Shaun Cassidy#Personal life

{{Short description|American producer, actor and singer (born 1958)}}

{{About||the Canadian illustrator|Sean Cassidy|the album|Shaun Cassidy (album)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Shaun Cassidy

| image = Shaun Cassidy Hardy Boys 1977.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Cassidy in 1977

| birth_name = Shaun Paul Cassidy

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|9|27}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| education = Beverly Hills High School

| known_for = {{hlist|The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries|General Hospital}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Singer|actor|writer|producer}}

| parents = {{Plainlist|

| relatives = {{Plainlist|

David Cassidy (half-brother)
Patrick Cassidy (brother)
Katie Cassidy (niece) }}

| module = {{Infobox musical artist

| embed = yes

| background = solo_singer

| origin =

| instrument = {{hlist|Guitar|piano}}

| genre = Pop rock

| years_active = 1976–present

| label = Warner Bros. (U.S.)

| associated_acts = Utopia

| website =

}}

Shaun Paul Cassidy (born September 27, 1958) is an American singer, actor, writer and producer. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including American Gothic, Roar and Invasion. Cassidy was also an executive producer and writer for NBC's medical drama New Amsterdam.{{cite web| title=Shaun Cassidy| url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001027/| website=IMDb}}

While in high school, Cassidy signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records, leading to his albums Shaun Cassidy, Born Late, Under Wraps, Room Service, and Wasp. Almost concurrently, Cassidy starred in the ABC television series The Hardy Boys Mysteries, as well as Breaking Away and had a stint on the daytime soap General Hospital.

While appearing on Broadway in the hit musical drama Blood Brothers, he wrote his first television pilot, American Gothic. In 2020, Cassidy returned to the stage with his one-man show The Magic of a Midnight Sky.{{cite web |title=Magic of the Midnight Sky |url=https://www.shauncassidy.com/pages/shows |website=Shaun Cassidy.com |access-date=15 February 2021}} Cassidy is the eldest son of Academy Award–winning actress Shirley Jones and Tony Award-winning actor Jack Cassidy.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086765/characters/nm0001027 |title=Murder, She Wrote (TV Series 1984–1996) - IMDb |access-date=2024-10-07 |via=www.imdb.com}} He is older brother of actor Patrick Cassidy, the younger half-brother of singer and actor David Cassidy and uncle of actress Katie Cassidy.{{cite web |title=Shaun Cassidy: Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/people/shaun-cassidy-377854 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917105101/https://www.biography.com/people/shaun-cassidy-377854 |archive-date=17 September 2018 |access-date=December 23, 2011}}{{Verify source|date=September 2019|reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/880195048 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/874103183 cite #1 – verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. User:GreenC bot/Job 18}}

Early life, family and education

Shaun Cassidy grew up in Los Angeles, California and New York City; he is the son of Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. In addition to an elder half-brother, David Cassidy, he has two younger brothers, Patrick and Ryan Cassidy.{{cite web| title=Shaun Cassidy, All Grown Up| url= https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/teen-heartthrob-shaun-cassidy| website=Oprah.com}}

He attended boarding school in Bucks County, Pennsylvania at the Solebury School in Solebury Township, and graduated from Beverly Hills High School.

Career

= Singer and recording artist =

File:ShaunCassidy1978.jpg]]

While still in high school, Cassidy signed a contract with Mike Curb's Curb Records division of Warner Bros. Records and began recording music. He scored a couple of hit singles in several countries, leading to an American release of his first solo album, Shaun Cassidy, in 1977. The multi-platinum album netted him a number-one U.S. Billboard Hot 100 single with "Da Doo Ron Ron" and a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards.{{cite magazine| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i0UEAAAAMBAJ&q=shaun+cassidy&pg=PA88| title=WB Rides Sizzling Singles Sales and Platinum LPs to Best Year| magazine= Billboard| date= 1977-12-10| pages=8, 22, 24, 34, 74| language=en}}{{Cite web| last= McPhate| first=Tim| date=2014-12-02| title=GRAMMY Rewind: 20th Annual GRAMMY Awards| url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/grammy-rewind-20th-annual-grammy-awards| website=Recording Academy| language= en}} The Eric Carmen–penned "That's Rock 'n' Roll" (which had already been a hit in Australia and Europe) was the follow-up single and peaked at No. 3. His popularity continued with the concurrent arrival of his television series, The Hardy Boys Mysteries (1977–1979).

