# Rick Springfield
**Rick Springfield** (born Richard Lewis Springthorpe, 1949) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, and actor best known for the 1981 chart-topping single "Jessie's Girl" and for playing Dr. Noah Drake on the ABC daytime drama *General Hospital*.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-springfield-p5504) • [2](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-springfield-still-rocks/) His career has run continuously since the early 1970s, spanning pop-rock hits, soap-opera stardom, film and television acting, and a recording output that continued into the 2020s.[3](https://rickspringfield.com/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Richard Lewis Springthorpe, born 1949 in Guildford, Sydney, New South Wales, to Eileen Louise (Evennett) and Norman James Springthorpe, a career army officer[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0819782/bio/) |
| Signature hit | "Jessie's Girl," recorded at Sound City Studios in 1981, his first and only Billboard Hot 100 No. 1[5](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2013-06.pdf) • [6](https://manuals.plus/m/3b213c94ed2666a798da57cc748f454dbd736067bfcb098314dd677412b07f4b.pdf) |
| Grammy | Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 1981, for "Jessie's Girl"[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-springfield-p5504) |
| Acting landmark | Dr. Noah Drake on *General Hospital*, 1981 to 1983, revived from December 2005 and made a recurring guest role in 2007[2](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-springfield-still-rocks/) |
| Chart record | 21 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 over his career[6](https://manuals.plus/m/3b213c94ed2666a798da57cc748f454dbd736067bfcb098314dd677412b07f4b.pdf) |
| Recent work | Album *Automatic* (2023) and the compilation *Big Hits: Rick Springfield's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2*, which includes the new single "Lose Myself"[3](https://rickspringfield.com/) |
## Early life and first bands
Springfield grew up largely in Melbourne, Australia, as the son of a colonel in the [Australian Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/australian-army), and moved often enough that he was frequently the new kid in town; his teen years included a period in England.[7](https://www.rickspringfield.us/library/biography.html) He dropped out of high school to pursue music. His first band, Rock House, took a gig in Vietnam during the height of the conflict there.[7](https://www.rickspringfield.us/library/biography.html) He then fronted the band Zoot, where he developed his songwriting and performing before being pulled out for a solo career.[7](https://www.rickspringfield.us/library/biography.html)
His first single, "Speak to the Sky," sold more than a million copies, and his first album, *Beginnings*, followed; a 1972 profile described him, at age 23, as a young Australian singer whose second single, "What Would the Children Say," was expected to reach gold status before release.[8](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Beat-Instrumental/Beat-Instrumental-1972-12-S-OCR.pdf) His second album, *Comic Book Heroes* (Columbia, 1973), disappointed label executives who had expected the next [David Cassidy](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-cassidy), and from that album onward he was promoted as a teen heartthrob, a label he found to be both a blessing and a curse.[5](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2013-06.pdf)
## The 1981 breakthrough
**Working Class Dog.** After years in which album deals folded and records underperformed, [Springfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/springfield) recorded *Working Class Dog* in 1980 on a small budget, using studio off-hours when time was cheaper.[7](https://www.rickspringfield.us/library/biography.html) While his managers negotiated a release deal with RCA, he auditioned for *General Hospital*, drawn by the steady paycheck a soap opera offered after so much career instability.[7](https://www.rickspringfield.us/library/biography.html) He signed on as Dr. Noah Drake in early 1981, and RCA released the album shortly after.[7](https://www.rickspringfield.us/library/biography.html) The show was then in its peak years, with about 14 million daily viewers, and Springfield was paid around $500 a week for the role.[9](https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitarists/rick-springfield-on-jessies-girl-neil-giraldo-and-les-pauls) • [10](https://www.forbes.com/sites/derekscancarelli/2020/09/02/rick-springfield-and-coheed-and-cambria-explain-horror-comedy-jessies-girl-sequel/)
"Jessie's Girl" went to No. 1 on the Hot 100, his first and only chart-topper there, and won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.[6](https://manuals.plus/m/3b213c94ed2666a798da57cc748f454dbd736067bfcb098314dd677412b07f4b.pdf) • [1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-springfield-p5504) The song's title came from its real subject: a friend named Gary who wore a football jersey bearing the name of NFL wide receiver Ron Jessie, which is how the song became "Jessie's Girl" rather than "Gary's Girl."[9](https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitarists/rick-springfield-on-jessies-girl-neil-giraldo-and-les-pauls) The dual visibility of a hit record and a daytime television role made him famous almost overnight, though it cut both ways: heavy radio stations that had added the song because it was a guitar track dropped it once they learned he was on a soap opera.[7](https://www.rickspringfield.us/library/biography.html) • [11](https://www.ernieball.com/stringtheory/rick-springfield) Few critics took his recordings seriously, and industry rumors circulated that his label had paid fans to buy his records to inflate sales.[5](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2013-06.pdf)
## Sustained success in the 1980s
*Working Class Dog* was a massive success, and 1982's *Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet* landed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and spawned several more hit singles.[12](https://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/736178) *Living in Oz* (1983) kept the run going with the singles "Affair of the Heart" and "Human Touch," giving him room to leave *General Hospital* and star in his first feature film, *Hard to Hold*; the movie was not well received critically and its soundtrack was deleted in 1986.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-springfield-p5504) • [13](https://www.melodicrock.com/articles/interviews/2023/02/07/rick-springfield-1997) He departed the show as a regular in 1983.[6](https://manuals.plus/m/3b213c94ed2666a798da57cc748f454dbd736067bfcb098314dd677412b07f4b.pdf)
