Shaun Cassidy

Following in the footsteps of his half brother David Cassidy, Shaun Cassidy was a teen idol in the late '70s. The son of actor Jack Cassidy and actress Shirley Jones, he grew up in Beverly Hills and formed his first rock band at age 11, just after he began writing his own songs. Signed by Mike Curb to the Warner/Curb label in 1975, Cassidy had his first success in Europe, where his photos saturated the teen magazines. His debut single - "Morning Girl," released in January 1976 - went Top 20 in most of Europe. His second single, a cover of Eric Carmen's “That’s Rock ’n’ Roll,” expanded his appeal to Australia and later went gold in the U.S. in a 1977 release.

He starred in The Hardy Boys Mysteries TV series from 1977 to 1979. His first U.S. single, a cover of the Crystals’ 1963 hit “Da Doo Ron Ron,” was released in May 1977 and hit #1; his simultaneously released debut album, Shaun Cassidy, went platinum. “Hey Deanie,” another Carmen song, hit #7 in 1978, but followups sank. Like half brother David before him, Shaun tried with little success to make the transition to a serious rocker; his 1980 Wasp was produced by Todd Rundgren and featured versions of songs by David Bowie, Ian Hunter, Peter Townshend, and David Byrne.

He concentrated on acting. Among his television credits are the 1979 television movie Like Normal People, the 1980 series Breaking Away, and, later in the decade, the soap General Hospital. In 1993 he played David Cassidy’s twin in the Broadway production of Blood Brothers. Cassidy also created, wrote, and produced several television shows, among them the horror-themed American Gothic (CBS, 1995) and the action series Roar (Fox, 1997).

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon &Schuster, 2001)