ROCK DOC

General Hospital is good medicine for Rick Springfield's career

While sighing over Dr. Noah Drake's bedside manner, General Hospital's college-aged viewers may be reminded of a rock star they once mooned over. It's not such a sophomoric idea: Rick Springfield, singer-songwriter-turned-actor, is too handsome to forget. "I know there's some risk in what I'm doing. But I decided that accepting the role of Dr. Drake would be a good career move," says Springfield, 31, who once felt that his teen-idol image hurt his rock 'n' roll success. But with a hit single, "Jessie's Girl," Working Class Dog, Springfield now believes that his duel career hit all the right chords. "So far, the reaction has been good," he says. "It's been worth the risk."

Springfield learned to handle risks when he was quite young. An Australian army brat, Springfield moved from base to base with his family. The hardest move was to England. "I wasn't only the new kid, but also a foreigner. They treated me like - well, I'd rather not say. But the music scene was growing there. That's when I first got involved in it."

After some rocky years in England, Springfield returned to Australia. At 16, kicked out of school because of his long hair, he joined a "hard-core" band and played guitar. His skills soon got him into Rock House, a show band. The group toured a real hot spot - army bases in Vietnam. "In the heat of fighting, we played 'fire bases'; I lived in tents by the DMZ - the whole bit," recalls Springfield. "It was like a bad movie. Even the pay was rotten. Whatever money we did get, we'd end up blowing on liquor or other types of enjoyment."

He came closer to the comforts of success with The Zoot. When the group split up, Capitol Records wooed Springfield away from his homeland - and his lover.

"Leaving Australia was very painful," he admits. Rather than go directly to America, he cut his first album in London. A single climbed the charts, but the young Aussie found it hard to make it in the US. Visa problems kept him out of the limelight and the publicity he did receive became a curse. Pegged as the "new pretty boy of pop," he lost a lot of beyond-bubblegum listeners. His second album never found an audience and Capitol sold Springfield to Columbia Records. "Once again, I was pushed as teen idol material," he says. He canceled his contract. "Probably the most difficult thing I had ever done," he recalls.

Yet it marked a career turning point. "I need some way to express myself, and musically, my hands were tied," says Springfield. He decided to follow his brother into acting.

"It's much scarier to be in front of a camera than a screaming audience," he says. "Acting has helped me grow. I'm a better rock performer because of it."

It took two years to untangle the litigation so he could record again, this time for Chelsea Records. The well-received album had a hit single and Springfield was ready to pack for a national tour when word came that Chelsea had gone under.

Springfield bent but didn't crack. "Everything came to a standstill. Acting let me pay the rent, but it was difficult to watch that album die."

"What I'm doing now is really the beginning. I'm working at two things I enjoy - music and the soap. I'm a very career-oriented person, all in all I'm happy with my life. Music has always been my first priority, but I've learned to love acting. Basically, they're both forms of getting the devil out." The Devil and Dr. Drake - it might be a spinoff of General Hospital.