Rick Springfield: 'I'd recognize Jessie's Girl if I saw her'
He's the 70's star behind one of the catchiest tunes of our time — and Rick Springfield can still picture the beauty that inspired it 35 years ago.
when I play it and the audience is singing the verses as well as the chorus, it is ..
I am proud of it, I am proud of it
At 67 he is still going strong — Sunday Night met up with him on a US tour with more than 30 packed shows to launch his new album Rocket Science.
"I sleep a lot. Before when I was younger I would go out partying after, now I go bed time. But I do have a lot of energy on stage, that is how I work out, my aerobic exercises is me playing on stage
Originally from Western Sydney, Rick grew up as a 'moody guy' moving between army bases and eventually settled in Melbourne.
"I was depressed — and didn’t know — by the time I was 14. I was just the artistic moody guy."
"I tried to channel it in the music and it helped me because I can't not feel good when I finish a song."
Eventually he hit the big time with his 1971 hit Speak to the Sky and he rode the success all the way to the US.
"Australia has opened up to the world [since then], the world is about Australia. Honestly, when I first came over here in '72, people would ask me how long it took me to learn English."
He was a teen idol in an iconic music period but another Aussie export also appeared on the scene — the Bee Gees.
Still battling depression, Rick hit a massive low.
"I remember counting coins out of my piggy bank to see if I had enough money to go and buy a gun. – that’s how bad it got."
Rick found help in a controversial relationship with then 15-year-old Linda Blair; the child star of the blockbuster horror movie The Exorcist.
He moved in with Linda and she supported him until his next big hit, the Grammy winning Jessie's Girl.
[[img:http://l.yimg.com/dh/ap/default/160903/Snip20160904_18.png|caption="I would still recognise [Jessie's Girl] if i saw her"|size=O]]
"I met her in a class because I figured out I wasn’t going to get a record deal, so I am going to learn stained glass too because maybe that will support me."
"She was in this class and she had a boyfriend and it was just another song I wrote."
He never saw her again and even Oprah tried to track her down to no avail.
"[Oprah] went back and found this stained glass class and [Jessie] had died two years before because he as an older guy."
"I would recognize her if I saw her again."
'''If you or someone you know is suffering from mental illness, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or go to [https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
|Beyond Blue]'''
For more information about Rick's new album Rocket Science, go to www.rickspringfield.com
