r1ililil '1,.tLii 1 4 i.; 4 t I I t I , I I know I have the power to whip au- The band slams deafeningly into That's diences into a frenzy, but I never will Rock'n'Roll. The nonstop shrieking of gents (mostly in their * sick." That was Shaun Gassidy's 20,000 ladies and -it'svow as he came into his fame, first with preteens) goes beyond the pain TY's Hardy Boys and then as a soft- threshold as a Presleyesque figure rocker last year. But now that he's wriggles in silhouette behind a trans- sweat. As the band thunders through taken his show on the road, he cracks lucent hoop. "Come on, everybody!" Da Doo Ron Ron, his first hit single, (in the words of his Joe Hardy char- he sings. Then Shaun Cassidy shazams Cassidy races singing and waving dov,- acter): "Well, it's a rotten job but through the paper screen, smoke a backstage ramp-straight into a somebody has to do it." The line-like bombs erupt onstage and a thousand waiting limousine. The doors slam shu his act-is meant to be good clean fun. flashbulbs crackle like heat lightning in and, while the music throbs on, the lirr : the squealing, sobbing, swooning mob. burns rubber out of the auditorium. The house lights fade, a spot hits the Cassidy vaults and grinds tat about The lights come up, and the fans sit, stage, an announcer booms, "Ladies the PG level) for the next 90 minutes stunned and drained. Shaun Gassidy and gentlemen, SHAUN CASSIDY!" until his 19-year-old body glistens with has made another getaway. GONTIN-: : (d Frenzied teenyboppers orove half brother David into temporary retirement, but Shaun Cassidy, 19, has no qualms about his cleaned-up children's crusaoe. "As long as it's fun," he figures, "why worry?" i\\ \q^ sitrts\l j,.N, Photographs by Tony Costa rjt w""."i 'i: . i; to; "Some peopte put down my audiencer"he says. "But therets something wonderful about people who have no walls up." wondering where the crowds have Songcorurtruueo gone." The concert road (or the middle of Though Shaun loYallY defends his it) has suddenlY become one vast brother's career eclipse ("He spent Shaunpike. Even though the network some time reassessing where he want- is upping his weekly Hardy Boyslake il e ed to go; now he's ready to act and rec' d to $15,000, it's like a Cassidy subsidy to ord again"), the boys are distinctly that rival showbiz conglomerate, ABC' I different, David had been in therapy in I Shaun's first two LPs moved more 4 his teens and experimented with grass than live million copies. Sales of book- & speed and Shaun lets, wristwatches, Pajamas, lunch PsYchedelics. sometimes picks up a Marlboro like a boxes and posters propelled his earn- 1 pacifier, but his only real vice is an oc- ings into seven figures last year, and Coors and a preper{ormance it's just the beginning. Two more al- casional :1 hit of Southern Comfort' In one of his ::: bums are coming and the first leg of his a own comPositions, /f's UP to You,he 7, '78 concert tour grossed more than $1 admonishes his fans, "Now million in two weeks. The real hysteria even you know I'm really glad / | listened to is ahead. my Mom and Dad." As a result Cas- In Denver he had to disguise himself sidy may be the only pop star whose ju' as a cop and drive a squad car through nior high {ans send him their report the crush. In St. Louis he was mobbed for aPProval. after kids suicidally pressed in front + cards "That kid is magic, dYnamite," saYs I of the slowed limo for a better look. Backstage, First Fan Amy Garter askedt his guitarist Jimmy George. "He does After that last incident, the usually un- "Have you everbeen to Ghina?"When I everything with love. I don't know flappable Cassidy retreated to his Shaun said no, she toppedr "Well, have.n' anyone his age who is more together. dressing room, burying his head in his When you've been around rock hands. "Being on the road and having for awhile," saYs George, who last limos, airplanes and a whole support pop career. Then it ended abruptly in girl traveled with the Beach BoYs' "You system of people can be very disori- 1974 when a 14-year-old English forget peoPle can have that kind enting," he understates. "l see died after a concert crush. "lt was of decency." how it can twist someone around." all very instructive to me," says Shaun' "l know mY mother would be dis- Shaun could have been talking about who served as best man last year when appointed in me if | got to thinking