Dusty Springfield

at the entrance of Ealing Fields High School in Ealing, London which Springfield, as Mary O'Brien, attended Springfield was born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien on 16 April 1939 in West Hampstead, the second child of Gerard Anthony 'OB' O'Brien (1904–1979) and Catherine Anne 'Kay' O'Brien (née Ryle; 1900–1974), both Irish immigrants. Springfield's elder brother, Dionysius Patrick O'Brien (2 July 1934 – 27 July 2022) was later known as Tom Springfield. Her father grew up in British India and worked as a tax accountant and consultant. Her mother came from an Irish family originally from Tralee, County Kerry, that included a number of journalists. Dusty Springfield grew up in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire living there until the early 1950s and later in Ealing in West London. in Northfields, a traditional all-girl Roman Catholic school in London. The comfortable middle-class upbringing was disturbed by dysfunctional tendencies in the family: her father's perfectionism and her mother's frustrations sometimes resulted in food-throwing incidents. Springfield and her brother were both prone to food-throwing as adults. Springfield grew up in a music-loving family. Her father tapped out rhythms on the back of her hand and encouraged her to guess which musical piece had the beat. She listened to a wide range of music including George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Glenn Miller. A fan of American jazz and the vocalists Peggy Lee and Jo Stafford, she wished to sound like them. At age 12 she recorded herself performing the Irving Berlin song "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabama" at a record shop in Ealing. ==Career==

1958–1963: Career beginnings After leaving school, Springfield sang with Tom, her brother, in local folk clubs. They acquired George Cassidy as tenor saxophonist during this period, and toured in Ireland. In 1957, the pair worked together at holiday camps. Springfield adopted the stage name "Shann Lana" and "cut her hair, lost the glasses, experimented with makeup, (and) fashion", becoming one of the "sisters". As a member of the pop vocal trio, Dusty Springfield developed skills in harmonizing and microphone technique; she recorded, performed on television, and played at live shows in the United Kingdom and at United States Air Force bases in continental Europe. Intending to make an authentic US album, the group travelled to Nashville to record Folk Songs from the Hills. The music Springfield heard during their visit – but particularly the Exciters' "Tell Him", while in New York City – influenced her shift from folk and country towards pop rooted in rhythm and blues. Dusty left the band after their final concert in October 1963. 1963–1966: Early solo career '' advertisement, 7 March 1964 Dusty Springfield released her first solo single, "I Only Want to Be with You", co-written and arranged by Ivor Raymonde, in November 1963. The record was produced by Johnny Franz in a manner similar to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound"; it included rhythm-and-blues features like horn sections, backing singers, and double-tracked vocals along with strings, recalling Springfield's influences such as the Exciters and the Shirelles. In January 1964, the single peaked at no. 4 on the UK charts during a lengthy (for the time) 18-week run. and ranked 48 in the year-end Top 100 of New York radio station WABC. The BBC's 1964–2006 weekly chart-based music programme Top of the Pops debuted on 1 January 1964, with "I Only Want to Be with You" as the show's kick-off record. The single was certified gold in the UK, and its B-side, "Once Upon a Time", was written by Springfield. She was quoted as saying "I don't really see myself as a songwriter. I don't really like writing... I just don't get any good ideas and the ones I do get are pinched from other records. The only reason I write is for the money – oh mercenary creature!" Her contract specifically excluded segregated performances, making her one of the first British artists to do so. In the same year, she was voted the year's top British Female Singer in the New Musical Express readers' poll, ahead of Lulu, Sandie Shaw, and Cilla Black. Springfield received the award again for the next three years. In November 1965, the album peaked at no. 6 on the UK chart. An English-language version, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", featured lyrics newly written by Springfield's friend (and future manager) Vicki Wickham and another future manager, Simon Napier-Bell. Springfield's dramatic recording of the ballad was released in March 1966 and reached number one in the UK in its fifth week on the singles chart. Springfield called it "good old schmaltz", A compilation of her singles, Golden Hits, released in November 1966, peaked at no. 2 in the UK (behind the soundtrack to The Sound of Music). Bell was a regular backing singer on early Springfield albums, and the pair, together with Lesley Duncan, co-wrote "I'm Gonna Leave You" , the B-side of "Goin' Back". During this period, Springfield was also known for her love of Motown. She introduced the Motown sound to a wider UK audience, both with her covers of Motown