RICK SPRINGFIELD
Profile by Tiffany L. Sanders

Rick Springfield is an extraordinary Australian talent, and the story of his career is a classic showbiz tale that interweaves grinding lows and dizzying highs. From modest beginnings in Sydney's western suburbs, he rose to the top of the Australian pop scene with Zoot in the late '60s. Relocating to the US in the '70s, Rick had to start all over again, fighting his way to the top of the cutthroat American entertainment scene through the late 1970s and early '80s.

Following his breakthrough US #1 hit "Jessie’s Girl" in 1981, Rick has lived through many ups and downs, consistently coming back and achieving outstanding success, both as an actor and a musician. He has acted alongside legendary stars like Elizabeth Taylor, and has won numerous accolades as a performer and writer, including a coveted Grammy Award. His incredible US chart success includes four platinum albums, twenty Top 100 singles, and seventeen Top 40 hits, including a US #1 and #2 single.

Perhaps a victim of the "tall poppy" syndrome, Rick's immense and lasting success has been largely ignored here in his homeland, but he remains a major star in his adopted home, and has a huge and loyal following in the US and internationally. Proof of his vast popularity can be found on the Internet, where there are literally hundreds of fan websites and over thirty discussion groups dedicated to him, and his devoted fans have followed his career and concerts for more than twenty years. Still going strong in 2004, Rick reached another career peak with his first Las Vegas show, starring in the stage spectacular EFX Alive

MILESAGO says a hearty "thank you!" to Tiffany Sanders for her fine profile of one of Australia’s most successful sons, and we extend our sincere thanks to Rick for all the music, and for his very generous cooperation. Now read on!

Biography

In 1970, it looked like Rick Springfield was well on his way to the top of the musical world. At age 20, he arranged a heavy metal version of the Beatles’ "Eleanor Rigby" for his then-band Zoot. The song reached the Top 3 and stayed on the Australian charts for 21 weeks, drawing international attention.The following year, he optimistically entered the American music scene, but it would be ten years before his early Australian success was matched in the United States.

Rick Springfield was born Richard Lewis Springthorpe at Merrylands, in Sydney’s western suburbs, on August 23, 1949, the younger of two children. Music was a part of Rick’s life from childhood, a gift from his piano-playing father, Norman Springthorpe, a lieutenant colonel in the Australian Army. Since Norman was a career military officer, the family -- Rick, older brother Michael and mother Eileen -- moved frequently, and one of these postings took them to England for five years between 1958 and 1963. There, in his early adolescence, Rick was exposed to the start of a musical revolution that had not yet reached his native Australia.

Left: Rick, age 13, rocks out with his home-made guitar.

The five years that the family lived in England were a formative period for Rick, and he was heavily influenced by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and other popular bands of the time. Shortly after his family’s return to Australia, Rick began playing with local Melbourne bands like the Icy Blues and Jordy Boys, but his musical career didn’t begin in earnest until he was unceremoniously asked to leave high school in 1967.

In Rick’s own words, Pete Watson stepped in at this point and said, "Don’t throw him away. I’ll take him." Watson’s band, Rockhouse, was playing in and around Melbourne, and, shortly after Rick joined the band they landed a regular gig at a nightclub in St. Kilda.

Late in 1968, with the arrival of Danny Finley, Rockhouse metamorphosed into MPD Ltd, a reincarnation of the successful earlier Watson/Finley collaboration of the same name with singer-songwriter Mike Brady (who went on to a lucrative career in advertising). This "Mark II" version of MPD Ltd headed off to play to Australian troops in Vietnam, where they were surrounded by artillery fire and forced to deal in black market goods to survive. The band didn’t survive long after returning to Australia. Early in 1969 Pete Watson fell ill, and Rick and Danny Finley formed a new band, Wickedy Wak. They recorded one song, Billie’s Bikey Boys, written by Johnny Young and produced by Ian "Molly" Meldrum. The single is now considered a classic of Australian psych-pop and earned Rick his first public attention, but the band split almost immediately after it was released.

