Rick Springfield now approaching Keith Richards’ status. He plays & has an audience

ANSWER: This musician-actor was born Richard Springthorpe in Australia, and he went on to become an American-pop star in the 1980s complete with a role on ‘General Hospital;’ he still plays, and acts, to this day.

QUESTION: Who is ... Russell Crowe?

Sorry, no.

QUESTION: Who is Rick Springfield?

Correct.

His given name is Richard Springthorpe. He still plays shows. He still acts on screen. At the age of 73.

Springfield is coming to Fort Worth and will play Dickies Arena on Sunday, Aug. 20 on his “I Want My ‘80s’ tour. He will be joined by “The Hooters,” Paul Young and Tommy Tutone.

The day after the show, on Aug. 21, he will be at Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods on 2750 S. Hulen Street, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., to meet with fans and autograph his rum that he has partnered with Sammy Hagar, “Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum.”

Sure there are jokes to be made, but why? Rick Springfield has been around since the ‘70s, and he still has an audience.

At the time of this interview, he was in the back of a tour bus, only he’s not sure where.

“Where are we? What state?” he asked someone on his bus. “Michigan? Michigan.

“Michigan? Again?”

Yes. Michigan. Again. Jersey the next. Texas is in there somewhere. Oklahoma. Up to Illinois.

This is the life of a rock and roll performer, and at his heart that’s what Rick Springfield remains. He’s a musician who knows how to perform, be it on stage or in front of a camera.

He still has his hair, and he has zero desire to stop doing what he loves doing.

Star-Telegram: Go back to when you’re a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Rick Springfield: A tiger. I didn’t understand the whole concept of humanity. The next thing I wanted to be was a DJ, which you have to be careful what you wish for. I am now a very bad DJ on Sirius/XM.

Star-Telegram: When you did start out to pursue music and entertainment, did anyone in your circle try to talk you out of such a risky profession?

RS: My dad was in the Army, but he had a great voice. I was the whole Black Sheep in my whole army group. I was terrible at school, and was kicked out of high school. It didn’t look good.

Even the Beatles only lasted a couple of years, and no one knew the possibilities of a career in rock and roll. It was very alien to the whole army community that this kid wanted to play the guitar.

Mom said, ‘Have something to fall back on, like become a plumber and electrician. So that’s there when music doesn’t work out.’ That was the hidden message.

She was pushing me at the same time. She told me a few years before she died that her big dream was to tour America with my dad as a singer. She did that with me.

S-T: Did you have a ‘pinch me’ moment that you were a rock ‘n’ roll star?

RS: No, because that’s what I pictured. There is a song on the album called, ‘Fake it til’ you make it,’ which was basically my philosophy.

Manifest something you have to see it and believe it and become emotionally involved in it. So when it did finally arrive, it was like, ‘Geez, that took long enough.’

S-T: You have had an audience for decades, but at any point was there a time where you thought, ‘I guess it’s over.’

RS: I had a conversation with a therapist I was seeing; I went to therapy pretty heavily in 1986. I was dealing with depression. I saw someone, I guess it was in the early ‘90s, and he said, ‘Maybe that’s it for the music business for you.’

And I thought, ‘What? I don’t believe that.’

People have always counted me out. That’s the M.O. I’ve never counted me out, which is the important thing.

S-T: Before you made it, and played big arenas, what was the smallest, run-down place and nothing audience you played for?

RS: Was in 1976, I had an album out called, ‘Wait for Night.’ There was a single from it on the charts, but the record company folded.

It was run by a guy who married one of Frank Sinatra’s daughters. Frank had loaned this guy money to start the record company.

This guy then divorced Frank’s daughter, so Frank came calling for his money. So he goes, ‘I guess that’s it,’ and he folded the company, and the album died.

On that tour, we were playing a bar in Florida in front of three people. We’re up there jamming, the song finishes, and it’s just crickets. I said, ‘I guess you didn’t like that one.’ That was one of the worst places I’ve played.

S-T: You recorded a million songs, but in those do you ever go back and listen to your work and ask, ‘What was I doing on this one?’