songs and by facilitating the first UK TV appearance for the Temptations, the Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, the Miracles and Stevie Wonder in a special edition of the 1963–66 British TV music series Ready Steady Go!, produced by Vicki Wickham. The Sound of Motown was broadcast by Associated-Rediffusion/ITV on 28 April 1965, with Springfield opening each half accompanied by Martha and the Vandellas and Motown's in-house band, the Funk Brothers. The associated touring Tamla-Motown Revue – featuring the Supremes, the Miracles and Stevie Wonder – had started in London in March and was, according to the Supremes' Mary Wilson, a flop: "It's always... disheartening when you go out there and you see the house is half-full... but once you're on stage... You perform as well for five as you do for 500." Wickham, a fan of the Motown artists, booked them for the Ready Steady Go! special and enlisted Springfield to host it. For "one of the slowest-tempo hits" of the sixties, Bacharach created the "sultry" feel by the use of "minor-seventh and major-seventh chord changes", while Hal David's lyrics "epitomised longing and, yes, lust." "The Look of Love" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. In August and September 1967, Springfield headlined the second season of her BBC TV series Dusty (also known as The Dusty Springfield Show), in which she welcomed guests and performed songs, among them a rendition of "Get Ready" and her then-recent hit "I'll Try Anything". Though critically appreciated, the album peaked at 40 in the UK and failed to chart in the US. which was not issued in the US, though it reached no. 30 in the UK during a six-week chart run. written by Clive Westlake. The single peaked at no. 4 in August 1968. Its flip side, "No Stranger Am I", was co-written by American singer-songwriter Norma Tanega – known for her transatlantic 1966 Top 30 folk-pop hit "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" – and Norma Kutzer. By late 1966, Springfield was in a domestic relationship with Tanega. Springfield's 1968 TV series It Must Be Dusty was broadcast on ITV in May and June; episode six featured a duet performance of "Mockingbird" with singer-guitarist Jimi Hendrix, fronting his band the Experience. The Memphis sessions at the American Sound Studio were produced by Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin; the back-up vocal band Sweet Inspirations; and the instrumental band Memphis Boys. They were led by guitarist Reggie Young and bass guitarist Tommy Cogbill. She had never worked with just a rhythm track, and it was her first time with outside producers; many of her previous recordings had been self-produced, while not being credited. Wexler felt Springfield had a "gigantic inferiority complex", and due to her pursuit of perfection, her vocals were re-recorded later, in New York. In November 1968, during the Memphis sessions, Springfield suggested to Wexler (one of the heads of Atlantic Records) that he should sign the newly formed UK band Led Zeppelin. She knew their bass guitarist, John Paul Jones, from his session work on her earlier albums. Wexler signed Led Zeppelin to a $200,000 deal with Atlantic – the biggest such contract for a new band until then. The album Dusty in Memphis received excellent reviews on its initial releases both in the UK and US. Greil Marcus of Rolling Stone magazine wrote: "most of the songs... have a great deal of depth while presenting extremely direct and simple statements about love... Dusty sings around her material, creating music that's evocative rather than overwhelming... Dusty is not searching – she just shows up, and she, and we, are better for it." However, by 2001, the album had received the Grammy Hall of Fame award and was listed among the greatest albums of all time by US music magazine Rolling Stone In November 1968, the album's lead single, "Son of a Preacher Man", was issued. It was written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins. Credited as "Son-of-a Preacher Man" on UK, US and other releases, it became an international hit, reaching no. 9 in the UK singles chart and no. 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 in January 1969. In continental Europe, the single reached the Top Ten in the Austrian, Dutch and Swiss charts. In 1970, Springfield was nominated for the Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female award at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards, losing to "Is That All There Is?" by Peggy Lee, whom Springfield often cited as an influence. In 1987, Rolling Stone magazine placed the single at no. 77 in its critics' list The 100 Best Singles of the Last 25 Years. In 2002, the record ranked 43 in the 100 Greatest Singles of All Time, as voted for by New Musical Express critics. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it 240 in its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Son of a Preacher Man" found a new audience when it was included on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction. The soundtrack reached no. 21 on Billboard's Billboard 200 album chart and at the time went platinum (100,000 units) in Canada alone. It is thought that "Son of a Preacher Man" contributed to the sales of the soundtrack album, which sold more than 2 million copies in the US. During September and October 1969, Springfield hosted her third and final BBC musical variety series (her fourth variety series overall), Decidedly Dusty (co-hosted by Valentine Dyall). 