Film Story
On the way to and from daycare, Sophia would often sing along to the various Rick Springfield songs blasting from the car’s CD player. She really enjoyed his music and so for her 6th birthday, Sophia’s mom decided to gift her with a ticket to one of his local summer concerts which happened to fall close to her big day. (The concert was on July 10, 2011; she would turn 6 years old three days later.) As the concert date approached, her mother found out that there would be a book signing earlier that very same day and decided to try and make that event as well. As they prepared to head out to the book signing that day, Sophia’s mom told her to choose something for Rick Springfield to sign. Sophia gathered some pictures from her performances at the daycare and with the Drama Club. Sophia’s mom asked her daughter why she was packing pictures of herself and encouraged her to take a Rick Springfield CD cover for him to sign instead. But Sophia responded, “I want him to see me singing. I wanna tell him that I wanna be a rock star too.” Not knowing exactly how to respond, she just let Sophia bring what the little girl had gathered.
Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined how events would transpire that day. As Sophia approached Rick Springfield at the Book Signing Event she handed him her pictures. Rick Springfield kindly took the pile of pictures and stated, “Oh my gosh, you sing?” So her mother proceeded to tell the singer that it was Sophia’s birthday and that she wanted to be a rock star someday. Rick Springfield was kind and generous with his time. He picked Sophia up and put her on his laps. He then wished Sophia a happy birthday and let the mother take a few pictures and some video footage of them together. Rick Springfield then asked whether Sophia would be attending the concert later that night. She confirmed that Sophia would be there to which he responded, “I will see you at the show tonight.”
The show was held at the New Jersey State Theater in New Brunswick, NJ. At the show, Rick Springfield spotted Sophia in the crowd pretty early on. Later as his song “Don’t Talk to Strangers” began he pointed to Sophia and invited her along with a few other children to join him on stage. Recalling Sophia’s ambition to sing and the photos he had seen earlier that day, Rick Springfield asked Sophia “When was the last time you sang in front of this many people?” Sophia looked out into the crowd of the packed theater and shrugged her shoulders with wide-eyes and in disbelief. Rick Springfield lined the children up, placing Sophia at his side as indeed she was the youngest child on stage that night. She was just 5 years old.
As part of his show, Rick Springfield has the children sing a verse from his famous song, ‘Don’t Talk to Strangers.’ Each child gets a turn, and eventually Sophia had her moment. She sang: “Don’t Talk to Strangers, baby Don’t you Talk…!” As Sophia exited the Stage, Mr. Springfield kissed her hand … a moment that she will never forget. Indeed, Mr. Springfield gave the little ambitious girl a moment in his spotlight to fulfill her young dream of singing on stage like a ‘rock star.’ For that, Sophia and her mother will always be grateful to him.