Adrift for the third time in as many years, Rick found himself pursued by a number of working bands of the day. Ultimately, Rick chose the pink-suited, teenybopper band Zoot over The Avengers and The Valentines. Rick’s striking good looks made him a perfect fit for the group's teenbopper image, but his musical and creative talents, combined with his powerful ambition, soon made the pink jumpsuit more than a bit restrictive.

Rick joined Zoot late in 1969, and only months later, in early 1970, the pink jumpsuits (which Rick hated) were symbolically burned on Australian television’s Happening ’70. Later that year, Zoot released its only studio LP, Just Zoot, which showed the unmistakeable evidence of Rick's burgeoning talent. Just a few months later, on the nationally televised Go-Set Pop Poll, Zoot stunned the audience with their pounding heavy-metal version of the Beatles’ "Eleanor Rigby", also arranged by Rick.

Though the band fared poorly in that year's poll "Eleanor Rigby" was released as a single and broke onto the charts, staying there for twenty-one weeks. Although the song stopped just short of number one and gold status, its success was sufficient to encourage further experimentation. Zoot’s follow-up, "The Freak" b/w "Evil Child", both originals by Rick, was released in April 1971. The results were disappointing (#27 in Melbourne only), and it was Zoot’s last release.

Early in 1971, RCA America made a bid to import the entire band to the United States, but by May of that year it was clear that Australian bureaucracy would not allow that to happen. Later that same month, Zoot announced that they were breaking up. But producer and record label owner Robie Porter was waiting in the wings. In December 1971 Rick left to work in the USA and later that year his first solo single, "Speak to the Sky", was released on Porter’s Sparmac label and it reached #5 on the Australian national chart.

During early 1972 Rick recorded his debut album Beginnings at Trident Studios in London; he featured on lead vocals and played many of the intruments including keyboards, guitars and banjo. In May he travelled to Japan to represent Australia at the Tokyo Song Festival with "Speak To The Sky". Rick's album produced two additional Australian hits ("Hooky Jo" and "What Would The Children Think?") and later in the year Capitol released a new version of "Speak To The Sky" which gave Rick his first bona fide American hit, reaching #14 in September 1972. With his exceptional good looks and the record company’s determination to push him as Australia’s answer to David Cassidy, Rick quickly became a favorite of American teen magazines, and record sales increased rapidly despite the fact that the album was given very little airplay. His image was carefully maintained and Capitol even went as far as airbrushing out the hair on Rick's chest on the back cover photo on the US edition of the album!

Beginnings was selling very strongly -- 300,000 copies in the United States -- and "Speak to the Sky" was climbing the charts when a rumour began to circulate that Capitol Records was bussing in young women to artificially inflate sales of the album. It brought Rick’s chart ascent to a crashing halt -- radio stations refused to play his songs and the momentum died overnight. A change in record companies should have made a difference, but Rick’s move to Columbia the next year was doomed from the start. Radio stations continued to avoid his songs, ensuring the failure of 1973’s Comic Book Heroes, and his teen-idol image stood in direct contrast to his music -- Comic Book Heroes has been lauded by Ian McFarlane as "an eclectic collection of mature pop songs comparable to David Bowie". Plans for a 1974 follow up album were scrapped.

During this same period, Rick was offered the opportunity to "star" (in animated form) in the short-lived American Saturday morning cartoon series Mission: Magic. Each episode featured a new song written and performed by Rick, and a soundtrack album was released in Australia, though not in the United States. The backing tracks featured some of the cream of the L.A. session scene including drummers Russ Kuknel and Jim Keltner (Elvis) and bassists Leland Sklar (Paul Simon, James Taylor) and Carol Kaye (Beach Boys, Monkees), as well as top Aussie sessioneers Ray Arnott, Barry Morgan and Barry "Big Goose" Sullivan.

