PARTED FAMILY

SEVENTIES pop star David Cassidy has fallen out with his teenage daughter...after she launched her own singing career.

Cassidy, 53 - star of TV's The Partridge Family - is refusing to speak to daughter Katie, 17, after she told him she wanted to be a hit in her own right.

"My dad and I haven't spoken for a year-and-a-half," she said. "When I did last speak to him, he didn't approve of my singing and he was trying to encourage me to get away from the business."

She added: "If it's jealousy, that's ridiculous - I'm going for an audience my age and most people my age haven't heard of my dad."

Katie's mother, Sherry Benedon, is a former model who enjoyed an on-off relationship with Cassidy during the 70s and 80s.

Katie lives with her mother and stepfather Richard in Los Angeles, a few hours' drive from Cassidy's mansion in Las Vegas. But David has rarely said anything publicly about his daughter. He has made no mention of her in recent interviews, including a five-page "at home" feature for Hello! magazine to promote his latest album, A Touch Of Blue. Nor is she mentioned on his website.

Katie's debut album is being released next spring, and she is also making inroads on the modelling front, having been named as the new face of the clothing company Rock And Republic.

Both she and her father are due to tour the UK early next year. Katie said: "I know my dad's going to be in the UK at around the same time, but I don't base my career on what he's doing. It does upset me that my father won't acknowledge me. But if he did, it probably wouldn't be positive. If he doesn't want to say anything about me, that's fine, I don't really care. Part of me wants success so I can say, 'I did it without you'."

A spokesman for Cassidy said: "David wishes Katie all the best in everything she does."

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