Singing for Sahara

~ Listen to an MP3 of Rick Springfield's "Don't Talk to Strangers"

For two decades women have swooned over soap star/musician Rick Springfield. Since his breakout in the 1980s as Dr. Noah Drake on "General Hospital" and singer of hits like "Jesse's Girl," Springfield has been a part of the American pop culture lexicon.

Today, he's still making music, and he's reprised his "General Hospital" role, keeping Springfield in the limelight.

But despite his stardom, this singer and soap star has a heart of gold. On Dec. 8, Springfield will perform his "Concert for Sahara" at the Show Me Center to raise funds for local girl Sahara Aldridge and her treatment for brain-stem cancer. Springfield has known Sahara for seven years, so the concert is bound to be packed with emotional highlights.

Springfield talked to the Southeast Missourian's Matt Sanders in anticipation of the "Concert for Sahara."

Q: So what came first for you, music of acting?

A: I started in music, just because we didn't have television when I was growing up, when I was a little kid anyway, so we used to sing around the piano at night to entertain ourselves. And it was a natural thing to just love music, and we always had music around the house, so while my dad was in the army we had music around the house all the time. Then I discovered the guitar when I was about 12 years old and that was it, I fell in love with that. I've been in bands since I was 15, in high school and after I left high school. I didn't start acting until I was about 25.

Q: How did that come about?

A: I was between record deals over here in America, and I'd always been interested in acting and I was, you know, kind of lost, and a friend of mine, the wife of actually a guy who was suing me at the time, said "Why don't you come to acting class?" And I went and it really saved my life at that point.

Q: What was your first acting gig?

A: The "Six Million Dollar Man." I played a bad guy, a roller derby guy on "Six Million Dollar Man."

Q: How many records have you made by now?

A: Wow, I'm not sure. I really don't know the answer to that. I think about 15 or 16 albums I've put out so far.

Q: Were you ever a classic sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll type of guy?

A: I was very much into that in my 20s and early 30s. I lived in Hollywood, you know, and it was parties every night. On the road, of course, especially when you get some success, it's pretty easy to fall into that muddle. So you know, as a young guy, that was my focus. When I had kids that changed my focus completely, and you know, once you get older your focus just keeps changing. If you're evolving it does.

I know some guys my age who are still stuck in the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and I think there's a time for that and there's a time for other things. Right now, I've been taking, taking, taking all my life, and it's about time I try and give something back. So this is, doing this thing for Sahara is kind of part of that.

Q: What kind of reaction have you seen from fans about the "Concert for Sahara"?

A: Everybody's responded real appropriately, and I get checks sent to me from people who, like, from my son's school, who read a little in the paper about it and want to donate money and didn't know where to send it, so they send it to me. The fan base has been incredible. They've made bracelets, T-shirts, they've really stepped up for the show.

We're selling some special tickets for a higher price because we're going to do kind of a cocktail hour before the show or after the show or something, where I'll be there. So everybody is aware of the situation, and a lot of people's lives have been touched personally by something like this, too, so it's not really a hard sell, especially with the kid and anybody who knows her -- what a bright spark she is. There's no way you can say "no" to something like this anyway. All you can do is all you can do.

Q: This concert is personal to you. What do you think the atmosphere will be like that night?

A: It doesn't get much more personal unless I was doing it for someone in my own family. And everybody that's going to be there is going to know about her and know what the show's there for, so it's going to be a very communal thing. My shows are communal anyway, but this is going to laser focus the whole point of the show, the whole energy, and I think it'll probably be pretty amazing. I think anyone who comes is ready to be there and do what they need to do, and that's me included.

Q: People often associate you with one period in time, the 1980s. Does that ever annoy you, being type-cast as this '80s icon?

A: Absolutely not. It's absolutely human to do that. I do that with other people, so, you know. Pretty much every celebrity, unless I know them personally, it's their biggest hits, either movies or whatever and that's my reference to them.

So unless somebody follows me and seeks out my newer work, which I think is the better stuff, but that's beside the point, their reference is their reference. And everyone has their life and you know, I have no right to get upset over something like that. It's human nature.

Q: Is your music different today than when you were making mega-hits?

A: It's more about what's going on inside me now. There's issues of family and god and, you know, still sex is still in there. I'm dealing with the stuff at my age that anyone would deal with. That, to me, is the greatest thing, to write about that and try to put that into words that other people can relate to and see a way through something in their own lives. I find my way through my own life through my own writing, too. It's really the coolest part of what I do, for me.

Q: And for those thinking about seeing you, what's the live show like?

A: I channel the energy of the audience. I think I've always done that. I'm a bit of a thief like that, but it makes it easy for me, but it's great. The type of show I've always wanted to do is very free -- it's not based on light cues or effects or anything, it's just a great rock 'n' roll show. It's very much to do with the audience and audience-involved and that's where the energy comes from and that's what it's all about.