According to Ian McFarlane, Rick made his live debut in the USA at the legendary Troubador in Los Angeles at the end of 1974. Rick himself cites his first American concert as being in Missoula, Montana in 1975, opening for Johnny & Edgar Winter. He then embarked on a US tour supporting powerop legends The Raspberries. His next album in the United States, Wait for Night, a hard-rocking set recorded with Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson from Elton John's band. It wasn’t released until 1976. Rick began touring and the single "Take A Hand" began climbing the charts, but in the middle of the tour his new label, Chelsea Records, went out of business. Without further promotional efforts, this album too suffered a premature death.

With his musical career stalled, he began taking acting classes (his coaches included actors Vincent Crane and Malcolm McDowell) and in 1978, Rick signed on as a contract player with Universal Studios. On salary and 'on call', he appeared in various popular television shows, including The Six Million Dollar Man, the original Battlestar Galactica, Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk. However, eight months into his contract, Universal discontinued the contract acting program.

LEFT: Rick as Dr Noah Drake in General Hospital (Photo by kind permission of Buena Vista International Inc.)

Two significant events in late 1979 and early 1980 would combine to change the course of Rick’s career forever. The first was that, on the strength of home-recorded demos, RCA agreed to produce his Working Class Dog album. The second was that he auditioned for and won the role of Dr. Noah Drake on the very popular daytime drama General Hospital. These successes fed each other and his face began to appear on magazine covers and television sets everywhere.

In August, 1981, after ten years in the American music business, Rick reached #1 on the American charts for the first time with "Jessie’s Girl". The following year, the song earned Rick a Grammy for 'Best Male Rock Vocal Performance' and the Working Class Dog album, produced on a shoestring budget during after-hours studio time, yielded three Top 40 hits.

By all appearances, the years of effort and determination were finally paying off, and Working Class Dog was followed, in rapid succession, by Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet (1982), Living in Oz (1983) and the Hard to Hold soundtrack (1984), all of which quickly reached platinum status.

Right: The boy from Merrylands makes it big! Rick with superstar Elizabeth Taylor during her guest appearance in General Hospital
(Photo by kind permission of Buena Vista International Inc. © 1980)

In 1982 Rick was nominated for two more Grammy Awards, 'Best Male Pop Vocalist' for "Don’t Talk to Strangers" and 'Best Male Vocalist' for "I Get Excited", and RCA re-released Wait for Night. In 1983, he won an American Music Award for 'Favorite Male Rock/Pop Artist', and was nominated for yet another Grammy for "Affair of the Heart". The following year, Mercury/Polygram released a collection of previously unreleased material from the late '70s, but the album Beautiful Feelings was a rather unethical product -- it consisted of songs previously recorded and sung by Rick, but featuring new backings recorded by the record company without Rick's involvement or approval.

The early Eighties netted Rick an incredible seventeen top-forty songs in the United States, including "Jessie’s Girl", Sammy Hagar’s "I’ve Done Everything For You", "Don’t Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart", "Human Touch" and "Love Somebody". "Jessie’s Girl", "Don’t Talk to Strangers" and "I’ve Done Everything For You" also made the top forty on the Australian charts.

However, Rick, now in his mid-thirties, just couldn’t seem to shake the teen-idol image. His next project, the music-based film Hard To Hold, was fairly successful at the box office and its soundtrack reached a very respectable #16 in the U.S. album charts. But it was the kiss of death as far as Rick's image and acting career were concerned -- his character in the movie was precisely the kind of stereotypical, good-looking bubble-gum rocker that he wanted to prove he was not. Critics trashed the film and offers for solid supporting roles in other films disappeared.

Right: The oft-used 'white on white' promotional photo (taken for 1983's Living In Oz album) which fuelled the media image of Rick as an insubstantial pretty- boy pop star.

