Dallas County Living Well Magazine Spring 2015 | Page 9

SPRING 2015

SPOTLIGHT

“Y

ou can’t make a living playing guitar, Richard.”
And perhaps his dear mother was right.

Because, over 40 years after Rick Springfield’s mum uttered those fateful words to her son
back in Australia, Springfield has not only made a living playing guitar, but as a songwriter, an actor, an author, and someone who has refused to give up despite the odds that
life has thrown at him.
“My mom and I butted heads as a teenager,” recalls Springfield, who first picked up a
guitar at the age of 12. “I was terrible back then. She said I was hanging out with kids that
she considered part of a rough crowd. She probably was right. She wasn’t always there
with a comforting arm because she just wasn’t that kind of mom. She showed me the way
to be by what she did. She taught me always to stand up and never crumble. She has a
‘never give up and never quit’ mentality.”
It’s that mentality that has kept Springfield in the forefront of a number of industries at the
same time, whether via upcoming acting roles in shows such as the HBO critically-acclaimed drama True Detective and movies such as Ricki and the Flash starring Meryl Streep
and Kevin Klein or as the author to books such as his autobiography Late, Late at Night.
Springfield has accomplished all of this despite a slew of challenges, many of which would
be enough to take down a weaker heart and most of which he finds himself still battling
today. Yet, despite “a degree of attention deficit disorder” and his admitted frequent bouts
with depression, Springfield says the ideals that he learned from his now 94-year-old mom
have helped him to battle on. “I have learned to live with it to a degree and channel it into
a direction so I don’t waste my time feeling like crap all of the time,” he says. “Life is too
short not to.”

HIS CAREER
Known best for a long list of musical accomplishments that includes 25 million records
sold, a Grammy Award for his #1 smash-hit Jessie’s Girl, and a whopping 17 Top 40 hits
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NORTH DALLAS Living Well Magazine | SPRING 2015

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