Rick Springfield

Best known for his 1981 hit "Jessie's Girl," Australian-born singer/songwriter Rick Springfield got his start as a solo artist in the early 1970s when he relocated to the United States. He released his debut album Beginnings, for which he provided all the lyrics, songwriting, lead vocals, guitar, keyboard and bandjo, in 1972 to immediate acclaim. His acting career is perhaps best defined by his soap star status on General Hospital, a stint that lasted from 1981 to 1983 and kicked off the most notable decade of his career. His 1981 album, Working Class Dog, featured the Grammy Award-winning song "Jessie's Girl," which became an instant classic, catapulting Springfield onto the world stage. After a series of another six successful studio albums released throughout the 1980s, he took a hiatus from recording, focused on a side project and finally returned to his solo career in 1999 with Karma. Though he never regained the level of celebrity he earned in previous years, Springfield returned as a recurring guest star on General Hospital in 2005 and continues to release new material as a solo recording artist, ultimately reviving bit of the fame around his name.