RS: I like most of the stuff I did, actually. I don’t go back and listen to it, honestly. There is an album back in Australia kept pushing, it was a cartoon show I did in the early ‘70s called ‘Mission Magic.’

They went around to the teen magazines, and they asked, ‘Who is going to be the next David Cassidy.’ They all said it was going to be me.

I wasn’t, which I am glad for that because it would have been a short career.

ABC did this animation series, and when we first talked about it we talked to Disney (and) it was going to be like a ‘Fantasia,’ and ‘Yellow Submarine,’ and make it something different.

By the end it got through the whole ABC network it was just another mimeographed piece of junk.

They wanted me to write a new song every week, and for that it was a good exercise in song writing. It was nothing that I would pull out and play live.

S-T: Your acting career is extensive, was there any part that you really enjoyed and allowed you to really sink your teeth into?

RS: The more recent stuff. The thing with Meryl Streep (Ricki and The Flash). The Californication episodes were really fun.

The writing now is just so much better. In the ‘70s, the writing was garbage. It was the same 10 scripts through every show. The directing sucked. The acting sucked.

The one I liked the most was the James Garner show, ‘The Rockford Files.’ That was a super cool show, and a big deal for me to work with someone like that.

But ‘Wonder Woman,’ or ‘Incredible Hulk,’ not so much.

‘Battlestar Galactica’ was cool; we had come off Star Wars, and the same guy built the sets for both.

S-T: For many shows you play yourself, how does one play yourself on screen?

RS: You aren’t playing yourself. You are playing a character named, ‘Rick Springfield.’

The guy I played in ‘Californifaction’ is nothing like me; he was this overblown, egotistical, coked up, womanizing, (jerk).

A friend of mine was defending me to someone else who said, ‘I didn’t know Rick Springfield did blow.’ The guy told him, ‘He’s acting.’ People didn’t quite understand it was an acting gig because I was playing a Rick Springfield, not me.

S-T: You’ve done or dabbled in everything; anything that you didn’t do that you wish you had?

RS: I want to write better, or perform better. I want to do what I do better. And enjoy it more. I love what I do.

S-T: There are no less than 5,000 rumors about you that are untrue; allow me to respectfully ask one: In the ‘80s there was the rumor that when Rick Springfield was playing guitar on stage it was an act because he couldn’t actually play the guitar.

RS: I actually never heard that one. I would have been furious if I heard that. I started playing guitar when I was 13. If I don’t have some licks there is something wrong.

S-T: You are well known for your role on the TV soap ‘General Hospital.’ Did that role hurt your cred’ as a rock and roll performer?

RS: Absolutely. Double edged sword. It was a lame kinda show, you couldn’t be this heart throb on a soap opera and a dedicated musician, in a lot of people’s minds.

Keith Olsen, who was this producer who produced the song ‘Jessie’s Girl,’ and he worked with Pat Benatar and Fleetwood Mac; when he heard I got the ‘General Hospital’ gig he said, ‘I wouldn’t advise it. You don’t need to do it.’

I had had three albums before that failed, and I said, ‘I need the money. I’m going to do it.’ It just happened to blow up at the same time.

S-T: Some performers are bored by the hits that launched them; they’d rather play their ‘new stuff.’ Do you ever tire of playing ‘Jessie’s Girl?’

RS: No, I don’t. It’s become such an iconic song that I get joy seeing everybody singing along. It’s really hard to say I am really sick of playing this song because everyone has so much joy from it.

There are other songs I get tired of.

S-T: For those who are aging but want to keep going at a high level, your advice is?

RS: Attitude first. Mind receives everything. You have to see yourself in a certain way.

If you are out of shape, you don’t put a photo of yourself out of shape on the ‘fridge. Put the photo of the weight you want to be on the ‘fridge.

You have to put dreams into action. We workout almost every day.

My dad died young, and his was a lot diet related. I started watching what I was eating younger. I try to stay away from foods that aren’t good for me. And hope for the best.

I love what I do. It’s important to love what you do, or be energized by it. I am fortunate to be in that business.