After a four-year absence from the music scene, Rick put everything he had into this new album, spending every opportunity in the recording studio, and even playing most of the instruments himself. But when the album was finished, RCA was dragging their feet with its release, so when another acting opportunity presented itself Rick decided to take the job.

"I started to tell my friends, 'yeah I just read for this part on this show called General Hospital...I don't think I want to do a soap opera.' And they said 'you're kidding, that's a great show. It's like the number one show.' So I started to look into it because I did not know...what it would do for me musically...And then they started to say 'well it's like the number one show and it's big in colleges. It's like a cult through the colleges...You ought to look into it.' So I looked into it and took a gamble and decided to do it."

Within days of starting his new role of Dr. Noah Drake on the number one rated daytime drama, General Hospital, RCA released Jessie's Girl from Rick's album Working Class Dog.

In the midst of soft pop songs by Christopher Cross and Air Supply, Rick's guitar driven tune about a girl he couldn't have was making its way into heavy radio rotation. But when it was discovered that this rocker was also an actor on a soap opera, some stations didn't take him seriously and pulled the plug.

"I liked it [the album] a lot. I thought it had something different but I thought it was too hard. More than once I heard, 'what are you bringing a rock album out for now?' And I started to think, 'oh jeez is my timing really that far off?'"

Well Rick's timing turned out to be perfect, not only did Jessie's Girl spend 22 weeks on the Billboard Top 40 topping off at number 1, but Rick was also being noticed as an actor as well. In order to maintain his success on both levels, Rick worked non-stop. He would tape General Hospital 3 or 4 days a week, record his next album at night, and tour on the weekends.

Rick's efforts were rewarded as Working Class Dog spent more weeks on the charts than any other album in 1981. And in February 1982 Rick would be handed a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for Jessie's Girl.

"My mom is sitting out there in the audience somewhere. This is for you."

Not missing a beat, Rick's next album, Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet, was released in the following month and it had the same guitar driven formula as Working Class Dog. And would prove to be just as popular spawning the hit Don't Talk To Strangers which peaked at number 2.

After a year and a half of working seven days a week, it was no surprise that Rick would choose not to renew his contract with General Hospital and to devote all of his time to his music. This allowed him to take an active role in the production of his next album, Living in Oz. An album that would prove Rick was not a flash in the pan and was praised by critics everywhere for its combination of heavy guitar and synthesizer sounds, that was unlike anything else on the radio.

Not only did the music take a new direction but so did the lyrics, as Rick tackled different types of subject matter such as that in the song Souls.

"Obviously it's autobiographical. It's a thing that I believe, I think I believe in reincarnation at the moment, the jury is still out on that...I think that the same souls travel with the same souls through the different lives. 'Cause I've met people that I've just known before and I've felt that. And this is a story of one of them."

As Rick's star was rising higher than ever, people decided to take advantage of the situation. First RCA obtained the rights and re-released two of Rick's previous albums, Beginnings and Wait For Night. Then a person Rick had previously been associated with decided to cash in as well by gathering a group of recordings he had done in 1978 and releasing them on an album called Beautiful Feelings. The album did produce the top 40 single Bruce although Rick had recorded it solely as a joke and never intended for it to be released on an album.

Next Rick would choose to combine both his acting and his music by starring in the feature film Hard to Hold where he would play what else...a rock star. Although the picture did not score well at the box office, the soundtrack did, going platinum and producing 3 more Top 40 hits for Rick including Love Somebody, which reached #5.

"I think it was more an ego choice than anything. I thought at that point, oh I can make anything work...It was probably not the wisest choice for me for a movie. But I've always been a bit of a whore with my acting, to be honest, but never musically."

As with the previous 3 albums, Rick followed with a tour. And then it was right back into the studio to record another album.

With Rick's next release, Tao, he would once again change his musical style and sing about more serious matters than just about how to talk to girls. With songs like Celebrate Youth and Dance This World Away, Rick seemed to plead with people to take a look at their lives and the world around them without coming off as preachy. And its sophisticated danceable sound was unlike any other on the radio and made people sit up and take notice.

Rick would go a step further with his tour to promote Tao by incorporating video within the hi-tech stage performance. That concept would expand into the home video recording of the concert, Beat of the Live Drum.