iSound

Rick Springfield was born Richard Lewis Springthorpe on August 23, 1949. The Australian-born Springfield first rose to musical fame at home in Oz, with the pop band Zoot. The band, which also included founding Little River Band member Beeb Birtles, was successful with teenybopper pop before recruiting Springfield in 1969. Under his direction, the band turned toward harder, more serious music, scoring a big hit with a heavy-metal rendition of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” By the time the band split and Springfield left Australia in his early twenties, he’d already been named top guitarist in the nation twice, top songwriter once, and represented Australia at the World Music Festival in Tokyo. Springfield’s first solo release, “Speak to the Sky,” was a top ten single in Australia and, in 1972, reached #14 on the U.S. Billboard charts. After that one hit, however, a series of problems with record companies and promotions temporarily stalled Springfield’s musical progress. After ...