In 1972 Rick and his hit single caught the eye of Capitol Records in Los Angeles, who offered Rick a deal and a chance to move to America. Along the way he made a stop in England to re-record Speak to the Sky and 9 other tracks for his first album,

Upon arrival in the U.S., Rick seemed hopeful that success was just around the bend. He was even getting a lot of attention in several magazines, but he soon realized it was not the kind of attention that he wanted.

"The first thing they saw when I came over was a cute face and a foreigner too, 'hey let's put him on a teen magazine'. And I had never seen a teen magazine, to me it was just publicity and I was like 'alright things are happening in America already.' And then I started to see these articles come about, you know how amazing the length of my eyelashes were, and 'Rick Springfield: Is He Too Tall To Love?' Whoa, deep stuff."

By the time Beginnings was released in November, Rick was already well know among the teenage crowd and his album flew off the shelf and Speak to the Sky started up the charts. But record stations were suspicious that a record from a virtual unknown could gain popularity so quickly. Soon a rumor spread that Capitol Records was paying young girls to buy the album. Capitol denied the allegations, but the damage was done and DJs were now boycotting Rick's record.

Another problem ensued when immigration problems prevented Rick from touring to promote the album. But with the help of television appearances on American Bandstand and the Sonny and Cher show, Speak to the Sky reach #14 on the U.S. charts.

Soon Rick was back in England recording his second album, Comic Book Heroes. It was just before its release that Rick asked to be let out of his contract with Capitol, and it wasn't long before Porter and Binder had Rick signed to bigger and better label, Columbia Records.

Despite its positive reviews by the critics, Comic Book Heroes received little airplay. It seems Rick's name was still clouded by the Capitol boycott, and Columbia not knowing what to do soon dropped him before his next album, Springfield, could be released.

In an effort to promote Rick on a new level, Porter and Binder created a Saturday morning cartoon show called Mission Magic. Rick would be the voice of the hero and every week he would get to write and perform a new song. Even though the show appear in ABCs line up for two years, the show soon faded into non-existence.

It was at this time that Rick felt that the teen idol image was weighing him down, and that the road his managers were leading him down was not the road that he wanted to travel. It was in early 1975 that Rick made the painful decision to break free of Porter and Binder. Needless to say they were not happy with Rick's decision and took him to court. While Rick was fighting for his freedom in court, he was unable to sign with any label or record any music. When the battle was said and done, Rick was on his own but he owed Porter and Binder several thousand dollars.

Rick would now face one of the lowest points in his life. Alone and broke he even had to pawn most of his guitars in order to make the rent. It was at this time that a friend suggested that Rick take some acting classes as a way to curb his creative needs. It was at one of these classes that Rick had the distinct pleasure of being taught by Malcolm McDowell, who had starred in Rick's favorite movie, A Clockwork Orange.

"I started going to acting classes because I had split from my managers and was totally depressed, and I was suddenly alone in America and didn't know what to do...my brother had acted in Australia on one TV show. And I was amazed. I was sitting in my living room and I saw my brother on this box. And that was my brother, right there acting and I said 'geez someone I know can do that. I bet I can do that.'"

When Rick was finally allowed to record again, a small record company called Chelsea Records approached him. And before he knew it, Rick was in the studio again recording his next album, Wait For Night. Accompanying Rick on this album was Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray who had gained recognition working with Elton John.

The record showed promise and the DJs were playing it without hesitation, and finally Rick began to think that the hard times were over. But in the middle of his tour to promote Wait For Night, Chelsea went bankrupt and Rick was once again left struggling to make the rent.

Since music wasn't going his way, Rick decided to give acting a serious try. In an attempt to get noticed, Rick and several friends rented a little theatre, and invited every casting agent they knew, and put on a one-act play called Lunch Time. Not many agents showed up, but one from Universal Studios did and he liked what he saw, signing Rick to a two-year contract with the studio.

While under contract with Universal, Rick guest starred in a number of television series including The Rockford Files, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, and the motion picture Battlestar Galactica.

Even though acting was now paying the rent, Rick never stopped writing or recording his music and his new managers never stopped knocking on doors. It was during this time that Rick began writing a number of songs that he and small band would be able to play at clubs around town. And in 1980, persistence paid off and RCA signed Rick to a record deal.