Rick Springfield Says He 'Feels Like I'm in My 20s' as He Celebrates 75th Birthday (Exclusive)

The "Jessie's Girl" singer chats with PEOPLE about turning 75, his dislike for birthday cake and why he doesn't think wisdom comes with age

Rick Springfield will forever be young at heart.

Ahead of his 75th birthday on Aug. 23, the "Jessie's Girl" singer told PEOPLE the milestone feels like a "bit of a shock."

"It makes you understand your age," he says. "I still feel like I'm in my 20s in my head, and then you see people dying from old age disease and you go, 'Wow, I'm the same age as old people.'"

For his milestone birthday, Springfield doesn't want to blow out candles on a cake — he'd rather an apple pie.

"I don't like birthday cakes," he says. "I like apple pie, so my wife usually makes apple pie and sticks some candles on it. I don't know how you can fit 75 candles on an apple pie, so maybe we'll do the number 75."

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Along with his dessert of choice, Springfield — who has been married to his wife Barbara Porter for 40 years — will celebrate his birthday onstage. He and Richard Marx have a tour stop in Catoosa, Oklahoma, that night.

"I'll have a couple of thousand people sing 'Happy Birthday' to me, which is always fun," he says. "I love what I do, and I have a lot of gratitude. I could be playing 'Jessie's Girl' in a Holiday Inn and saying, 'Tip your waitresses folks, I'll be right back with another '80s hit.' So I'm very thankful, and I'm grateful to the fans that are still interested, and I'm doing my best. I think I have the best band I've ever had, and I only want it to get better. If it starts to feel like I'm doing it just because, then I won't."

For Springfield, getting to play his music onstage still hasn't gotten old.

"I mean, the travel gets old," he says. "I get paid to travel. I don't get paid to play. These people are reacting to songs you've written, and it's very meaningful to a songwriter to hear that reaction 40 years after the song was written. It's pretty amazing. I'm very grateful. I have a lot of gratitude for where I am."

Springfield kicked off his birthday celebrations in Las Vegas on Aug. 17. At a pool party, he served up his "Jessie's Girl" cocktail with his and Sammy Hagar's Beach Bar Rum.

"He's a great guy," Springfield says of Hagar. "He's just really down to earth and loves to have fun and has a great gift of the gab. I always feel good when I'm around him. There's no pretense, no bulls---. When you've been in the business as long as we have, I think you understand that you're not something special. You just got on your path and did the work."

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They might say wisdom comes with age, but Springfield calls that "bulls---."

"Wisdom comes with digging and looking at yourself," he says. "It doesn't automatically come."

As he's gotten older, though, Springfield says he's increasingly learned the importance of making yourself "vulnerable."

"We don't want to be seen as anything less than the perfect image that we think we're projecting," he says. "It's very hard to drop that wall and make yourself vulnerable. We've learned from the beginning you've got to protect yourself. The bully showed us that. The mean girl showed us that. The jerk boyfriend showed us that. The bad dad showed us that. You got to protect yourself. We live in that armor, and it's great to step out of it, and I find it's easier to step out of it the older I get too, which is, I guess, one of the positive things of hitting 75."

At 75, Springfield still works out every day, though he's had to make some adjustments.

"Every time I play with my band, it is a two-hour aerobic workout, so luckily I'm able to do that too," he says. "I have friends that have replaced hips and replaced knees and replaced shoulders, and actually it's amazing that that's available, but that's what goes when you work out. I can't run anymore. I used to run all the time. I used to love running, but I can't run anymore because my knees can't handle it. That's just the way it is."

Related: Rick Springfield Says He and His Wife of 36 Years, Barbara, Have Kept Busy During Lockdown with 'Lots of Sex'

As for what's on his birthday wishlist this year, Springfield — who is planning to release a new song, "Lose Myself," in the fall — jokes "eternal life" and, more seriously, "perfect health."

"We do all go, so you better f---ing enjoy it," he says. "It's not going to be forever, although we all think somehow we're going to be the one to escape it. We won't, so enjoy it now."

Springfield has no plans to retire — "That's up to the gods," he quips — and is thankful for how much he has to be proud of.

"I love my sons, there's a great pride in that, I'm proud that I have a couple of songs out there that mean something to people because I'm a writer," he says. "I'm proud of a couple of the investments I've made. I've been smart, and I'm proud of the woman I married. She's amazing. I hope the birthdays don't stop."

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