Dusty Springfield
Dutch postcard. Photo: Phonogram.
Dusty Springfield (1939-1999) was a British singer whose style and husky voice emulated the Motown sounds she adored. Hailed as Britain's 'best ever pop singer' by Rolling Stone, she charted several 1960s hits, including I Only Want to Be With You and Son of a Preacher Man. Her peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, heavy make-up, and flamboyant performances on the black and white television of the 1960s, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.
Dusty Springfield was born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in London, England, in 1939. She was given the nickname 'Dusty' for playing football with boys in the street, and was described as a tomboy. Born in a family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. She teamed up with her older brother Dion (later known as Tom), singing with him in their parents' garage. At the age of twelve, she made a recording of herself performing the Irving Berlin song 'When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam' at a local record shop in Ealing. After finishing school, Springfield sang with Tom in local folk clubs. In 1958 she joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters. With her brother and a friend, she formed a pop-folk vocal trio, The Springfields, in 1960. The Springfields disbanded in late 1963, allowing Dusty to launch a successful solo career. The run of success began just months after The Springfields ended, with the January 1964 hit I Only Want to Be With You, which reached no. 4 in Britain and no. 12 in the U.S. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc in the UK. In 1964, Springfield recorded two Burt Bacharach songs: Wishin' and Hopin' – a US Top 10 hit – and the emotional I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself, which reached No. 3 on the UK chart. Her other hits include Some of Your Lovin' (1965), You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (1966) and Son of a Preacher Man (1969).
As a fan of US pop music, Dusty Springfield brought many little-known soul singers to the attention of a wider UK record-buying audience by hosting the first national TV performance of many top-selling Motown artists beginning in 1965. She adored singers like Mavis Staples and Aretha Franklin. Springfield went to the US to work on an album with legendary music producer Jerry Wexler, the man behind albums by Franklin and Ray Charles. The album, Dusty in Memphis (1969), would be the pinnacle of her success. It has been ranked among the greatest albums of all time by the US magazine Rolling Stone and in polls by New Musical Express readers, and Channel 4 viewers. Springfield's career following Dusty in Memphis proved inconsistent and her private life was also a turmoil. From mid-1966 to the early 1970s Springfield lived in a domestic partnership with fellow singer Norma Tanega. From late 1972 to 1978, Springfield had a relationship with Faye Harris, a US photojournalist. In 1981 she had a six-month love affair with singer-musician Carole Pope of the rock band Rough Trade. During periods of psychological and professional instability, Springfield's involvement in some intimate relationships, influenced by addiction, resulted in episodes of personal injury. In 1982 Springfield met American actress Teda Bracci, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. In 1983, they exchanged vows at a wedding ceremony which was not legally recognised under California law. The pair had a tempestuous relationship which led to an altercation with both Springfield and Bracci hospitalised – Springfield had been smashed in the mouth by Bracci wielding a saucepan and had teeth knocked out requiring plastic surgery. The pair had separated within two years. After a bout with drugs and alcohol, she saw her career resurrected with the Pet Shop Boys song What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1987) and the soundtrack to the film Scandal (1988). In 1989, she had two other UK hits with Nothing Has Been Proved and In Private. Subsequently in the mid-1990s, owing to the inclusion of Son of a Preacher Man on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, interest in her early output was revived.Springfield, who returned to England in the early 1990s, released her final studio album, A Very Fine Love, in 1995. That same year, she was diagnosed with cancer. From there on out, health problems were a constant in her life. Dusty Sprinfield passed away from cancer, in 1999.
Source: Biography.com and Wikipedia.
Dusty Springfield
Dutch postcard. Photo: Phonogram.
Dusty Springfield (1939-1999) was a British singer whose style and husky voice emulated the Motown sounds she adored. Hailed as Britain's 'best ever pop singer' by Rolling Stone, she charted several 1960s hits, including I Only Want to Be With You and Son of a Preacher Man. Her peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, heavy make-up, and flamboyant performances on the black and white television of the 1960s, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.
Dusty Springfield was born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in London, England, in 1939. She was given the nickname 'Dusty' for playing football with boys in the street, and was described as a tomboy. Born in a family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. She teamed up with her older brother Dion (later known as Tom), singing with him in their parents' garage. At the age of twelve, she made a recording of herself performing the Irving Berlin song 'When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam' at a local record shop in Ealing. After finishing school, Springfield sang with Tom in local folk clubs. In 1958 she joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters. With her brother and a friend, she formed a pop-folk vocal trio, The Springfields, in 1960. The Springfields disbanded in late 1963, allowing Dusty to launch a successful solo career. The run of success began just months after The Springfields ended, with the January 1964 hit I Only Want to Be With You, which reached no. 4 in Britain and no. 12 in the U.S. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc in the UK. In 1964, Springfield recorded two Burt Bacharach songs: Wishin' and Hopin' – a US Top 10 hit – and the emotional I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself, which reached No. 3 on the UK chart. Her other hits include Some of Your Lovin' (1965), You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (1966) and Son of a Preacher Man (1969).
As a fan of US pop music, Dusty Springfield brought many little-known soul singers to the attention of a wider UK record-buying audience by hosting the first national TV performance of many top-selling Motown artists beginning in 1965. She adored singers like Mavis Staples and Aretha Franklin. Springfield went to the US to work on an album with legendary music producer Jerry Wexler, the man behind albums by Franklin and Ray Charles. The album, Dusty in Memphis (1969), would be the pinnacle of her success. It has been ranked among the greatest albums of all time by the US magazine Rolling Stone and in polls by New Musical Express readers, and Channel 4 viewers. Springfield's career following Dusty in Memphis proved inconsistent and her private life was also a turmoil. From mid-1966 to the early 1970s Springfield lived in a domestic partnership with fellow singer Norma Tanega. From late 1972 to 1978, Springfield had a relationship with Faye Harris, a US photojournalist. In 1981 she had a six-month love affair with singer-musician Carole Pope of the rock band Rough Trade. During periods of psychological and professional instability, Springfield's involvement in some intimate relationships, influenced by addiction, resulted in episodes of personal injury. In 1982 Springfield met American actress Teda Bracci, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. In 1983, they exchanged vows at a wedding ceremony which was not legally recognised under California law. The pair had a tempestuous relationship which led to an altercation with both Springfield and Bracci hospitalised – Springfield had been smashed in the mouth by Bracci wielding a saucepan and had teeth knocked out requiring plastic surgery. The pair had separated within two years. After a bout with drugs and alcohol, she saw her career resurrected with the Pet Shop Boys song What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1987) and the soundtrack to the film Scandal (1988). In 1989, she had two other UK hits with Nothing Has Been Proved and In Private. Subsequently in the mid-1990s, owing to the inclusion of Son of a Preacher Man on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, interest in her early output was revived.Springfield, who returned to England in the early 1990s, released her final studio album, A Very Fine Love, in 1995. That same year, she was diagnosed with cancer. From there on out, health problems were a constant in her life. Dusty Sprinfield passed away from cancer, in 1999.
Source: Biography.com and Wikipedia.