Dusty Springfield
Biography
Britain's greatest pop diva, Dusty Springfield was also the finest white soul singer of her era, a performer of remarkable emotional resonance whose body of work spans the decades and their attendant musical transformations with a consistency and purity unmatched by any of her contemporaries; though a camp icon of glamorous excess in her towering beehive hairdo and panda-eye black mascara, the sultry intimacy and heartbreaking urgency of Springfield's voice transcended image and fashion, embracing everything from lushly orchestrated pop to gritty R&B to disco with unparalleled sophistication and depth. She was born Mary O'Brien on April 16, 1939, and raised on an eclectic diet of classical music and jazz, coming to worship Peggy Lee; after completing her schooling she joined the Lana Sisters, a pop vocal trio which issued a few singles on Fontana before dissolving. In 1960, upon teaming with her brother Dion O' Brien and his friend Tim Feild in the folk trio the Springfields, O'Brien adopted the stage name Dusty Springfield; thanks to a series of hits including "Breakaway," "Bambino," and "Say I Won't Be There," the group was soon the U.
K.'s best-selling act.
After the Springfields cracked the U.S. Top 20 in 1962 with "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," the group traveled stateside to record in Nashville, where exposure to the emerging American girl-group and Motown sounds impacted Dusty so profoundly that in 1963 she left the Springfields at the peak of their fame to pursue a solo career. Her first single, "I Only Want to Be With You," boasted a dramatic sound and soulful melody worthy of a Phil Spector hit, and it quickly reached the British Top Five; it also fell just shy of the Top Ten in the U.S., where it became the first major record from a U.K. act other than the Beatles since the Fab Four's launch of the British Invasion. Her biggest American Top Ten hit, "Wishin' and Hopin'," was the first in a series of Springfield smashes from the pen of songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David; she would subsequently cover Bacharach/David classics including "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself," surpassed only by Dionne Warwick as the finest interpreter of the duo's songs.
Additionally charting with hits including "Stay Awhile" and "All Cried Out," by the end of 1964 Springfield was arguably the biggest solo act in British pop, winning the first of four consecutive Best Female Vocalist honors in NME; that same year, she also created a political furor after she was deported from South Africa for refusing to play in front of racially segregated audiences. Returning to England, in 1965 Springfield hosted the television special The Sound of Motown, a show widely credited with introducing the Sound of Young America to the their British counterparts, and continued racking up smashes like "Losing You," "Your Hurtin' Kinda Love," and "In the Middle of Nowhere"; in 1966, she scored her biggest international hit with the devastating ballad "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," which topped the U.K. charts and reached the Top Five in the U.S. The soundalike "All I See Is You," another heart-wrenching evocation of unrequited love, soon reached the British Top Ten as well; it was followed, however, by the Bacharach/David-penned "The Look of Love," a bossa nova-inflected classic positively radiating with dreamlike sensuousness.
By 1968, however, Springfield's commercial fortunes were on the decline -- in the wake of Sgt. Pepper and the Summer of Love, "girl singers" were now widely perceived as little more than fluff. In response, she signed to the American label Atlantic, traveling to Memphis to record with producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin; the resulting album, issued in early 1969 as Dusty in Memphis, remains her masterpiece, a perfect marriage of pop and soul stunning in its emotional complexity and earthy beauty. Although the classic single "Son of a Preacher Man" cracked the Top Ten on both sides of the pond, the album itself was nevertheless a commercial failure, as was its fine 1970 follow-up, A Brand New Me, recorded in Philadelphia with the input of the songwriting/production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. After completing 1972's See All Her Faces, Springfield relocated from London to New York City, eventually settling in Los Angeles; there she signed to ABC/Dunhill and recorded 1973's Cameo, another critical success which like its predecessors made virtually no impact on the charts.
