Could It Be Forever? My Story (40 page)

I was 48 and working seven days a week. And there’s a big difference between what you can do when you’re 21 and what you can do when you’re 48. I was close to a nervous breakdown and my wife and I were as close to splitting up as we have ever been.

The photographs on the cover and inner sleeve of
Old Trick, New Dog
were taken by Henry Diltz, with Gary Burton as art director, the same team who had done many of my earlier album covers. I can’t remember the last time I cried before that day, but I was weeping intensely for an hour prior to taking the cover photograph. We went out
into a canyon outside of Vegas and I stopped by the side of the road and Henry took that shot. The photo is completely untouched. I wanted it to be like that.

I think
Old Trick, New Dog
is a good record. This album is not overproduced like the previous album. When your life is in chaos, you try to find a way to simplify.

No Bridge You Didn’t Cross
is a really good song. That song came through my friend, publisher Linda Blum-Huntington. She put me together with a couple of different writers. I was trying to get away from writing almost exclusively with Sue, which is what I did for the previous two albums.

Tony Romeo sent me a demo of
You Are the One
. He passed away prior to making this album, had a heart attack and died instantly. I took the song and reworked it, added a bridge and made a completely different record out of it. His heir discovered that I had taken the song and worked on it and said, ‘I can’t allow you to use this song.’

And I said, ‘Well, then you’re going to have to sue me because Tony was my friend for many years. And it was the only song that he and I ever collaborated on together. I know if Tony were alive this conversation would never take place.’ And nothing more was ever said.

I went back and looked at some of the songs that had been very influential in my career. I redid a few Partridge Family songs,
I Can Feel Your Heartbeat
– I love that song –
I Woke Up in Love This Morning,
and
I Think I Love You
. Old trick, new dog. I also re-recorded
Ricky’s Tune
, taking a different approach to the tune.

Whatever Happened to Peace, Love and Happiness
is a track that really reflected where I came from. I’m proud to wear it like a badge of my political and social attitudes.

During this period, I was totally overwhelmed. My personal life and my relationship with my wife were also suffering. I worked all day. I worked all night. For two and a half years, I didn’t get home until one or two in the morning. Sue had to get up with Beau and take him to school. Neither Sue nor Beau enjoyed Las Vegas at all. In fact, they often complained to me about how much they disliked it. This was, of course, very difficult for me because I was making a fortune and I was in what was arguably the most fertile, creative time of my life.

I went to see a shrink and lost it in his office. He sent me to a doctor who gave me a prescription for an anti-depressant, anti-stress pill. Within a matter of two weeks, it was like a different world for me. I was able to get a grip on all of it and put things into perspective.

I had a conversation with the MGM about leaving the show to have the operation on my foot and try to heal. I would need to be out for at least three months. They didn’t want to put an understudy in for that long, so I completed the term of my contract. By the last week of performances, however, I couldn’t walk. I was on crutches. My brother Patrick was kind enough to perform in my place.

The day after my contract at the MGM ended, I went in for foot surgery. While in my hospital bed, I called my friend Don Reo once again and said, ‘I’ve got this great
idea. I want to do a show about the old Vegas, about what made Las Vegas, Las Vegas.’ The first time I went to Las Vegas was with my dad and Shirley in 1961. They took me to see Frank and it was pretty fantastic. I loved it.

Don and I began discussing and brainstorming and started writing
The Rat Pack Is Back!
Don Reo and I co-created, co-wrote, co-produced and I directed the original production. The play takes place on 12 December 1961, Frank Sinatra’s birthday, and Frank is performing in Vegas, with Joey Bishop opening for him. Don came up with the idea of using that date so there would be a reason for Dean and Sammy Davis, Jr to come to see Frank. As a device it works, but in reality they never performed as The Rat Pack.

I took the idea to the people at the Desert Inn, who didn’t have a show, despite the fact that it was one of the original places where Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr and Dean Martin had performed. It was a beautiful property and had the perfect intimate room for the show.

Sure enough, after about four or five days, we made a deal. We opened not long after, and within two weeks it was selling out. I own the U.S. trademark for
The Rat Pack Is Back!
, which has become a business all over the world.

I gave myself a little cameo role as Bobby Darin and I got to sing while I was recovering from my foot surgery over the next months. I still make guest appearances as Bobby at different venues when I’m available. The only artist my father and I could agree on was Bobby Darin. I thought Bobby Darin was the most talented of all those
guys. I thought he was a really good actor, a very good songwriter and singer, an incredible entertainer and a great producer.

