Dusty Springfield

Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), professionally known as Dusty Springfield, was an English pop singer. Of the female artists of the British Invasion, Springfield made the biggest impression on the U.S. market. From 1963 to 1970, she scored 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100. She was voted the Top British Female Artist by readers of New Musical Express in 1964, 1965, and 1968. Springfield is an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the UK Music Hall of Fame. She was named among the 25 female rock artists of all time by readers of Mojo magazine (1999), editors of Q magazine (2002), and a panel of artists on the TV channel VH1 (2007).

A fan of American soul music, Dusty Springfield created a distinctive blue-eyed soul sound. Her distinctive voice was described by Burt Bacharach as:"...three notes and you knew it was Dusty." Her dashing, glamourous image was supported by a peroxided blonde beehive hairstyle, heavy use of eyeliner, and luscious evening gowns.

Springfield began her solo career in 1963 with the Phil Spector-influenced pop/rock song "I Only Want To Be With You". Her following chart hits included "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me". She campaigned to bring little-known soul singers to a wider U.K. audience by devising and hosting the first British performances of top-selling Motown Records artists on The Sound of Motown, a special edition of the Ready Steady Go! TV series in 1965. "The Look of Love", written for Springfield by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was featured in the scene of Ursula Andress seducing Peter Sellers in the film Casino Royale. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. The sudden changes of world pop music towards the experimentation of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Summer of Love themes, and psychedelia left Springfield out of fashion. To boost her credibility, she went to Memphis, Tennessee to record an album of pop and soul music with Atlantic Records' production team of Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, and Tom Dowd. The LP Dusty in Memphis received the Grammy Hall of Fame award in 2001 and was listed among the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone and VH1, readers of New Musical Express, and viewers of Channel 4. The standout track of the album, "Son of a Preacher Man", was an international Top 10 chart hit in 1969. The song was revived in 1994 by Quentin Tarantino including it in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, which sold over three million copies. Springfield's low period after Dusty in Memphis ended in 1987, when a collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys returned her to the top 20 of UK and U.S. charts with the singles "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private". Springfield kept recording until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995 and died in 1999.

Dusty Springfield was born in West Hampstead, London as Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien. She was a musical icon, whose music spanned genres and whose influence spanned generations and across oceans. Her father was an avid fan of classical and jazz, and he would beat out rhythms on the back of her hand, asking the young girl to guess which piece of music that was. She was brought up listening to a wide variety of music. Her mother would bring her to the movies at any opportunity. This was a foundation for an appreciation for the arts.

Dusty herself was a big fan of Peggy Lee. When she was asked at age ten what she wanted to be, she said "I want to be a blues singer!"

Her first foray into the music scene was when she joined the British vocal group The Lana Sisters in 1958. Over the next couple of years she recorded several singles with them. In 1960, Mary and her brother Dion and Tim Reid formed a folk trio called The Springfields. She took the name Dusty Springfield and her brother became Tom Springfield. They became popular in Great Britian, and by 1962 The Springfields had some success in the U.S. as well.

While on tour in the U.S., Dusty fell in love with the Motown sound, especially the girl groups. Needing to escape the controlling influence of her older brother, she left The Springfields in 1963 to become one of only a handful, if not the reigning queen, of white women soul artists. When someone had overslept for a show where the Martha Reeves And The Vandellas were singing backup for Marvin Gaye, Dusty was quoted as saying "...So I got to be the third Vandella, and that, to this day, is the biggest thrill of my life."

A string of hits composed by the likes of Carole King, and the collaborative works of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, as well as her own musical variety series for television in 1967, her career culminated in the album Dusty In Memphis in 1969, which many experts list as a "must-have" in any soul music collection, and is regarded as one of the best soul albums of all time. The album was a commercial flop, but the song Son of a Preacher Man was a top-selling single. It was included in the soundtrack for the movie "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, which made it popular again for another generation. In 1987, Dusty appeared on Richard Carpenter's solo album, singing the song, "Something In Your Eyes".

Dusty had a difficult childhood. Her mother was prone to raging tantrums; her father, in contrast, was often withdrawn. Undoubtedly this contributed to her reputably stormy relationships. She had bouts of low self-esteem into adulthood and was diagnosed as manic-depressive. She had further difficulty reconciling a strong Catholic upbringing with her bisexuality.

Her perfectionism and problems with self-esteem, in a male-dominated industry, had many people labelling her "difficult" and "a prima donna". She was not a cliché, but joins the ranks of other "tortured artists" before and after her.

In the 70s and 80s, her career was almost at a stand-still. After living the life of a superstar, when her popularity waned, she would sink into a world of alcohol, drugs and bad relationships. Not until 1987 did she get a break, when Pet Shop Boys, who were fans of hers, recorded What Have I Done to Deserve This? with her, which was a smash hit. She then released an album, Reputation, which was also a big hit.

Dusty Springfield died of breast cancer in 1999, just thirteen days before being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Dusty Springfields old house, located in Kensington London, has an English heritage plaque in honor of her memory; www.musicpilgrimages.com/articl/2009.php