Rick married in 1984 after meeting his wife Barbara at a recording studio, where she was working as the receptionist. His next project, 1985’s Tao, represented a significant change in style. The album addressed more serious themes, including the death of Rick's father Norman in 1981, just months before "Jessie's Girl" reached #1. The 1985 world tour (which included his first performances in Australia since leaving in 1971) was still focused on the popular hits of the early '80s and fans were coming out by the tens of thousands for concerts. Audiences responded with awestruck silence when Rick poured his heart into "My Father's Chair" on stage, but Tao sold a relatively disappointing 500,000 copies (each of his previous four albums had sold over 1 million copies). OzRock fans will note that Tao includes a cover of Eric McCusker’s classic ballad "State Of The Heart", which was a Top Ten Australian hit for Mondo Rock in late 1980. Rick’s version was released as a single and reached #22 in the US –- a nice little earner for Eric!.

Married for just a year and now the father of an infant son (Liam) Rick was exhausted from five years of continual touring during which he had starred in a daily television show, starred in a movie, and written and recorded four albums. At the end of the 1985 tour he took a break that would, unexpectedly, last for three years. Fatherhood and introspection gave new depth to Rick’s writing, and many fans feel that 1988’s Rock of Life album remains his best work; among the tracks was a cover of the song "(If You Think You're) Groovy", written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of The Small Faces and originally recorded by PP Arnold. 

Just days before he was to begin the Rock of Life tour, Rick was injured in an all-terrain-vehicle accident, breaking his left collar bone. Surgical insertion of a pin to repair the injury rendered him unable to hold a guitar for more than a year. With no tour to spread the word and the momentum of the early '80s successes long past, Rock of Life peaked at #55 on the U.S. charts and went quickly out of print.

In 1989, the same year that his second son Joshua was born, Rick returned to acting, and over the next decade he would appear in several series and made-for-TV movies including the telemovies Nick Knight, Dead Reckoning and Silent Motive. In 1992 he starred in the short-lived television series Human Target followed by two other television movies, With Harmful Intent and A Change Of Place, before taking on a key role in the 1994-97 television series High Tide. This was followed by two more TV movies, Legion and Loyal Opposition, and guest appearances on other television series -- he played a record producer in Brooke Shields' hit series Suddenly Susan and also appeared in Martial Law, in which he co-starred with four fellow musicians, Bret Michaels (Poison), Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction), David Silveria (Korn)and John Doe (X). According to one fan site, Rick reportedly took the gig so that his sons could meet the members of Korn. One additional made-for-television movie, Dying To Dance, has yet to air.

In 1993, he teamed with Tim Pierce and Bob Marlette to record Sahara Snow, a hard-edged collaboration featuring Rick’s writing and lead-vocals. Sahara Snow was released in Europe and Scandinavia in 1997.


Rick on the 'Karma' tour. LEFT: Rick chats on a fan’s mobile phone.
CENTRE: the author’s then-four-year old daughter says "Hi everyone" by phone to the crowd at the Pottawatomie Casino in Milwaukee. RIGHT: Kerrrang!

In 1998 Rick began to tour again in earnest, and much to his surprise, his loyal fans from the '80s had been patiently awaiting his return. The teenagers and young adults of the 80s were now in their thirties and forties, mostly married with children. They took to the road themselves in Deadhead-style pilgrimages that criss-crossed the country, and he welcomed them with open arms, touring for more than two years and making himself accessible on a very personal level.


More pics from the 'Karma' tour. LEFT: fans join Rick on stage for a singalong. RIGHT: silly-string attack!

Rick has always enjoyed a reputation as a premier live performer, noted for the energy and spontaneity that he brings to a concert. During the Karma tour, he enhanced that reputation and his relationship with his fans by introducing a nearly unheard-of level of interaction into his shows. Concerts on the 1998-2000 tour were characterized by fans being invited to join Rick on stage, Rick talking on cell phones handed to him by the crowd, silly string wars between Rick and those close enough to the stage to participate, and the frequent self-mocking autographing of early pictures, albums, and t-shirts.

