Dusty Springfield

Dusty Springfield was one of the UK’s most successful girl singers of the 1960s with a repertoire ranging from rousing pop to emotional soul ballads. Known for her elaborate wigs and panda-eyed make up, she became something of a camp icon, but is arguably one of the best singers Britain has ever produced.

She was born Mary O’Brien on 16 April 1939 in West Hampstead, London. She was given the nickname Dusty as a child.

In 1958 she joined the Lana Sisters, who released several singles over the next couple of years.

She left the group in 1960 to form the folk trio the Springfields with her brother Dion (who renamed himself Tom Springfield) and Tim Feild, and adopted the name Dusty Springfield. The group scored several UK hits, including 1961’s Breakaway and Bambino and 1962’s Island of dreams, and even enjoyed success in the US with Silver threads and golden needles.

On a stopover in New York City during a trip to Nashville to record an album, Dusty first heard the Exciters’ Tell him and became captivated by the sound of American soul. A desire to change direction musically led to her decision to quit the group in autumn 1963.

Her first solo release, I only want to be with you, issued in November 1963, couldn’t have been more different to the material she’d recorded
with the Springfields. A brash corker of a song,
it stormed up in the UK charts, reaching number
four. The singer also showed off her songwriting
skills by penning the B-side, Once upon a time.

Stay awhile, written by Mike Hawker and Ivor
Raymonds, the same team responsible for her
first solo hit, was quickly issued as the follow up,
but stalled at number 13.

Cilla Black was enjoying a number one hit at the
time with a tune by American songwriters Burt
Bacharach and Hal David, and Dusty raided their
back catalogue for her third single, covering a
little-known tune which had been recorded by
Tommy Hunt. The result was the emotional I
just don’t know what to do with myself,
which went to number three in the UK charts in
the summer of 1964 and set the standard for much of her later material.

By this time, Dusty had become known in the rest of Europe, appearing in Italy’s San Remo song festival and releasing a number of singles in French, German and Italian. (Though she didn’t enjoy the success in mainland Europe of some of her contemporaries, notably Sandie Shaw and Petula Clark, many of her hits were covered by continental singers in their native tongues, including Françoise Hardy, Gelu, Heidi Brühl, Patty Pravo, Séverine, Silvana Velasco and Waltraud Dirks, to name but a few.)

In the UK, she opted to release a song her brother Tom had co-written as a her next single, Losing you, which made the UK top ten in the autumn of that year. When the follow up, Your hurtin’ kinda love, barely scraped into the top 40 in February 1965, Dusty quickly bounced back with the strident In the middle of nowhere and was rewarded with another top ten hit.

For the follow up, she released an English-language cover of a song she’d heard while performing at the San Remo song festival a year earlier. She’d fallen in love with Io che non vivo (senza te), which had been written and performed by Pino Donaggio, and took the song back home with her. Her version, You don’t have to say you love me, became her only UK number one single, in April 1966.

She released the beautiful Goin’ back in the summer and the dramatic Italian-esque All I see is you in the autumn. Both were top ten hits, but her next three singles gave the singer cause for concern.

The rousing I’ll try anything made number 13 but could not match the brilliance of her previous releases. Give me time missed the top 20 (why the superior The look of love from the film Casino royale was consigned to the B-side is anybody’s guess).

Then, the highly danceable What’s it gonna be (a cover of a little-known number by US singer Susan Barratt) failed to chart, though it later became a favourite on Britain’s northern soul scene.

Panic stricken, Dusty was desperate to find a song that would give her another big hit. Songwriter Clive Westlake (who had co-written some of her earlier hits) came to the rescue, offering her I close my eyes and count to ten, which returned the singer to the charts, making number four in July 1968, and proved her one of her best-loved hits. (Incidentally, the B-side, No stranger am I, was written by Dusty’s then lover Norma Tanega.)

Westlake couldn’t repeat the goods with the follow up, the weaker I will come to you, which missed the charts altogether.

However, Dusty went to Memphis, Tennessee, to record an album, the first single from which was the classic Son-of-a preacher man, a top ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The album Dusty in Memphis is considered a classic, though it wasn’t a huge success at the time, and record company Philips issued no further singles from it in the UK.

Instead, Am I the same girl was released the following year, but interest in the singer had waned and it failed to make the top 40. It proved a rather unfitting end to the decade for Dusty.

She went on to release a string of singles and albums in the 1970s, none of which met with any great success. It wasn’t until she teamed up with electronic duo the Pet Shop Boys in 1987 that she enjoyed a comeback. What have I done to deserve this went to number two in the UK and US and gave her a big hit in much of mainland Europe. It led to a clutch of further hit singles, including Nothing has been proved (the theme to the film Scandal) and In private, and several albums.

In 1994, Dusty was diagnosed with breast cancer. She eventually died from the disease on 2 March 1999.

Dusty Springfield on YouTube

Dusty Springfield

Complete A and B sides 1963-1970

Amazon.co.uk