Caldwell Finds Bright Places Out of Spotlight : Pop: While his popularity is greater overseas, the singer-songwriter, who performs in Anaheim, has plenty to keep him busy--including twins.

Bobby Caldwell doesn’t have any doubts about what he’d like to be doing 10 years from now.

“Nothing,” he says with a laugh. “And that’s about it. I’d like a buy a boat and go do some fishing. I haven’t had a vacation in 15 years, and I’m ready for it.”

The singer-songwriter-instrumentalist has been in the fast lane since he burst onto the pop music scene in 1978 with the Top 10 hit “What You Won’t Do for Love.” Despite its success, however, and despite Caldwell’s continued activities, his career appeared to take a dramatic downturn in the next few years.

“It really wasn’t any different from what has happened to any number of performers,” explains Caldwell, 41, who opens for Hiroshima on Friday at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim. “First, the label that released my album, TK Records, went bankrupt, and my contract sat on some banker’s desk for the next two years.

“Then I made a couple of records for PolyGram--including ‘Carry On,’ which was a real musician’s album--and they just didn’t know what to do with them. Not only that, but as soon as the ink dried on my contract, all the people who were there were fired, and a new regime came in. Believe me, that’s the kind of thing that puts the lines around your eyes.”

But Caldwell had no intention of falling into the “What ever became of . . .” trap. For a good portion of the mid-’80s, he turned out hit songs for other performers: “Janet” for the Commodores; “What Kind of Man” for Chicago; “Heart of Mine” for Boz Scaggs and “The Next Time I Fall” for Peter Cetera.

“I spent four or five years writing songs for other artists,” says Caldwell, “and it definitely had a positive effect on my songwriting.

“When Boz, whose music I was very familiar and at home with, asked me to write a song, I just looked at what was his most successful record--the ‘Silk Degrees’ album. He said he wanted a ballad that was reminiscent of ‘Harbor Lights,’ and that’s what inspired ‘Heart of Mine.’ ”

Despite his low visibility at home as a singer and recording artist in the ‘80s, Caldwell was doing just fine in Japan. Four of his albums (as well as his current “Stuck On You”) were certified gold in the Asian market, where Caldwell is considered a star.

“It still seems a little strange to me,” he says. “I can go to Japan and get superstar treatment, and then come back here and have nobody recognize me when I go to Ralphs. It’s a very sobering experience.” Earlier this year, Caldwell married a popular radio personality for FM Tokyo, solidifying his connection with the Far East. They are expecting twins in December.

Caldwell’s current tour is part of a calculated plan to work more sales out of “Stuck On You,” released last year on his own label, Sin-Drome Records. The No. 1 album on the adult contemporary format listings for a few weeks when it was first issued, the recording is now being positioned for rejuvenation in other formats, most notably urban R & B.

Performing, songwriting, record company management--it all sounds like an extremely full plate. But Caldwell views the variety of his activities as a necessary part of a successful entertainment career.

“I can’t just do one thing now and make it in this business,” he said. “It’s so hard now. You’ve got to keep your fingers in as many pies as you can, and hope that you pull the plum out of one of them. But whatever I do I try to undertake it to the best of my ability. Because biting off more than you can chew isn’t the answer either.”

Caldwell tries to balance the various elements with as much open-mindedness as he can manage.

“At the moment,” he says, “I’m pretty much into the headset of performing. And that’s a whole different discipline--the rehearsals, the scheduling, the traveling. And when you get up on stage, you’ve only got one shot, working with a band. Everyday you’ve got to get up, get your voice together and go out there for a one-shot deal.

“But when you’re in the studio, if it’s not right, you can go back again and again. And I like the creative process in the studio--seeing a certain vision of a song come to fruition. That’s a lot of fun.

“On the other hand,” Caldwell adds, smiling at his own apparent ambivalence, “getting that immediate response from an audience is a lot of fun too. You release a record, and how long do you have to wait before you find out if it’s a hit or a miss? But when you get up there live, you know right there if you’re bombing or not.”

Friday night at the Celebrity Theatre, Caldwell will be working with his seven-piece band, and plans to sprinkle the 50-minute set with numbers from his own catalogue including “What You Won’t Do for Love,” “Jamaica,” “Cat Walk” and “Heart of Mine,” as well as the title track from “Stuck On You”--a song carefully crafted to fit into the classic tradition of American pop ballads.

Next spring, there’ll be a new Caldwell album, more tours of Japan, the United States and Europe, and more busy work as an executive. But Caldwell’s eye is still on the time, less than a decade away, when he turns 50.

“Actually,” says the ever-restless Caldwell, having second thoughts about his plans for the early part of the next century, “I don’t know that I’d really want to just sit around doing nothing . I wouldn’t mind doing a little producing for my record company. That would be fun.

“But most of all, I’d like to just sit back and watch my twins grow. Now, who wouldn’t want to do that?”

* Hiroshima and Bobby Caldwell play Friday at 8 p.m. at the Celebrity Theatre, 201 E. Broadway, Anaheim. $28. (714) 999-9536.