He’s been a hitmaking musician and a hot TV actor. Now Rick Springfield knows what it’s like to be a best-selling author.

Springfield’s autobiography, “Late Late at Night,” came out in October and appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List. It also surprised fans with its frank account of his life, particularly bouts with depression and insecurity that led to thoughts of suicide.

“I was very honest in the book; certainly there was no image-polishing at all,” says Springfield, 61, who was Rick Springthorpe in Australia and is best known for hits such as “Jessie’s Girl” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” and for his roles in the shows “General Hospital” and “Californication.” “It wasn’t hard writing it because I was in the throes of writing and not really aware it was actually going to be read.”

He laughs and adds that, “Once it was finished and they started talking about a publishing date, then I started getting very nervous. I actually said at one point, ‘I don’t want it released,’ but (the publisher) talked me out of it.”

With the book out, Springfield is starting to work on future chapters of his life. He’d like to do more prose writing and is shopping a script for a proposed new TV show to cable networks, though he says it’s “too early” to talk about its premise. Meanwhile, he’s “struggling to write” his next album, the follow-up to 2008’s “Venus in Overdrive,” which is in its formative stages.

“It’s a lot of different stuff right now,” Springfield says. “There’s some harder stuff, some poppier stuff ... kind of a mixed bag at the moment. I may focus a little better when it gets closer, but I want to keep writing because it’s important for me to keep adding new songs and writing new things to play in the shows.”



Rick Springfield performs at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, at Sound Board in the MotorCity Casino-Hotel, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit. Tickets are $61.45, $56.35 and $51.75. Call 313-237-7711 or visit www.motorcitycasino.com. Springfield will sign copies of his autobiography, "Late, Late at Night," at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Barnes & Noble, 3120 Fairlane Drive, Allen Park. Call 313-271-0688.