In 1999, in the midst of this tour, he released his first solo album in eleven years, Karma, which reflected a new maturity and spirituality, and includes some of his highest quality work to date, but it was not heavily promoted and gained only moderate sales and very limited airplay. As the two-and-a-half-year tour ended, with adult fans in the audience literally weeping, Rick prepared to release his first live CD (The Greatest Hits ... Alive) and jumped into the lead role in the multi-million dollar Las Vegas magic-and-music extravaganza EFX. The show originally starred David Cassidy, followed by Tommy Tune -- was renamed EFX Alive in honour of the new CD. Retooled for Rick, with the addition of two of his original songs, it opened on 30 January 2001, the same day that The Greatest Hits ... Alive was released.


Rick performs at the release party for The Greatest Hits ... Alive, Studio 54, Las Vegas, Jan. 2001.
(Photos by Tiffany Sanders)

Rick enjoyed a tremendously successful run in EFX Alive, performing ten shows per week for the next two years, but he still managed to fit in limited tour dates on weekends and days off. His latest CD, shock/anger/denial/acceptance, was released at the end of February 2004. Rick's next studio album The Day Before Yesterday, saw Rick revisiting his rock-pop roots with an eclectic mix of covers of some of favourite '60s, '70s and '80s songs inlcuding The Church's "Under The Milky Way", John Lennon's "Imagine" and Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street". More recently, the original recordings of the songs released on the Beautiful Feelings LP have been released as The Early Studio City Sessions CD and in late 2007 Rick released his Christmas album, Christmas With You

Discography

*All songs are Words and Music by Rick Springfield, unless otherwise noted.

For Rick's Zoot recordings please see the Zoot page

Singles

1971
"Speak to the Sky" / "I Didn't Mean to Love You" (Sparmac SPR-011)
#5, Aust. 20 weeks; #14 US

July 1972
"Hooky Jo" / "Why?" (Sparmac SPR-016)
Aust. #16; produced by Robie Porter

1972
"Speak To The Sky" (US version) / ?(Columbia)
#14 USA

1973
"What Would The Children Think?" / "Walking The Floor On My Hands Over You" (Sparmac SPR 023)
Aust. #38; #70 US

July 1973
"I'm Your Superman" / "Mother Can You Carry Me?" (Wizard) (Aust.)

Oct. 1973
"The Liar" / "Believe in Me" (Wizard) (Aust.)

May 1974
"Streaking the Australian Way" / "You’d Better Think Twice" (Wizard)

1974
"Streaking Across the USA" / "Music to streak by" (Columbia USA)

Jul. 1974
"Mission: Magic" / "Music to Streak By" (Wizard)

1974
"American Girls" / "Weep No More" (Columbia, USA)

1975
"Let's Do It"  / ?  (Wizard)

1976
"The Child Within" /

Oct. 1976
"Take A Hand" / "Jessica" (Wizard)

Mar. 1977
"Million Dollar Face" / "Treat Me Gently in the Morning" (Wizard)

Nov. 1979
"Archangel" / "Goldfever" (Wizard)

1980
"Bruce" / "Celebration" (Wizard)

1981
"I've Done Everything For You" / "Red Hot and Blue Love" (RCA PB-12166)

 1981
"Jessie's Girl" / Carry Me Away" (RCA PB-12201)

1981
"Love is alright tonite" / "Everybody's Girl" (RCA)

1982
"Don't talk to strangers / "Tonight" (Wizard ZL-581)

1982
"I Get Excited" / "Kristina"

1982    
"What Kind of Fool Am I" / "How Do You Talk to Girls"    

1983    
"Affair of the Heart" / "Like Father, Like Son"

1983    
"Human Touch" / Alyson"  (PB-13576)

1983    
"Souls" / "Souls" (live)

1984    
"Bop 'til You Drop" / "Taxi Dancing"

