Shaun Cassidy ‘Had to Relearn Songs’ for First Tour in 45 Years (Exclusive)

Back in the ’70s, Shaun Cassidy was on TV shows, on arena stages performing hit songs like “Do You Believe in Magic” and “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and on posters in seemingly every teenage girl’s bedroom. Then, he disappeared. 

The spotlight, the former teen idol says, was never for him, despite hailing from a very famous family: his mom is Oscar-winning actress Shirley Jones, 91; his dad is Tony-winning actor Jack Cassidy, who died in an apartment fire in 1976; and his half-brother is fellow teen idol David of The Partridge Family fame, who died in 2017 of liver failure.

“I’ve never enjoyed being a public figure. I don’t like all the attention. I’m basically an introvert. I don’t really like being famous,” he tells PEOPLE exclusively. “But the only thing more ridiculous than being famous is being formerly famous, because you’re still famous, but a lot of people don’t necessarily know why anymore. And if it were up to me, I’d prefer neither of those things.”

Although he stood in front of the camera in the late ‘70s sleuth series, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, and in a bevy of other shows, Cassidy was always more comfortable behind the camera, as he went on to create, write or produce TV shows, including New Amsterdam and Roar, America’s introduction to Heath Ledger. 

Now 66, the stage is calling him again as he prepares for his first arena tour since 1980. The Road to Us Tour, which kicks off on Sept. 13 at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, will encompass his entire career and feature songs, including new music and stories from his life. It’s the longest tour he’s ever embarked upon.

“For years, I was like, I don’t want to [tour] because I’ll just be trying to replicate some version of myself at 20, which I always thought would be embarrassing and why try?” he said, “But I discovered, and the audience told me this, that I didn’t need to do that because I had actually all these other cards I could play. Now I’m a storyteller.”

Of course, preparing for the tour has its challenges, especially since Cassidy is having to relearn his own songs, having not performed them in four decades. 

“I literally had to take guitar lessons. I hadn’t played guitar in so long,” he said. “I had to relearn songs I had written. I didn’t know how to play them.”

On the tour, Cassidy will be playing bass, not guitar, which is new for him. The way he sees it, the songs are new to him, too.

“Because I haven’t been singing them for 40 years, they’re not dead to me. They feel new, and I’m only singing the songs I really liked back then that feel appropriate to me singing now,” he said. “I can sing better than I sang when I was 20 because I haven’t been singing. I think I didn’t burn my voice out for 40 years.”

Of course, “Da Doo Ron Ron,” the first single released from his debut solo album in 1976, will be in the mix of the 50-city tour. Ironically, Cassidy didn’t necessarily want that song, which netted him a Grammy nomination and a No. 1 song, to be his introduction to the music world.

“I liked the song. It was my idea to record it,” he said, “but that wasn’t the song I wanted to be the first single off my album. I didn’t get a vote, and I guess they were right. It went to number one. It was a big record, but there were like three or four other songs I would’ve preferred or chosen. And by the way, that’s been the case with every record I’ve made.”

The fact that Cassidy’s musical journey is very different isn’t lost on him. 

“It’s a weird resume. I don’t know anybody else that plays the Houston Astrodome for 55,000 people, says, ‘Goodnight and see you soon,’ and then doesn’t show up again for 40 years, but that’s kind of what I did,” he said. “I think I’m the luckiest person in the world that I can do that.”

Tickets for The Road to Us Tour can be found on his website.