against all odds—hope. I believe music
is healing,” says Springfield. The Tampa Bay Times said, “Springfield remains one of the best
live entertainers of his generation -- maybe the top dog -- so if he wants to
explore darker closets on studio albums, I'm not going to discourage him one
bit. Especially when the result is a project I enjoy as much as this one.”
Also in
2012 Springfield’s documentary An Affair of the Heart, which captured
the close ties between Springfield and his fans, debuted at numerous film
festivals and won special jury awards at the Nashville, Florida, Boston, and
Daytona Film Festivals. An Affair of the Heart premiered to record
numbers on the EPIX channel in May 2013 and is now available on DVD.
In the
early ’70s, Springfield already had a handful of hit records in his native
Australia. Once he emigrated to the
United States, he resorted to acting—eventually landing the role of Dr. Noah
Drake during the heyday of daytime TV’s General
Hospital—only as a way of making ends meet until his musical career took
off here. And take off it did, with the
1981 success of Working Class Dog
followed by Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me
Yet, Living in Oz, Hard to Hold soundtrack and Tao. Despite his original and defining passion for
music, many at the time mistook Springfield for a soap star trying to convert
daytime success to a sort of faux and fleeting music career. Nothing could be further from the truth, of
course, but to argue the point—well, to quote a Springfield lyric: the point is
probably moot. Springfield is content to
let his music and decade’s-long productivity speak for itself. “If you pay attention to where I’ve put my
time, who I really am becomes clear.”
Springfield’s
current musical career renaissance can be traced back to the albums Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance
(2004) and Venus in Overdrive (Ume, 2008), which entered the Billboard
sales charts at No. 28, his highest debut in 20 years. In 2005, Sony Legacy’s released the
retrospective double CD Written in Rock: The Rick Springfield Anthology.