1984    
"Bruce" / "Guenevere"     880 405-7
   
1984    
"Don't Walk Away" / "S.F.O." (Instrumental)

1984    
"Love Somebody" / "The Great Lost Art of Conversation"

1985    
"Celebrate Youth" / "Stranger in the House"

1985
"Dance This World Away" (Remix) / "My Father's Chair" / "Affair of the Heart" [12 inch]                          

1985
"State of the Heart" / "The Power of Love (The Tao of Love)"

1988
"Honeymoon in Beirut" / "My Father's Chair"   
 
1988
"Rock of Life" / "The Language of Love"

1999    
"Itsalwayssomething" [promo]                          

1999    
"Karma" [promo]              

2000    
"Free" [promo]          

2001    
"Faithful"

EP's

Jessie’s Girl

Carry Me Away

I’ve Done Everything for You

Everybody’s Girl (RCA Australia, 1983)

 

Albums

1972
Beginnings (Sparmac SPL-003)
#15, first charting 28 Aug. 1972, 22 weeks
Also released as Rick Springfield by Capitol, USA

"Mother Can You Carry Me?"
"Speak to the Sky"
"What Would the Children Think?"
"1000 Years "
"The Unhappy Ending (Lead Me On) "
"Hooky Jo"
"I Didn’t Mean to Love You"
"Come on Everybody"
"Why?"
"The Ballad of Annie Goodbody"


1973
Comic Book Heroes (Wizard ZL-201) #54 (Aust.)
Also released in the USA as Columbia SMAS-11047

"Comic Book Heroes"
"I’m Your Superman"
"Weep No More"
"Why Are You Waiting?"
"Believe in Me"
"Misty Water Woman"
"The Liar"
"The Photograph"
"Bad Boy"
"Born out of Time"
"Do You Love Your Children?"


1974
Mission: Magic (Wizard ZL 205) 

"Theme from Mission:Magic"
"We’re Gonna Have a Good Time"
"It’s Driving Me Crazy"
"Free and Easy"
"You Can Really Do It"
"The Other Side"
"I Know That It’s Magic"
"You Can’t Judge a Book"
"Love is the Key"
"You’d Better Think Twice"
(#97, Aust.)


1976
Wait for Night (Chelsea Records)
(reissued by RCA, 1982)

"Goldfever"
"One Broken Heart"
"Where’s All the Love?"
"Archangel"
"Jessica"
"Million Dollar Face"
"Old Gangsters Never Die"
"Treat Me Gently in the Morning"
"Life is a Celebration"
"Take a Hand" (#41, USA)


1981
Working Class Dog (RCA Victor AFL1-3697) LP

"Love is Alright Tonite" (#20, USA)
"Jessie’s Girl" (#1, USA and Australia)
"Hole In My Heart "
"Carry Me Away"
"I’ve Done Everything For You" (Hagar) (#8 US, #31 Australia)
"The Light of Love"
"Everybody’s Girl"
"Daddy’s Pearl"
"Red Hot and Blue Love"
"Inside Silvia"


1982
Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet (RCA Victor AFL1-4125) LP

"Calling All Girls"
"I Get Excited" (#32 USA)
"What Kind of Fool Am I?" (#21 US)
"Kristina" (Springfield-Vallance)
"Black is Black" (Hayes-Granger-Wadey)
"Don’t Talk to Strangers" (#2 US, #10 Australia)
"How Do You Talk to Girls?"
"Still Crazy For You"
"The American Girl"
"Just One Kiss" (Steinberg-Kelly)
"April 24, 1981"


1983
Living in Oz (RCA AFK1-4660) LP

"Human Touch" (feat. Richard Elliott) #18 US single
"Alyson"
"Affair of the Heart" (Music:Springfield/Tosti/Tate) (#9, USA)
"Living In Oz"
"Me and Johnny"
"Motel Eyes"
"Tiger by the Tail"
"Souls" (#23, USA)
"I Can’t Stop Hurting You"
"Like Father, Like Son"