At [Live Aid](https://www.edgepedia.org/live-aid) in 1985 he performed an electric set at [John F. Kennedy Stadium](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-f-kennedy-stadium) in Philadelphia, between Run-DMC and [REO Speedwagon](https://www.edgepedia.org/reo-speedwagon), and left "Jessie's Girl" off the setlist because, as he recalled, it was then just his first hit and had not yet become a cultural touchstone.[14](https://apnews.com/article/ceb42fcd7a65609bde3517272b47cdb6)
## Later career
Springfield stepped away from music in the late 1980s to raise a family while working as an actor, then returned with the album *Rock of Life* (1988) and the project Sahara Snow with guitarist Tim Pierce and keyboardist Bob Marlette.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-springfield-p5504) Later releases include *Karma* (1999), *Christmas with You* (2007), *Venus in Overdrive* (2008), and the children's album *My Precious Little One: Lullabies for a New Generation* (2009).[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-springfield-p5504) He returned to *General Hospital* in December 2005 as a cast member and became a recurring guest star in 2007.[2](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-springfield-still-rocks/)
His acting work extended into film and prestige television: he appeared in [Dave Grohl](https://www.edgepedia.org/dave-grohl)'s *Sound City* documentary, co-wrote the song "The Man That Never Was" with Grohl, played a therapist in HBO's *True Detective*, and starred opposite [Meryl Streep](https://www.edgepedia.org/meryl-streep) in *Ricki and the Flash* (2015) as Greg, a musician love interest whose part was written by [Diablo Cody](https://www.edgepedia.org/diablo-cody) as the film's good guy.[15](https://www.svrmusic.com/rickspringfield) • [6](https://manuals.plus/m/3b213c94ed2666a798da57cc748f454dbd736067bfcb098314dd677412b07f4b.pdf) • [16](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-21/rick-springfield-on-acting-wanting-to-be-rock-star-depression/6709612) In 2020 he recorded "Jessie's Girl 2" with Coheed and Cambria, a horror-comedy sequel song in which the protagonist wins the girl and discovers she is mentally unstable.[10](https://www.forbes.com/sites/derekscancarelli/2020/09/02/rick-springfield-and-coheed-and-cambria-explain-horror-comedy-jessies-girl-sequel/)
His most recent album is *Automatic* (2023), and the retrospective *Big Hits: Rick Springfield's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2* covers his output from *Karma* (1999) onward, including the new single "Lose Myself."[3](https://rickspringfield.com/) He continues to tour extensively, with solo acoustic shows and full-band dates scheduled into late 2026 and 2027, and critics reviewing 40 concerts rate him an impressive live performer whose shows typically run about an hour and a half.[3](https://rickspringfield.com/) • [17](https://www.liverate.com/artists/rick-springfield)
## Musician first
Springfield has consistently described himself as a musician who acts, not an actor who turned to music; he picked up his first guitar in his native Australia as a boy and has said that acting and songwriting come from the same place in him even though they are different skill sets.[15](https://www.svrmusic.com/rickspringfield) • [11](https://www.ernieball.com/stringtheory/rick-springfield) He has also spoken publicly about living with depression, discussing it in a 2015 interview around the release of *Ricki and the Flash*.[16](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-21/rick-springfield-on-acting-wanting-to-be-rock-star-depression/6709612)
## References
1. [Rick Springfield – Biography, Discography & Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-springfield-p5504)
2. [Rick Springfield Still Rocks, CBS News (2008)](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-springfield-still-rocks/)
3. [Rick Springfield Official Website](https://rickspringfield.com/)
4. [Rick Springfield – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0819782/bio/)
5. [Classic Tracks: "Jessie's Girl," Mix Magazine (2013)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2013-06.pdf)
6. [Rick Springfield Hot 100 history, Billboard via archived magazine excerpt](https://manuals.plus/m/3b213c94ed2666a798da57cc748f454dbd736067bfcb098314dd677412b07f4b.pdf)
7. [Rick Springfield Biography, RLS official biography page](https://www.rickspringfield.us/library/biography.html)
8. [Songwriter of the Month: Rick Springfield, Beat Instrumental (1972)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Beat-Instrumental/Beat-Instrumental-1972-12-S-OCR.pdf)
9. [Behind Rick Springfield's 1981 hit "Jessie's Girl," GuitarPlayer](https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitarists/rick-springfield-on-jessies-girl-neil-giraldo-and-les-pauls)
10. [Rick Springfield and Coheed and Cambria Explain Horror-Comedy "Jessie's Girl" Sequel, Forbes (2020)](https://www.forbes.com/sites/derekscancarelli/2020/09/02/rick-springfield-and-coheed-and-cambria-explain-horror-comedy-jessies-girl-sequel/)
11. [Rick Springfield String Theory, Ernie Ball](https://www.ernieball.com/stringtheory/rick-springfield)
12. [Rick Springfield Tickets, Ticketmaster artist background](https://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/736178)
13. [Rick Springfield (1997) interview, MelodicRock.com](https://www.melodicrock.com/articles/interviews/2023/02/07/rick-springfield-1997)
14. [Judas Priest, Rick Springfield, John Oates and Bob Geldof reflect on 40 years of Live Aid, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/ceb42fcd7a65609bde3517272b47cdb6)
15. [Rick Springfield Biography, SVR Music](https://www.svrmusic.com/rickspringfield)
16. [Rick Springfield: On learning the craft of acting, wanting to be a rock star and living with depression, ABC News (2015)](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-21/rick-springfield-on-acting-wanting-to-be-rock-star-depression/6709612)
17. [Rick Springfield – Live Tour & Concert Review Consensus, LiveRate](https://www.liverate.com/artists/rick-springfield)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical practice and theory › Popular music genres › Rock performers, groups, and musicians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license