1970s in Amsterdam, 1968 By the beginning of the 1970s, Springfield was a major star, though her record sales were declining. Her partner, Norma Tanega, had returned to the US after their relationship had become stressful, and Springfield was spending more time in the US herself. In January 1970, her second and final album on Atlantic Records, A Brand New Me (re-titled From Dusty... With Love in the UK), was released; it featured tracks written and produced by Gamble and Huff. The album and related singles only sold moderately; Springfield was unhappy with both her management and record company. She sang backing vocals with her friend Madeline Bell on two tracks on Elton John's 1971 hit album Tumbleweed Connection. Springfield recorded some songs with producer Jeff Barry in early 1971, which were intended for an album to be released by Atlantic Records. However, her new manager Alan Bernard negotiated her out of the Atlantic contract; some of the tracks were used on the UK-only album See All Her Faces (November 1972) and the 1999 release Dusty in Memphis-Deluxe Edition. In 1973, Springfield recorded the theme song for the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man, which was used for two of its film-length episodes: "Wine, Women & War" and "The Solid Gold Kidnapping". Her second ABC Dunhill album was given the working title Elements and was then scheduled for release in late 1974 as Longing. However, the recording sessions were abandoned, although part of the material, including tentative and incomplete vocals, was issued on the 2001 posthumous compilation Beautiful Soul, and the album eventually received a standalone release in June 2025. In the mid-1970s she sang background vocals on Elton John's album Caribou (June 1974), including his single "The Bitch Is Back"; and on Anne Murray's album Together (November 1975). Springfield did not record again until the summer of 1977, when she began recording It Begins Again. In the late 1970s, Springfield released two albums on United Artists Records. The first was It Begins Again, issued in 1978 and produced by Roy Thomas Baker. The album peaked in the UK top 50 and was well received by critics. 1980s In 1980, Springfield sang "Bits and Pieces", the theme song from the movie The Stunt Man. She signed a US deal with 20th Century Records, which resulted in the single "It Goes Like It Goes", a cover of the Oscar-winning song from the film Norma Rae. Springfield was uncharacteristically proud of her 1982 album White Heat, which was influenced by new wave music. Tennant cites Dusty in Memphis as one of his favourite albums, and he leapt at the suggestion of using Springfield's vocals for "What Have I Done To Deserve This?". She also appeared on the promotional video. The single rose to no. 2 on both the US and UK charts. It appeared on the Pet Shop Boys album Actually, Springfield recorded a duet with B. J. Thomas, "As Long as We Got Each Other", which was used as the opening theme for the US sitcom Growing Pains in season 4 (1988–89). (Thomas had collaborated with Jennifer Warnes on the original version, which was neither re-recorded with Warnes nor released as a single.) It was issued as a single and reached no. 7 on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart. In 1988, a new compilation, The Silver Collection, was issued. Springfield returned to the studio with the Pet Shop Boys, who produced her recording of their song "Nothing Has Been Proved", commissioned for the soundtrack of the 1989 drama film Scandal. Released as a single in February 1989, it gave Springfield her fifteenth UK Top 20 hit. Springfield's next album, provisionally titled Dusty in Nashville, was started in 1993 with producer, Tom Shapiro, but was issued as A Very Fine Love in June 1995. Though originally intended by Shapiro as a country music album, the track selection by Springfield pushed the album into pop music with an occasional country feel. The last studio track Springfield recorded was George and Ira Gershwin's song "Someone to Watch Over Me" in London in 1995 for an insurance company TV ad. It was included on Simply Dusty (2000), an anthology that she had helped plan. Her final live singing performance was on Later with Jools Holland on 30 June 1995. She also appeared on the Christmas with Michael Ball special in December 1995, but this was lip synched for television. According to Australian film director Emma-Kate Croghan, Springfield personally approved the use of her recording of "The Look of Love" in the 1999 film Strange Planet just days before her death in March 1999. Musical style Influenced by US pop music, Dusty Springfield created a distinctive blue-eyed soul sound. BBC News noted "[h]er soulful voice, at once strident and vulnerable, set her apart from her contemporaries... She was equally at home singing Broadway standards, blues, country or even techno-pop". Another powerful feature was the sense of longing, in songs such as "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" and "Goin' Back". Greil Marcus of Rolling Stone captured Springfield's technique as "a soft, sensual box (voice) that allowed her to combine syllables until they turned into pure cream". her repertoire included songs that their writers ordinarily would have offered to black vocalists. Springfield consistently used her voice to upend commonly held beliefs on the expression of social identity through music. She did this by referencing a number of styles and singers, including Martha Reeves, Carole King, Aretha Franklin, Peggy Lee, Astrud Gilberto, and Mina. Springfield instructed UK backup musicians to capture the spirit of US musicians and copy their instrumental playing styles. In the studio she was a perfectionist. Despite producing many tracks, she did not take credit for doing so. Springfield wound up recording in the ladies' toilets because of superior acoustics. Another example of refusal to use the studio is "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten" – recorded at the end of a corridor. == Personal life ==

Springfield's parents, Catherine and Gerard, lived in Hove, East Sussex from 1962. Catherine died in a nursing home there in 1974 of lung cancer. In 1979, Gerard died of a heart attack in Rottingdean, East Sussex. Simon Bell, one of Springfield's session singers, disputed the twin personality description: "It's very easy to decide there are two people, Mary and Dusty, but they were the one person. Dusty was most definitely Dusty right to the end." In her early career, much of her odd behaviour was seen as more or less in fun, described as a "wicked" sense of humour, including her food fights and hurling crockery down stairs. She had a great love for animals, particularly cats, and became an advocate for animal protection groups. She enjoyed reading maps and would intentionally get lost to navigate her way out. Springfield was never reported to be in a heterosexual relationship; it meant the issue of her sexual orientation was raised frequently during her life. In 1981, Springfield had a six-month relationship with singer-musician Carole Pope of the rock band Rough Trade. The pair separated within two years. ==Illness and death==

In January 1994, while recording her album, A Very Fine Love, in Nashville, Springfield began to feel ill. When she returned to England a few months later, her physicians diagnosed her with breast cancer. She received extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and the cancer was found to be in remission. By the summer of 1996, the cancer had returned, and despite further treatment for almost three more years, Springfield died on 2 March 1999, aged 59, in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Springfield's funeral service was attended by hundreds of fans and people from the music business, including Elvis Costello, Lulu, and the Pet Shop Boys. It was held at the Anglican St Mary the Virgin church in Henley-on-Thames. A marker dedicated to her memory was placed in the church graveyard. In accordance with Springfield's wishes, she was cremated and some of her ashes were buried at Henley, while the rest were scattered by her brother, Tom Springfield, at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. ==Legacy==

Springfield was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two weeks after her death. Her friend Elton John helped induct her into the Hall of Fame declaring, "I'm biased but I just think she was the greatest white singer there ever has been ... every song she sang, she claimed as her own". Of the female singers of the British Invasion, Springfield made one of the biggest impressions on the US market, scoring 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 from 1964 to 1970 including six in the top 20. In the same year in the documentary Dusty Springfield: Full Circle, guests of her 1965 Sound of Motown show credited her efforts with helping to popularise US soul music in the UK. In 2008, country/blues singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne recorded a tribute album featuring ten of Springfield's songs as well as one original. The album, titled ''Just a Little Lovin''', featured two tracks selected from Springfield's debut, four from Dusty in Memphis and four from her back catalogue. Lynne's album received critical acclaim, charted at number 41 on the US Billboard Charts and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical). Springfield was popular in Europe and performed at the Sanremo Music Festival. Recordings were released in French, German, and Italian. Her French works include a 1964 four-track extended play with "Demain tu peux changer" (also known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"), "Je ne peux pas t'en vouloir" ("Losing You"), "L'été est fini" ("Summer is Over"), and "Reste encore un instant" ("Stay Awhile"). German recordings include the July 1964 single, "Warten und hoffen" ("Wishin' and Hopin) backed with "Auf dich nur wart' ich immerzu" ("I Only Want to Be with You"). Italian recordings include "Tanto so che poi mi passa" ("Every Day I Have to Cry") issued as a single. Springfield is known to have brought many little-known soul singers to the attention of a wider UK record-buying audience. In April 1965, she