1984
Hard to Hold (soundtrack) (RCA ABL1-4935)

"Love Somebody" (Springfield-Drescher) (#5 US)
"Don’t Walk Away" (#26 US)
"Bop ‘Til You Drop" (#20 US)
"Taxi Dancing" (with Randy Crawford) (#59 US)
"S.F.O." (instrumental) (Springfield/Pierce)
"Stand Up"
"The Great Lost Art of Conversation"

Also includes the following tracks performed by other artists:
Graham Parker - "When the Lights Go Down" (Parker)
Nona Hendryx - "Heart of a Woman" (Scott-Parton)
Peter Gabriel - "I Go Swimming" (Gabriel)


1984
Beautiful Feelings (Mercury/Polygram)*

"Bruce" (#27 US)
"Just One Look" (Payne-Carroll)
"The Solitary One"
"Spanish Eyes"
"Everybody’s Cheating" (Rabin-Blerk)
"Looking for the One"
"Cold Feet"
"Brand New Feeling"
"Beautiful Feelings"
"Guenevere"

NOTE: Rick wrote all of the songs on Beautiful Feelings except "Just One Look" and "Everybody’s Cheating" and recorded the vocals used on this album in 1978. However, the album was produced and released by Mercury-Polygram in 1984 with new backing tracks, and without Rick’s consent or input.


1985
Tao (RCA)

"Dance This World Away"
"Celebrate Youth" (#26 US)
"State of the Heart" (McCusker-Springfield-Pierce) #22, USA
"Written in Rock"
"The Power of Love"
"Walking on the Edge"
"Walk Like a Man"
"The Tao of Heaven"
"Stranger in the House"
"My Father’s Chair"


1988
Rock of Life (BMG/RCA)

"Rock of Life" (#22 US)
"Honeymoon in Beirut"
"World Start Turning"
"One Reason (to Believe)"
"Soul to Soul"
"Tear It All Down"
"Woman"
"Dream in Colour" (Springfield-Silverman)
"Hold Onto Your Dream"
"(If You Think You’re) Groovy" (Marriott/Lane)


1997 with Tim Pierce and Bob Marlette (Sweden only)
Sahara Snow (MTM Music) 

"Modern World" (Springfield/Pierce/Marlette) Rovianne
"Scandalous Life" (Springfield/Pierce/Marlette)
"Psychoactive" (Springfield/Pierce/Marlette)
"Is Everybody Happy?" (Springfield/Pierce/Marlette/Dunbin)
"Miss Your Kiss" (Springfield/Pierce/Marlette)
"Suzanne" (Springfield/Pierce/Marlette)
"Heaven" (Springfield/Pierce/Marlette)
"Stranger" (Springfield/Spiro)
"New Lover" (Springfield/Pierce/Marlette)
"Somewhere" (Silverman/Watson, additional lyrics by Rick Springfield)
"Lust"


1999
Karma (Platinum Records/Super Ron Entertainment,)*

"His Last Words"
"Itsalwayssomething"
"Religion of the Heart" (Music: Springfield/Silverman)
"Beautiful Prize"
"Karma"
"Shock to My System" (Music: Springfield/Pierce/Marlette)
"Free" (Music: Springfield/Marlette)
"Prayer" (Music: Springfield/Marlette/Pierce)
"The White Room" (Springfield/Vallance)
"In Veronica’s Head"
"Ordinary Girl"
"Act of Faith" (Music: Springfield/Marlette/Pierce)
"Big Beautiful Friday Night" (hidden track)

*The 1998 Japanese release of Karma includes an acoustic version of "Jessie’s Girl" and omits "Big Beautiful Friday Night".


