WHEN YOUR pop idol dies it kind of crushes your heart. Our idols become part of our everyday lives, we grow up with them, and while we’ve lost a distant celebrity, it can also feel like losing a close friend. For me, that special idol was David Cassidy, undoubtedly the poster boy of the 1970s. He died late last year of multiple organ failure, aged 67, due to longterm drug and alcohol abuse.
Cassidy rocketed to fame thanks to a very G-rated sitcom called The Partridge Family, about a suburban family who were also a touring pop band with actual, real-time top ten hits. Their biggest, I Think I Love You outsold The Beatles’ Let It Be. Their sound was vibrant and gay (in the old-fashioned way), and the Partridge’s touring bus, painted in Mondrian-style, became iconic in its own right.