Career
While still in high school, Cassidy signed a contract with Mike Curb's division of Warner Bros. Records and began recording music. His debut album Shaun Cassidy was initially released in Europe and Australia in 1976, and he scored a couple of hit singles in several countries. That led to an American release of that album in 1977. The multi-platinum album netted Cassidy a No. 1 US single with "Da Doo Ron Ron" and a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. 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 number three. Cassidy's popularity continued with the 1977 arrival of his television series, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, which also starred Parker Stevenson.
Cassidy's next album Born Late peaked at No. 6 on the US Top 200 Albums chart and netted the hit "Hey Deanie" (US No. 7), also written by Carmen. His label ran the same formula as before by releasing a remake of a previous hit as the second single; this time with The Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe in Magic?". It would become 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 Under Wraps, his teen-star appeal had begun to fade. The album just managed to crack the US top 40, peaking at No. 33, and it produced a minor hit in the song "Our Night" (US No. 80). Cassidy's 1979 album Room Service was also not successful and it failed to appear on the US Top 200 Album chart. Cassidy tried a different musical approach for his next release, 1980's Wasp. The 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, and cover versions including David Bowie's "Rebel, Rebel" and The Who's "So Sad About Us" among others. The album, however, was not successful and became Cassidy's second album not to chart on the Billboard Album Chart.
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 Dramalogue award for his work in Mark Sheriden's Diary of a Hunger Strike at the L.A.T.C., and his final stage appearance was opposite his half-brother David in the Broadway production of Blood Brothers (which successfully ran for over a year on Broadway). 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.
From the late 1990s, Cassidy created, wrote, and/or produced numerous shows for network and cable including American Gothic (with Sam Raimi), Roar (starring Heath Ledger), Cold Case, Cover Me, The Agency (with Wolfgang Petersen), Invasion and Ruby & The Rockits. Cassidy's pilot, The Frontier, was not picked up for the 2012–13 season by NBC. He is writing and executive producing a pilot for Fox. The project is also executive produced by Howard Gordon.
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