A projected follow-up, Longings, was abandoned prior to its completion, and apart from singing backup on Anne Murray's Together album, Springfield spent the mid-'70s outside of music while battling substance abuse problems. She finally resurfaced in 1978 with the Roy Thomas Baker-produced It Begins Again, followed a year later by Living Without Your Love; both attracted little notice, although the non-album single "Baby Blue" was a minor British hit in 1979. Apart from a handful of soundtrack contributions, Springfield was silent until returning to London in 1982 to record White Heat, an album firmly grounded in the prevailing synth-pop sound of its times; again, despite good critical notices, a comeback failed to materialize. She would release just a handful of singles over the next few years, including the 1984 Spencer Davis duet "Private Number," the 1985 ballad "Sometimes Like Butterflies," and a 1987 collaboration with Richard Carpenter, "Something in Your Eyes," which became a minor success in the U.S.
Upon returning to California in 1987, Springfield was contacted to collaborate with techno-pop innovators the Pet Shop Boys on a duet titled "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" The single was a global blockbuster, peaking at number two in both the U.S. and the U.K., and it introduced her to a new generation of listeners; Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe also agreed to produce a handful of tracks for 1990's Reputation, which became Springfield's best-selling new album since her '60s-era peak. The follow-up, 1995's country-influenced A Very Fine Love, was recorded in Nashville; during sessions for the album, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and after months of radiation therapy the illness was believed to be in remission. By the summer of 1996, however, the cancer had returned, and on March 2, 1999, Springfield died at the age of 59; just ten days later, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Selected Discography
i saw her for the first time on either ed sullivan or hollywood palace. the voice, the face, the body...gave me my first chubby as a 12 yr. old.
|
||
The Look of Love still may be the finest record to make love to ever performed.
|
||
Dusty interpreted The Burt Bacharach, Hal David tunes like no one else.
Maybe Dionne Warwick came close but Dusty sounded like you were in bed with her. |
||
I would have never THOUGHT she was a white lady I thought she was black by the sound of her voice!
|
||
Dusty like many other's Lulu on To sir, with love these england chicks had soul.
|
||
It's really too bad that she never achieved the level of fame that we all know she deserved.
|
||
Dusty is beyond superlatives , Herald! What's fun is to watch Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe from Pet Shop Boys talk about her: performing with her, her influence, etc. Check out their special---We saw one on the Fuse network.
|
||
i grew up with her and she was like sunshine to my little flowergirl beachy surfer white-go-go booted idylic childhood in San Diego 60's. peace om shanti. |
||
Was the son of a Preacher Man, oh yeah Dusty you can certainly tell us what he taught you. Your memory lives on as one of the best singers of the 70's.
|
||
I totally agree with her soulfulness style singing. I've loved her music - I feel all races loved Dusty.
|
||
The above bio has too many explicit superlatives . If Jason had only backed-off a bit with the high praise, it would be easier to accept and believe.
Never-the-le s s , Dusty was a fine singer with many accomplishme n t s and quality songs in her repertoire. Don't dismiss her just because of an overzealous biography writer. |
||
Simply great. I appreciate her more every time I hear her--and that goes back to when I bought her 45s in the '60s.
|
||
reading the other comments, looks like a lot of people have the same reaction: WHAT AN ABSOULUTELY INCREDIBLE WOMAN!
|
||
dusty would have this young teenager back then studder step.. just a wonderful singer..
|
||
sock hop at the tennis court in my very small ohio town, standing against the fence watching because to this young lad i was to shy to dance and listing to the dj play dusty and the rest of those wonderful songs... i still can sing the words to this day...
|
||
She is simply a magnificent singer, she has soul. I love her music, the voice is husky, strong, and full of soul.
|
||
I always liked her version of this song the best. she has a way of lifting up your mood.
|
||
i only want to be with dusty, what a girl what voice, miss you always
|
||
A one and only ... what a Lady and what a voice ... she truly made a mark in our time as far as musical history goes.
|
| report abuse |







