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The song topped hits that year by The Beatles, James Taylor and Stevie Wonder, to name just a few.
Singing lead on that song - and most of The Partridge Family hits - was David Cassidy, who went from 1970s teen idol to the highest-paid performer in the world at age 21 to Las Vegas superstar in the 1990s.
Cassidy will open the 2006-07 Bradford Creative and Performing Arts Center season with a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Bromeley Family Theater in Blaisdell Hall on the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford campus.
"The show will be a celebration," Cassidy said in a telephone interview. "And, yes, tell everyone I will be singing a lot of the old Partridge Family hits."
Some of those chart-toppers include "Doesn't Somebody Want to be Wanted" and "I Woke up in Love This Morning," songs taken from the popular 1970s TV series "The Partridge Family" that featured Cassidy and actress/singer Shirley Jones - who was also his stepmother.
"I believe the reason so many people remember those old songs is that they had great melodies and hooks," Cassidy said.
Another reason for the longevity of those pop songs was Cassidy's vocals. He was one teen idol who could actually sing. He'll be doing a lot of that Saturday while accompanying himself on both acoustic and electric guitar.
"I also have a great band of accomplished musicians backing me up," he said. Some of them worked with Cassidy when he starred in three popular Vegas shows in the last decade - "EFX," "The Rat Pack is Back" and "At the Copa."
Now 55, the former heartthrob now lives in South Florida with his wife and their 14-year-old son, Beau. He also breeds and races thoroughbreds but said nothing would keep him from what he loves to do most - play and sing music.
"Every few years, I go back on tour and re-discover those old songs," he said.
His upcoming performance will be the first time in 15 years that he's done a concert tour. After The Partridge Family ended in 1974, Cassidy went out on his own, scoring hits with covers of "Cherish" and "Breaking up is Hard to Do." At one time, his fan club had more members than did the fan clubs of either Elvis or The Beatles. To date, he's sold more than 35 million records.
Cassidy started out as an actor, appearing on TV shows in the late 1960s like "Bonanza" and "Marcus Welby." It was through his acting that he was suggested for the role of Keith Partridge, the eldest brother on the popular TV comedy. When producers discovered he could sing, Cassidy was on his way - around the world and into the hearts of millions of fans.
Singing was always a passion, he says. "Although my musical training came as a result of my acting, I was always in garage bands as a kid and was always the one who got to sing the solos in my high school choir."
In the 1990s, he starred on Broadway in the original production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," and also in the musical "Blood Brothers."
His stint in "EFX" at the Las Vegas MGM Grand in the 1990s became the most successful production in that city, and the hotel acknowledged Cassidy was responsible for bringing in 1 million people to see the show.
He says he loves singing the old songs, but his own musical tastes as a youth were much edgier - Jimi Hendrix and the blues, for instance.
"John Lennon was my inspiration. I got to know him quite well. In fact, I spent New Year's Eve 1974 with John and his wife, Yoko Ono, singing and playing old Beatles songs."
His current tour will eventually take him to the United Kingdom where he'll appear with the Osmond Brothers and David Essex. But for now, he's excited about coming to the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford campus.
"Nothing makes me happier than singing and playing my music," he said. "So tell everyone to come to the show. We'll rock out."
Tickets can still be purchased by calling the BCPAC office or online through the BCPAC Web site.
