How General Hospital Shaped Jack Wagner’s Music Career

General Hospital’s resident singer-turned-spy chief, Frisco Jones, had also launched Jack Wagner into a career as a pop singer. While having two careers could be daunting, it was the soap star moniker that proved tough to overcome.

Difficulty Being Taken Seriously As A Singer

Jack Wagner’s GH character, Frisco Jones, has been beloved by fans since he debuted in 1984. Although he hasn’t been seen on the show since 2013 — only talked about in the past couple of years — fans still have his music to listen to. Starting with his song, All I Need, which he played on the show and would go on to become a top 10 hit, Wagner would ultimately release a total of six albums from 1984 to 2014.

What began as a storyline in which he started off as the lead singer for Blackie Parrish’s (John Stamos) band Blackie and the Riff Raff, launched Wagoner into a second career as a musician. But juggling both the acting and the singing was not difficult for him. What was difficult was the fact that he was a soap star, which had an impact on his musical designs.

Wagner recently spoke to People and explained, “I would sell concerts out in an hour or two.” He also detailed what he had to deal with early in his career, remarking, “I used to battle it because it was so hard for me being in the music business and coming from a soap to be taken legitimately as a singing artist.” But after some perseverance, he prevailed, revealing, “It took time to let go of that, but now I embrace it. If I can make someone’s day by going down memory lane, it makes my day.” Certainly, many fans not only have fond memories of his first three albums but also listen to them to this day.

GH’s Stratospheric Popularity was All He Needed

Wagner also marveled at the amazing state GH was in at the time, saying, “It really was incredible how popular the show was in the ’80s. It’s just unbelievable to be a part of it…to kind of launch with that show.” He also noted that he would get tons of fan letters in the mail, and viewers often joined fan clubs long before Internet groups and email took over that aspect of fandom.

“I took it in stride because it was just sort of the things [that] happened to Tony Geary [Luke Spencer], Rick Springfield [Noah Drake], and John Stamos, who were ‘teen idols,’ I guess you would call us, back then,” he exuberantly explained. Wagner can be seen lately on Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart, and while we await a hopeful return to GH one day, we still have his wonderful music albums.

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