7th Anniversary of the Death of Dusty Springfield

Published on March 2, 2006 By Ionolast In Misc

Born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in London in 1939, The White Lady of Soul was immersed in the arts from a young age. Her father loved classical music and jazz, beating out rhythms on the back of her hand, encouraging the young Dusty to guess the musical piece. She was surrounded with jazz and blues and Dusty was bought up listening to a wide range of music. Gershwin, Rogers and Hart, Rogers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller, among others.

Dusty’s father’s love of jazz led Dusty to a fascination and admiration for the voice of Peggy Lee, with a desire to be and sound like her. Dusty reflected on this with fondness saying that nobody could swing like Peggy.

Couple this with a mother who just loved to take Dusty to the movies at any and every opportunity and we discover an appreciation of the arts that was as wide as it was broad being laid at a very early age. When asked at age ten by her Nun tutors what she wanted to be, Dusty replied, “I want to be a blues singer!”

In the early sixties, Dusty responded to an advertisement for a third member to join an “established sister act” called The Lana Sisters and was accepted. She then joined The Springfields who got their name from the fact that in the spring they would rehearse in the fields.

The Springfields were becoming increasingly caught between the tensions of pop and folk and Dusty finally left the trio in 1963. Dusty was now free to explore her love of American Black music and her first solo single in 1963, "I Only Want To Be With You" achieved gold status in the UK, as well as being a major hit in the USA, and began to reveal the link between soul and pop that Dusty was to make her own.

Hits flowed from here on in, the follow up single "Stay Awhile" peaked at number 13 and the third single "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" hit number 3, with only The Rolling Stones and The Beatles beating her to the top spot.

Dusty was on a roller coaster of success, and from 1963 to 1969 she made the UK chart seventeen times, scoring ten Top Ten singles, her biggest being "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" which hit the number one spot in 1966, (number 4 in the USA) and remained on the UK chart for thirteen weeks.

She gave outstanding international performances, such as at The Fox Theatre, Brooklyn, where she met her Motown idols and cemented personal friendships with many of them. Such was her love of and devotion to the sound of Motown that Dusty became a European pioneer, hosting the Ready Steady Go Motown Special on UK television.

Chart success continued, but not at the level that Dusty had previously enjoyed. She felt herself being pushed into the adult cabaret bracket, and although this provided material stability, she was finding it increasingly unsatisfying artistically.
The sixties ended with the release of Dusty's most famous, celebrated and critically acclaimed album Dusty In Memphis.

By the time Dusty was recording this album in 1969, she was taking her voice to a new place. Gone were the loud drums and the Spectoresque production sound, and from Memphis onwards her voice took centre stage. Dusty always said that she used her voice as an instrument, as part of the ensemble, and from this period onwards this is more evident.

Switching from Philips to Atlantic records, Dusty delivered an album that showcased her soulful attributes like never before, featuring material from the likes of Randy Newman, Goffin & King and Bacharach-David.
It is a travesty that this album did not sell well, only reaching number 43 in her home country. It is now widely acknowledged as being one of the greatest albums of the decade, producing the massive selling single "Son of a Preacher Man", which hit number 9 in the UK and number 10 in the USA in December 1968.

Dusty created an artistic triumph with Dusty In Memphis and it soon became an album that was to set a standard, not only for her, but for other artists as well.

In 1987, Dusty stormed back onto the musical stage with "What Have I Done To Deserve This?", a duet with the Pet Shop Boys. Dusty's soulful approach was an incredible complement to the PSB's almost expressionless style, and the song was a well-deserved international success.

Dusty was asked by Richard Carpenter to record a song on his album Time. This was to be his first project since the death of his sister Karen. Dusty was thrilled to be approached, and recorded the beautiful and haunting "Something In Your Eyes".

The Pet Shop Boys had been responsible for introducing Dusty to a new generation of fans. New Greatest Hits compilations sold well, and Dusty was right back in the limelight, where she rightfully belonged.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995. Lengthy periods of chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed, and Dusty was given the all clear.

Dusty's remission was tragically short lived, and soon the cancer was to return and be diagnosed as terminal.

While Dusty was battling against the illness that was to ultimately claim her life, she learned that two honours were to be bestowed upon her.
One was the OBE which was awarded in the 1999 New Years Honours List. Her manager, Vicki Wickam, was allowed to collect the award early for her and presented it to her in hospital.

Dusty was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the same year. Although she was aware of this and even contemplated attending the ceremony in New York, she was inducted posthumously.

A congregation of 300 attended a private funeral service held at St Mary's Church in Henley-on-Thames, but there were many, many hundreds more outside. So many, in fact, that the town centre was closed to traffic. Dusty once said she wanted to bring Henley to a standstill, and she did. Among the speakers at the service were Lulu, Elvis Costello and Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys.

Comments

Dr Guy

on Mar 02, 2006

She was good. At least her music will live on for us to enjoy.

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