Editing Ed Cassidy (section)

==Biography==
Cassidy was born in [[Harvey, Illinois]], a south suburb of [[Chicago]] on May 4, 1923. His family moved to [[Bakersfield]], California in 1931. Cassidy began his career as a professional musician in 1937. He served in the [[U.S. Navy]] during World War II, and after his discharge held many jobs before becoming a full-time musician again. At one time in the late 1940s, Cassidy played 282 consecutive one-nighters in 17 states. He worked in show bands, [[Dixieland]], and [[country and western]] bands, and on film soundtracks, as well as having a brief stint with the [[San Francisco Opera]].

In 1950, Cassidy enrolled at college to get a musical teaching credential. However, after a year, he decided to move to [[Southern California]] to meet more jazz musicians and perhaps form a group of his own. During this period, Cassidy performed together with many leading jazz musicians including [[Art Pepper]], [[Cannonball Adderley]], [[Roland Kirk]], [[Lee Konitz]] and [[Gerry Mulligan]].

With [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]] and [[Ry Cooder]], Cassidy formed the [[Rising Sons]]<ref>{{cite web|title =Rising Sons: Biography |first=Richie|last=Unterberger |publisher=Allmusic| url ={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=rising-sons-p20194|pure_url=yes}} |access-date =18 July 2011}}</ref> in 1964.  After that, he formed the Red Roosters in 1965, with his fourteen year-old stepson [[Randy California]], [[Jay Ferguson (American musician)|Jay Ferguson]] and [[Mark Andes]]. Adding [[John Locke (musician)|John Locke]], they became [[Spirit (band)|Spirit]] in 1967. Cassidy sported a shaved head, which was unusual at that time,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pollstar |url=https://www.pollstar.com/news_article.aspx?ID=803643 |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=www.pollstar.com}}</ref> and he always wore black. He used a single bass drum, and two large parade bass drums as floor toms. Because California stepped out of the group for a period of time in 1972, following the death of [[Jimi Hendrix]], Cassidy was the only member who played with all various line-ups of Spirit on almost 20 albums over almost 30 years. Spirit finally disbanded following California's death in 1997. Cassidy later performed with [[Merrell Fankhauser]] in the Fankhauser Cassidy Band.<ref name="santamaria">{{Cite web |last=Hodgson |first=Mike |date=2012-12-08 |title=Ed Cassidy, of Spirit fame, dead at 89 |url=https://santamariatimes.com/news/local/ed-cassidy-of-spirit-fame-dead-at-89/article_21973866-4101-11e2-afba-0019bb2963f4.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Santa Maria Times |language=en}}</ref>

From the mid-1970s, Cassidy also worked as an actor, including live improvisation.