I his older half brother, David, now 28, David married actress KaY Lenz. glory am more imPortant than anyone else who spun off his Partridge FamilyTY "Some people have a moment of just because of the business I'm in," hit into a comparably dizzying five-year and can spend the rest of their lives CONTINUE: 6U Songcorurrruueo says Shaun. The mom who instilled such sold originally in Europe. But in his first modesty, Shirley (Partridge Family) acting audition, arranged by agent bui€in Jones, Shaun remembers, "knew ev- Ruth Aarons, he lost the kid's role in erything my brothers and lwere doing John Wayne's The Shootisf to Ron and gave love, guidance and disci- Howard. His second shot was The Har- thelt'toney! pline." His father, actor Jack Cassidy, dy Boys. That it led to a pilot, much "could really blow people away who less a series, left Shaun surprised and didn't know him. But he was straight a little ambivalent. Likewise his co-star with me." (His parents were divorced in Parker Stevenson, a 25-year-old 1975, and Shaun was best man at his Princeton alum. Reports Cassidy: ,,We mother's marriage last year to agent both feel the same frustrations." That Marty Ingels.) His father's accidental means lame scripts as well as low death in an apartment fire in December ratings opposite 60 Minutes. But ABC ,'The 1976 left his young son shaken. has renewed the show anyway, if only biggest disappointment in my life was to spoil any raids by another network, that my father never got to hear me and that leaves Shaun indentured perform. lthink he would have been to a contract. Meanwhile he has signed proud of what I've accomplished, but a TV special deal with NBC that once LIVING THE GOOD LIFE he would think the way I try to handle threatened to make the Farrah Faw- things is even more important.,' cett-Majors litigation look like small- MONEY is the monthly magazine from Exiled to an Eastern boarding school claims court. the publishers of Time and Fortune that talks during a brief rebellion at 14, Shaun re- Clearly, like precursor Ricky Nelson, about you. About your home, car, job, vacation, insurance, turned to graduate from Beverly Hills Shaun's future is in rock, however soft. investments, hobbies, leisure time, purchases High two years ago. College, and even After all, it's the omnipresent music, and luxuries. About how you can live better- extension courses at UCLA, will have not TV, lans who are forcing him to con- right now-{or less. to wait until he cashes in on the sider moving lrom behind the newly family business awhile. David Jolliffe installed electric gate of his modest, -a former star of TV's Room 222 two-bedroom Beverly Glen pad into ,,a turned Cassidy's percussionist, backup house with a larger, fenced yard.,' Last vocalist, roomie and best friend-ex- summer, feeling besieged, Shaun plains; "ll was like when Shaun was 1g lapsed into an atypical 'tdepression. I he said to himself , 'Okay, now it's time to got to feeling I couldn't go anywhere be famous.' Not in a conceited way,,' or do anything normally. But I snapped Jolliffe adds. "Everyone in his family is out of it. You can't be a hermit.,' just famous. lt was time to go to work. His one companion at home is his PLAYTNG THE His little brothers will do the same 19th birthday present from Mom-a MAruGT Every thing." Shaun reports that 16-year-old golden Lab he named "son" and won't month, MONEy ofJers helpful suggestions on Patrick "is already into music and com- allow to be photographed for fear of everything from making your home more ing right behind me." As for Ryan, 12, dognappers. luxurious to selectino "He's the best discount wines... from choosi'ng going to be a star. He's Mr. Though his companions include Car- Personality." a tennis camp to taking a do-it-yourself CONTINUED safari for only $30 a day... from buildinq Cassidy debuted in a Sunset Strip your summer dreamhouse to maxjmiziiq The band when he was 14, and his records star, collapsed in a hotel with his pro- your lnvestments. moter, saysr..The title.teen idol'is not for anyone seeking career longevity." MANAGTNG YOUR F|NANCES lf you'd like to see how MONEy can help you live better, call 800-621-8200 toll-free right now (in lllinois, call g0O- 972-8302). We'll send you an introductorv copy of MONEY risk-FREE. lf it's not ,,cancel" everything we say it is, just write on your bill and keep your first issue FREE.