hosted a special Motown edition of the hugely popular British TV music series Ready Steady Go!, featuring the first national TV performances of many top-selling Motown artists. Although her music was not directly associated with the British music/dance movement northern soul, her efforts were seen as a contributing factor in the formation of the genre. In public and on stage, she developed a joyful image supported by her peroxide-blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns and heavy make-up that included her much-copied "panda eye" mascara. She borrowed elements of her look from blonde glamour queens such as Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve and pasted them together according to her own taste. By the 1990s, she had become a camp icon, == Awards and tributes ==

Springfield is an inductee of the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), the UK Music Hall of Fame (2006), and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (2023). She was named among the top 25 female artists of all time by readers of Mojo magazine (May 1999), editors of Q magazine (January 2002), and a panel of artists on VH1 TV channel (August 2007). In 2008, she appeared at No. 35 on the Rolling Stones "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In the 1960s she topped a number of popularity polls, including Melody Makers Best International Vocalist for 1966; in 1965 she was the first British singer to top the New Musical Express readers' polls for Female Singer topping that poll again in 1966, 1967, and 1969 as well as getting the most votes in the British Singer category from 1964 to 1966. In March 1999, Springfield was scheduled to receive her award at Buckingham Palace as an officer of the Order of the British Empire, given for "services to popular music". Due to the recurrence of the singer's breast cancer, officials of Queen Elizabeth II gave permission for the medal to be collected earlier in January, by Wickham and it was presented to Springfield in hospital with a small group of friends and relatives attending. She died on the day that she would have collected her award from the Palace. Various films and stage musicals have been created or proposed to commemorate her life. On 12 January 2006 an Australian stage musical, Dusty – The Original Pop Diva, received its world premiere at the State Theatre of the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne. In May 2008, actress Nicole Kidman was announced as the star and producer of a biographical film, Universal Pictures scheduled a biopic with Kristin Chenoweth in the starring role. However, according to Chenoweth in January 2012, the project's status was in limbo and the "script … needed a lot of work". In 1970, US jazz singer-pianist Blossom Dearie recorded a tribute song, "Dusty Springfield", on her album ''That's Just the Way I Want to Be'' – it was co-written by Dearie, Tanega (Springfield's then-partner), and Jim Council. UK singer-songwriter David Westlake on his 2002 release, Play Dusty for Me, "fêted [Springfield] in both the album title and opening title track". US singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne's tenth studio album, ''Just a Little Lovin' (2008), was issued as a tribute. In 2012, a biographical jukebox musical titled Forever Dusty'' opened Off-Broadway in New York City at New World Stages. The production starred Kirsten Holly Smith as Springfield; Smith also co-wrote the book of the musical. In 2015, Springfield was named by Equality Forum as being one of their 31 Icons of the 2015 LGBT History Month. On 8 November 2022, she was honoured with a Google Doodle to celebrate her life and career. == Discography ==

• A Girl Called Dusty (1964) • Stay Awhile/I Only Want to Be with You (1964) • Dusty (1964) • Ooooooweeee!!! (1965) • ''Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty'' (1965) • ''You Don't Have to Say You Love Me'' (1966) • Where Am I Going? (1967) • The Look of Love (1967) • Dusty... Definitely (1968) • Dusty in Memphis (1969) • A Brand New Me (1970) • See All Her Faces (1972) • Cameo (1973) • It Begins Again (1978) • Living Without Your Love (1979) • White Heat (1982) • Reputation (1990) • A Very Fine Love (1995) • Faithful (2015, recorded in 1971) • Longing (2025, recorded in 1974) == Filmography ==

Springfield was the presenter or host of several TV musical series: UK TV Series Dusty – Series 1 (1966) Produced by Stanley Dorfman. Musical director: Johnny Pearson. Broadcast Thursdays on BBC1 at 9:00 pm (Except Episode 4 at 9:05 pm) Dusty – Series 2 (1967) Produced by Stanley Dorfman. Backing vocals: Madeline Bell, Lesley Duncan and Maggie Stredder. Musical director: Johnny Pearson. Broadcast Tuesdays on BBC1 at 9:05 pm It Must Be Dusty – Series 1 (1968) Produced by ATV. Broadcast on ITV. Producer Colin Clews. ==== Show of the Week: Dusty at The Talk of the Town ==== Christmas Special Decidedly Dusty – Series 1 (1969) Produced by Mel Cornish. Introduced by Valentine Dyall. Dancers: Cassandra Mahon & Peter Newton. Choreographer: Ruth Pearson. Vocal backing: Kay Garner, Lesley Duncan & Madeline Bell. Musical associate: Larry Ashmore. Musical Director: Johnny Pearson. Broadcast Tuesdays on BBC1 at 7:30 pm TV Specials == References ==