Cassidy's next album Born Late netted the hit "Hey Deanie" (#7), also written by Carmen, and a remake of The Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe in Magic?" became a moderate hit for Cassidy, peaking at No. 31.

Cassidy had released two successful albums, but by the release of his third album, 1978's million-seller Under Wraps, AM radio was in decline{{cite news| last=Battaglio| first=Stephen| date=2002-03-10| title=Television/Radio; When AM Ruled Music, and WABC Was King| language=en-US| newspaper=The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/10/arts/television-radio-when-am-ruled-music-and-wabc-was-king.html| issn=0362-4331| url-access=subscription}} and his teen-star appeal had begun to fade. His next album, Room Service, failed to chart on the US Billboard 200. Cassidy tried a different musical approach for his final release, 1980's Wasp. This album was more rock/pop-oriented and produced by Todd Rundgren with the group Utopia as the backing band. It featured songs written by Rundgren, Cassidy, and cover versions of songs including David Bowie's "Rebel, Rebel" and The Who's "So Sad About Us" among others.

= Actor =

File:Shaun Cassidy performing at the Ohio State Fair - DPLA - e8fcf30a105bde5c8634045f4e485028.jpg 25 August 1979]]

Cassidy concentrated on stage acting for most of the 1980s and early 1990s. He appeared on Broadway and West End productions such as Mass Appeal and Bus Stop, as well as the American premiere of Pass/Fail at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Cassidy won a Drama-Logue Award for his work in Mark Sheriden's Diary of a Hunger Strike at the Los Angeles Theater Center, and he appeared opposite his half-brother David in the Broadway production of Blood Brothers (which successfully ran for over a year on Broadway, landing Cassidy on the cover of People magazine for the third time). It was during this production that Cassidy wrote his first television pilot, American Gothic, opening the door to a long-term contract with Universal Television.

= Writer and producer =

Since then, Cassidy has created, written, and produced numerous shows for network and cable including American Gothic (1995–1996, produced with Sam Raimi), Roar (1997, starring Heath Ledger), Cover Me (2000–2001), Invasion (2005–2006), Ruby & The Rockits (2009, starring his brothers Patrick and David) and New Amsterdam (2018–2023, starring Ryan Eggold) on NBC.

In 2021, Cassidy took his one-man show The Magic of a Midnight Sky to the stage, playing to standing-room-only crowds nationwide, his first live music performance in almost forty years.

Personal life

Cassidy has been married three times and has seven children. He married Ann Pennington, a model and former Playboy playmate, in 1979 and divorced in 1993; they had two children together.{{cite news| date=1 November 1993| title=The Boys Are Back| url=https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-boys-are-back-vol-40-no-18/|magazine=People| first=Tim| last=Allis| language=en}}

Cassidy married actress Susan Diol in 1995 and divorced in 2003; they have one daughter.{{cite web| date=20 December 2018| title=Episode 388: Shaun Cassidy| url= http://www.rocksolidpodcast.com/episodes/388-shaun-cassidy| website=Rock Solid| language=en-US}}{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

In 2004, he married producer Tracey Lynne Turner; they have four children.{{cite web| last=Shannon| first=Gary| date=16 September 2011| title=Where Are They Now? Shaun Cassidy..| url=https://929thelake.com/where-are-they-now-shaun-cassidy/| website=92.9 The Lake| language=en}}