Return to rock

By David Lindquist

Springfield says there's a quote from the film Patton he especially likes: "Success is fleeting."

During the early 1980s, Springfield had enviable success as the actor who played Noah Drake on General Hospital and the rock star who won a Grammy for Jessie's Girl.

But the native Australian scheduled to perform Saturday at Kroger CircleFest is something of a curiosity, a well-preserved celebrity easing his way from obscurity back into the public eye.

"Life changes," Springfield said during a recent telephone interview. "You always think everything's going to go on forever, both the good and the bad. It's a great thing that it doesn't, because that's how you grow."

Professionally, Springfield bottomed out with a project that seemingly fit both of his strengths.

In the 1984 film Hard to Hold, Springfield starred as a rock star pursuing an elusive love interest.

Film critics savaged the project, dismissing it as a lightweight soap opera. Moviegoers stayed away, too, and Springfield began in 1985 a three-year hiatus from singing or acting.

"Once I had money, I started thinking less about having to pay the light bill and more about what was happening inside me," Springfield said. "I had to take some off to see what it was I really wanted in the end. Basically, I'm a family guy."

Today, Springfield lives in Southern California with his wife, Barbara, and sons Liam, 13, and Joshua, 10.

Liam's affinity for aggressive rock bands such as Korn, the Deftones and Tool doesn't bother Dad, who played guitar-driven melodies on hits such as I've Done Everything for You and Don't Talk to Strangers.

"I haven't gotten to the point where I say, 'Turn that crap down,'" Springfield said. "And that really kind of bothers me. That was really where I started to find my own music, when my parents would say that. 'Yeah, they hate this. I'm going to really dig this.'"

Springfield has been working to rejuvenate his acting career by starring in the late-night cable TV series High Tide ("Unless you are an insomniac, you would have missed it.") and playing a recurring character on NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan.

He also stars in the upcoming NBC movie Dying to Dance, in which he plays the father of an anorexic daughter.

Musically, Springfield is playing concert dates in support of Karma, his first studio album 11 years.

Billboard magazine called lead single Itsalwayssomething "up to date and appropriately gritty."

Springfield conceded concert lineups such as CircleFest's assembly of the Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revisited and KC and the Sunshine Band aren't overly appealing.

"I don't really like doing the oldies things," Springfield said. "I generally just go out with my show."

At the same time, Springfield said he understands the element of nostalgia.

"There's a lot of memories, because I've been around basically quite awhile," said Springfield, who will turn 50 in August. "It was a great relationship originally with the audience, and I'd like to continue that. It's a much better relationship now. I can wade into the audience without losing an arm. It's more like friends."

Springfield originally was marketed in the 1970s as a teen idol. (His wife Barbara told People magazine that a Springfield poster hung on her bedroom wall when she was 11.)

"The magazines would just print what they want, Springfield said of publications such as Tiger Beat. "You'd do an interview, and something completely different would come out. The first time, I kind of went, 'Whoa.' I'd talk about music and my history, then it would come out why I was so shy and what my favorite color is."

Springfield did his best, though, to keep the focus on his music.

"Any toys or anything like that I resisted," Springfield said. "I'm sorry I did now, because I'm a toy freak. I look back at other people who did it and say, 'Wow. Cool.'"