2000/2001
The Greatest Hits...Alive (Hip-O Records/Universal)
Also available in a limited edition version*

"Affair of the Heart" (Music: Springfield/Tosti/Tate)
"I’ve Done Everything For You" (Hagar) Alyson
"Rock of Life"
"Don’t Talk to Strangers"
"I Get Excited"
"Love Somebody"
"April 24"/"My Father’s Chair"

"State of the Heart" (Springfield/McCusker/Pierce)
Medley:
"What Kind of Fool Am I?", "Don’t Walk Away"
"Carry Me Away"
"Everybody’s Girl"
"Calling All Girls"
"Stand Up!"
"Free" (Music: Springfield/Marlette)
"Love is Alright Tonite"
"Human Touch"
"Jessie’s Girl"
"Kristina" (Springfield/Vallance) Living in Oz
"Gloria" (Van Morrison)
"Itsalwayssomething"

*The special limited-edition collector’s version of The Greatest Hits ... Alive, released in 2000, includes the Kinks’ All Day and All of the Night and does not include Gloria. The collector’s edition also includes a second CD containing the home-recorded demos for the entire Working Class Dog album and 20+ minutes of embedded video. Each of the 5500 limited-edition CDs is hand-signed and numbered by Rick. The Limited Edition version was only available from Rick’s official site at http://www.rickspringfield.com. Copies may still available.


24 Feb. 2004
Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance (Red Int / Red Ink)
WWW: http://www.shockdenialangeracceptance.com/


2005
The Day after Yesterday

1. "I'm Not in Love" 6:09
2. "Under the Milky Way" (Kilbey) 5:43
3. "Life in a Northern Town" 4:50
4. "Broken Wings" [duet with Richard Page] 6:43
5. "Human" 5:05
6. "Holding Onto Yesterday" 5:02
7. "Baker Street" 6:32
8. "Waiting for a Girl Like You" 5:17
9. "Let's Go Out Tonight" 5:27
10. "For No One" 2:26
11. "Miss You Nights" 3:19
12. "Blue Rose" 5:20
13. "Cry" 5:24
14. "Imagine" 3:13


2007
The Early Sound City Sessions

1.  Bruce
2. Just One Look
3. Solitary One
4. Spanish Eyes
5. Everybody's Cheating
6. Looking for the One
7. Cold Feet
8. Brand New Feeling
9. Beautiful Feelings
10. Guenevere
11. Still Got The Magic*
Original recordings from 1978-79 of the tracks issued by Mercury (with new backing tracks) as the Beautiful Feelings album


2007
Christmas With You

Collections / Compilations

1989
Greatest Hits

1997
Rick Springfield: The Encore Collection

1997
Best of Rick Springfield (German release)

1998
Back to Back (combines tracks by Hall & Oates and Rick Springfield)

1999
Backtracks

1999
The Best of Rick Springfield

1999
Anthology (Australian release)

2000
VH1 Music First: Behind the Music: Rick Springfield

References / Links

Rick Springfield Official Website
http://www.rickspringfield.com

Ian McFarlane
Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop (Allen & Unwin, 1999)

Glenn A. Baker
liner notes to Zoot Locker (EMI Records, 1980)

Karen Pearlman Rick Springfield Biography (2000)
http://www.sunshinesmiley.com/rickspringfield/biography

Amy Shelin Primorac
"Biography: Rick Springfield" (1999)

Rick’s Loyal Supporters (official fan club)
http://www.rickspringfield.net

VH1: "Behind The Music"
- Rick Springfield profile, first broadcast 1998

A & E Biography:
Rick Springfield (first broadcast 2000)

Robie Porter
liner notes to Anthology (1999)

Simone Gillianti
Rick Springfield (Simon & Schuster, 1984)

Beeb Birtles Official Website
http://www.birtles.com

Rate Your Music: Rick Springfield
http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/rick_springfield

PHOTO CREDITS:

Mary Tanzi - portrait shot, top of page
Buena Vista International Inc. - General Hospital photos
Jim Becker / Maryanne Treppedi Jacobs / Kym de Genaro - Karma tour pics
Tiffany L. Sanders - Las Vegas shots, bottom of page

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