The show played at the Desert Inn for a year, and then for two years at the Sahara. I still produce it all over the U.S. The music is second to none. I called Quincy Jones and asked him for the original music chart for
Seven O’Clock Jump
, which we used. It’s as authentic as you can get. He came and saw the show and loved it.

About this time, my wife got very involved with children’s and humanitarian causes around the world. First, we used our song
Message to the World
to attract attention to the situation in Bosnia and then she formed an online charity called KidsCharities.org, which helped kids all over the world.

Using my ‘celebrity’, our music and connections to help others was nothing new to us.

In 1992, Sue and I organised an all-star recording of a song we wrote,
Stand and Be Proud
, immediately following the Los Angeles riots. The number of stars who came out was amazing, and people told us that the song helped to rebuild people’s strength and unity.

While I was producing, directing, and performing every night as Bobby Darin in
The Rat Pack Is Back!
the president of the Rio contacted me about putting a show on at that hotel. We signed a two-year contract for a production that I would star in eight shows a week. Don Reo and I partnered again as producers and writers. I created the story for
At the Copa
,
which took my character from his 20s to his 80s, singing music from each era. It gave me a chance to perform some of my favourite songs.

I realised I needed a female who could carry some of the weight for me while I wasn’t on the stage. I went to the hotel folks and said, ‘How do you feel about Sheena Easton?’ And they raised a couple of eyebrows and said, ‘Well, if you think she’s what you need, OK.’

Originally, I had gone to Paula Abdul. I flew to Los Angeles and had lunch with her, but in the end she didn’t want to move to Vegas. So I went to Sheena. She wasn’t
working, so she agreed to come and do the show with me.

When we opened, the show was panned. I had to replace my director. So I rewrote the show while we were performing it. After about four or five months, it was completely different and by that time it was really great.

I had 77 employees
for
At the Copa
. I was basically producing it from my office at home. I was working seven days a week, seven nights a week and I began to feel like a workaholic. I had been performing non-stop every night for nine straight years.

My schedule and the stress I was under put insurmountable pressure on my marriage and, for about six months, Sue and I were separated. This was extraordinarily painful for her. For both of us. It was virtually impossible for me to work. I had to find the balance, which was lacking in my life. I think I was going through an enormous change. Let’s call it your standard, good old-fashioned mid-40s, mid-madness, mid-life crisis. Thank God for Paxil, that’s all I can say. I knew I had to find another way to live or I would lose my family.

When I realised that my family was more important to me than the fame, the work, the attention, the money, I made what I consider to be the best decision I have ever made – move back home, create an exit strategy and do it with dignity.

I sat down with the Chief Financial Officer of Harrah’s, which owned the Rio, and the president of the Rio. I told them that I wanted to end my contact with them a year early. My suggestion was that I go out and do concerts at
various properties they had all over North America. And they agreed. We came to a beautiful settlement that worked for them and worked for me.

I had an offer from Universal Music while I was doing
At the Copa
. They wanted me to re-record my hits and some of the songs I was performing at the time. It seemed like a great idea. I recorded some of the songs I loved that I’d never recorded before. It became a platinum album.

N
BC wanted to do the David Cassidy story and I made a deal with them. Knowing network television as well as I do, I wanted to have a little bit of creative control. I was able to have some influence in the casting. I asked Malcolm McDowell if he would consider playing my father. The network loved the idea, as did Malcolm and he agreed to do it. I think he was brilliant. He completely captured my father, the madness as well as the humour. My father was up there, I’m sure, smiling.

When you’re seeing other actors recreate your life, it’s very odd and it’s hard to be objective. I tried as much as possible. Because I was in Las Vegas during the week, I was
only on the Los Angeles set four or five times. All I did was observe and try to give Malcolm a little bit of insight into my father. I tried to stay away completely from the actor playing me. Andrew Kavovit did a very fine job.

The network asked me if I would be willing to go back and re-record some of my old hits for the film and I told them I would. I strongly suggested that if they wanted the original feel of those Partridge Family songs, we should record in the original studio, with as many of the original musicians as we could find. Mike Melvoin and I got hold of all of the original players and they did a fantastic job. It was amazing that I got to work with those people again, that I got to celebrate, for lack of a better word, the emotional experience again.