Rick Springfield

Springfield has been married to Barbara Porter since 1984. They met while he was recording Working Class Dog and Porter was working as a receptionist at the recording studio. They have two sons, Liam and Joshua.

Springfield has dealt with depression for several decades. He attempted suicide at 17 and later discussed another period of suicidal thoughts in 2017. He has spoken publicly about wanting people experiencing similar feelings to believe that difficult moments can pass. He practices Transcendental Meditation and is a pescetarian.

Springfield learned guitar at 13 and performed with several bands in England and Australia. In 1968, he joined MPD Ltd, which toured South Vietnam to entertain Australian troops. After returning to Australia, he helped form Wickedy Wak.

In 1969, Springfield joined the Australian pop-rock group Zoot as lead guitarist and vocalist. The band became known for its pink-satin "Think Pink, Think Zoot" image before attempting to establish a harder-rock identity. Springfield wrote the Zoot songs "Hey Pinky" and "Freak", while the group's hard-rock cover of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" reached No. 4 on Australia's Go-Set chart in 1971.

Springfield began his solo career with "Speak to the Sky", which reached No. 5 in Australia and No. 14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. After moving to the United States, he released albums including Beginnings, Comic Book Heroes and Wait for Night.

His major breakthrough came with Working Class Dog in 1981. The album produced "Jessie's Girl", which reached No. 1 in both the United States and Australia, and earned Springfield the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. He followed it with the albums Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet and Living in Oz, scoring further hits with "Don't Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart", "I've Done Everything for You" and "Love Somebody".

Springfield made early television appearances in programs including The Six Million Dollar Man, The Rockford Files, Wonder Woman and Battlestar Galactica. In 1981, he was cast as Dr. Noah Drake on the daytime drama General Hospital. He played the role while also touring after the success of "Jessie's Girl", and returned to the series in several later periods, including a 2013 appearance with his son Liam Springthorpe.

He starred in the 1984 film Hard to Hold and recorded most of its soundtrack, which included the hit "Love Somebody". His later screen work included the television series Human Target and High Tide, the feature film Ricki and the Flash with Meryl Streep, and recurring roles in Californication and True Detective. In True Detective, he played Dr. Irving Pitlor alongside Colin Farrell. He also appeared in Supernatural as Vince Vincente and Lucifer, and in American Horror Story: Cult as Pastor Charles.

Springfield's stage work included the original Broadway cast of Smokey Joe's Cafe. From 2000 to 2002, he performed in EFX Alive! at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Springfield published the autobiography Late, Late at Night: A Memoir in 2010. The book reached No. 13 on The New York Times Best Seller list and was ranked No. 23 on Rolling Stone's list of the 25 greatest rock memoirs. He followed it with the novel Magnificent Vibration in 2014, which also appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.

In 2020, Springfield performed on Coheed and Cambria's "Jessie's Girl 2", a sequel to his signature song. In 2021, he formed the Morris Springfield Project with Russell Morris. Their album Jack Chrome and the Darkness Waltz reached No. 34 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Springfield was also honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.