At the age of 20, a relatively unknown actor and musician named David Cassidy was introduced to the world with the debut of the "Partridge Family" TV show in 1970. By the time he turned 21, Cassidy was the world's highest paid performer with an official fan club membership exceeding those of Elvis and the Beatles.

Sold-out concerts, seven No. 1 singles, record sales surpassing 25 million copies - Cassidy was as big as big gets. Then, of course, came the fall. By the end of the 1970s, his career was flatlining. But now, 30 years after he was first catapulted into the spotlight, Cassidy is reclaiming his throne. Last May, he struck gold (well, platinum) with the release of his newest album, Then and Now, which surprised just about everyone by shooting to No. 5 in the U.K. and moving over a million copies.

That success, of course, opened the door for Cassidy to return to his first love - international concert touring. "I've had the most fun I've ever had in my life. Truly, it's the most fun I've ever had in my life," Cassidy gushes during a recent Fly Magazine interview. "There's such a sense of celebration about it, not just from me, but from everyone, everyone that's been a part of it. I've gone back to Australia for the first time in 25 years. I went down to the U.K. for the first time in a decade, and played all over the United States. I'm going up to Canada the night after I'm in Lancaster - So, there's a lot for me. It's so great to be able to feel that what you've done has been appreciated and that you appreciate how much of a positive impact it's had on people."

Cassidy spent the past decade performing in Las Vegas and on Broadway, captive to a grueling schedule that included up to 10 shows a week for 48 to 50 weeks of the year. "When you get to working in that kind of a schedule, you can't get sick, you can't sprain your wrist, you can't miss a day, you can't miss a night," he says. But his dedication paid off, and, with the help of the made-for-TV movie, "The David Cassidy Story" (2000) and a VH-1 "Behind the Music" special, Cassidy built up enough of a buzz that Universal Records came knocking.

"I went into the studio and recorded in the same studio where I originally recorded all the songs," he explains. "And with the same musicians flown in from all over, same room, same vocal booth, same microphone 25 years later, recorded Then and Now, which has become quite a successful CD. It really shaped what the tour was going to be about. For me I hadn't been playing those songs in a decade, and some of them for 25 years."

Now he's back on the road, reunited with his fans. And while he's outgrown the teen idol category, not much else seems to have changed. "People ask me, 'What's the difference between then and now?' My response has been pretty much, 'Well, instead of throwing love beads, they throw their jeans and underwear and bras up at me on stage.' And their voices have dropped an octave. That's about it," he laughs. "It's a lot more interesting than love beads. It's a lot more fun. And again, it's a very interactive performance, because I don't have any patter. I don't have any set patter. I come out every night and I just, from my heart, talk to the audience. I guess in a way I'm kind of a throwback to the entertainer. I like to make people laugh, I like to make them scream and shout and sing and have a ball. That's what it is for me."

Despite his recent success on the charts, 52-year-old Cassidy seems to be maintaining a healthy perspective on his level of fame. Rather than trying to reignite the blaze of media attention that followed him in the 1970s, he is taking it all in stride with the ambivalence that a 30-year career affords you. "I can't have that kind of fame again. You can only be new and 19, 20 years old once in your life. That kind of fame will never be there for me again," Cassidy reasons. "The kind of fame I have now - the kind of fame I much prefer now - is not about my hair or my looks or whatever it is. It's about the work I do, it's the work I've done, and what I continue to do."

While he was elusive about future plans, Cassidy did confirm that he'll remain on the road for at least the next several months. His critically acclaimed live show promises to satisfy that nostalgic sweet tooth in all of us. "It's all my hits and all the 'Partridge Family' hits and their early stuff as well. More than anything, Jeff, it's really a celebration of the whole music era, time, the essence of the impact I had and the music had on the fans, and how it impacted me," he says. "I love the stuff. They're great songs. And because I haven't been out slogging them night after night after night, year after year after year - 10 years since I've played some of them - they're fresh, and it's an exciting thing to do. And to have fans that are so appreciative is an incredible gift."