Psychotherapist Virginia Satir once said individuals should not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define them.
Rick Springfield has definitely embraced that mantra throughout a career dating back roughly six decades since he first plugged in a guitar.
His cultural imprint can be found on the singles charts, the soap opera landscape and in other roles that have found him popping up on prime-time television, Broadway and on the silver screen. He brings his well-honed hits to Napa’s Uptown Theatre this Saturday, May 30, supported by Los Angeles–based duo Sun And The Saint.
Springfield began reaching a wide audience in 1981 as both a guitar-slinging pop star and a soap opera heartthrob. That was the year his fifth studio album, the multi-platinum Working Class Dog, hit the racks at the same time General Hospital became a must-see soap opera.
The former yielded a handful of hits (“Jessie’s Girl,” “I’ve Done Everything for You,” “Love is Alright Tonight”) along with a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The latter found Springfield playing fictional playboy Dr. Noah Drake, a role that calcified a teen idol image he neither wanted nor sought.
“It’s been a double-edged sword,” he said of his dual success in music and acting. “When I first started out, everyone thought I was this daytime one-dimensional guy who someone handed a song to and happened to stay in tune for three minutes in the studio. And then ‘Jessie’s Girl’ was right there, and it’s a natural thing to think the two go together. They don’t and never have. They wanted me to sing on my original appearances of ‘General Hospital,’ and I knew it was going to be a problem with me being on the show because it was becoming so successful. I was just doing it for the money.
“It just happened that summer; it became THE show around the same time ‘Jessie’s Girl’ went to number one. They’ll probably be forever entwined even though they aren’t from where they were born and everything. They are two very disparate children joined in fame I guess,” he explained with a laugh.
Springfield’s career dates back to the early 1970s. Following a brief stint in Australian pop group Zoot, he landed a record deal that yielded the minor hit “Speak to the Sky.” A move to the United States to pursue more musical opportunities in mid-1972 found him trying to find his footing and survive. Acting proved to be a lifeline for him during a very trying time.
“I was between record deals and getting pretty hungry and low on money,” he said. “I met a woman, and (she) said to come to this acting class if I wasn’t doing anything. I started taking acting classes, and that really saved my life. I was by myself at the time, kind of all alone in America, and it really brought life back to me. I started working as an actor and was one of the last contract players signed by Universal.
“The Six Million Dollar Man was my first role, and I ended up doing Rockford Files, Battlestar Galactica and tens of nameless shows most people don’t even remember. It was good practice, and it helped me a lot. It actually paid the light bill,” he added.
Over his career, Springfield has refused to rest on his laurels. He’s still recording new material, with his last studio record being 2023’s double-CD Automatic. (“Twenty songs of dark to happy stuff—a chronicle of what I’ve been going through and thinking about,” he said.)
In 2024, he released Big Hits: Rick Springfield’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. Composed of material starting with 1999’s Karma up through the aforementioned Automatic, this double-CD anthology reflects the rather wide stylistic net Springfield casts whenever he hits the studio.
“There are a lot of those songs that are fan favorites and a lot of songs that I think are the best ones from the past 20 years,” Springfield noted. “(It includes) some unreleased stuff like one I did with Sammy Hagar called ‘Party at the Beach Bar.’ There is also a song with the Foo Fighters called ‘The Man That Never Was,’ a new single called ‘Lose Myself’ and ‘Jessie’s Girl’ because we threw it on there as a re-recording. It sounds like the original, only bigger and stronger.”
Rick Springfield performs at 8pm, Saturday, May 30, at the Uptown Theatre, 1350 3rd St., Napa. Tickets and info at uptowntheatrenapa.com.
