104.3, broadcasting from Radio Free Elsewhere. Your glitch in the airwaves.
The Elsewhere GazetteExtra
Rick Springfield
Musician and actor (born 1949)
Richard Lewis Springthorpe, known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut single, "Speak to the Sky", which reached the top 10 in Australia in mid-1972.
When he moved to the United States, he had a No. 1 hit with "Jessie's Girl" in 1981 in both Australia and the US, for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. He followed with four more top 10 US hits: "I've Done Everything for You", "Don't Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart" and "Love Somebody".
Springfield's two US top 10 albums are Working Class Dog (1981) and Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982).
Rick Springfield was born Richard Lewis Springthorpe on 23 August 1949 in Guildford, a western suburb of Sydney. He is the son of Eileen Louise (Evennett) and Norman James Springthorpe, an Australian Army career officer. His maternal grandparents were English. When he was young, he lived at the army camp with his family in Broadmeadows, Victoria, Australia. Springfield attended Ashwood High School in Melbourne during the 1960s. At 14, he saw the Beatles perform at Festival Hall in Melbourne.
Australian musician, singer-songwriter, and actor.
Born 23 August 1949 in South Wentworthville, New South Wales, Australia.
He was in the Australian band Zoot (2) from 1969 to 1971.
Also known as: R Springfield, R. S., R. Sprinfield, R. Springfield, R. Sprningfield
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Rick Springfield, the records, oldest first
Beginnings
1972 album
Mission Magic
1974 album
Comic Book Heroes
1974 album
Wait for Night
1976 album
Working Class Dog
1980 album
wanted
Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet
1982 album
Living in Oz
1983 album
Beautiful Feelings
1984 album
Tao
1985 album
Rock of Life
1988 album
Karma
1998 album
Backtracks
1999 album
Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance
2004 album
The Day After Yesterday
2005 album
Christmas With You
2007 album
Venus in Overdrive
2008 album
My Precious Little One
2009 album
Songs for the End of the World
2012 album
Rocket Science
2016 album
The Snake King
2018 album
Orchestrating My Life
2019 album
Springfield - The Lost Album
2023 album
Automatic
2023 album
Missing Shots [Unreleased]
year unknown album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"Jessie's Girl" is a song written and performed by Australian singer Rick Springfield. It was released on the album Working Class Dog, which was released on January 30, 1981.
The song is about unrequited love of a young man for his good friend's girlfriend.
Background
In the late 1970s, Rick Springfield took a stained glass class in Pasadena. Also in the class was a man named Gary as well as Gary's girlfriend. Springfield became friends with both, while developing feelings for the girlfriend. He wrote the song based on the negative feelings he had about the situation. Springfield initially wanted to use the actual name of his friend, but decided to go with a different name as "Gary" didn't sound good when being sung. He chose "Jessie" because he was wearing a T-shirt with the name of football player Ron Jessie on it.
In popular culture
In regards to the song's use in films such as Boogie Nights and 13 Going on 30 over 20 years after its original release, Springfield said, "I'm thrilled by it. As a writer, all you can ask is that a song has legs. It has an appeal that keeps coming back."
