Dusty Springfield

From Mary O'Brien to Dusty

Dusty Springfield was born Mary O'Brien in West Hampstead, London, on 16 April 1939, and grew up in High Wycombe and then Ealing. In 1958 she joined a vocal trio, the Lana Sisters, and in 1960 she left to form the Springfields with her brother Dion, who became Tom Springfield, and Reshad Feild, whom Mike Hurst replaced in 1962. The folk-pop trio took their name from a field in Somerset where they rehearsed one spring. NME readers voted them top British vocal group in 1961 and 1962, and their biggest hits, Island of Dreams and Say I Won't Be There, both reached number five in 1963.

A solo star

The Springfields played their last concert in October 1963. Her first solo single, I Only Want to Be with You, came out in November, reached number four in Britain and twelve in the United States, and was played on the first ever Top of the Pops on 1 January 1964. Her debut album, A Girl Called Dusty, followed that April. It was mostly covers of songs she loved and reached number six, though it was never issued in America. In 1964 Wishin' and Hopin' went to six in the United States, and I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself went to three in Britain.

She presented Ready Steady Go! and in April 1965 hosted a Motown special that gave the Temptations, the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Miracles and Stevie Wonder their first British television appearances. Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty reached number six that autumn. In March 1966 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me reached number one in Britain and number four in the United States, and it became her signature song. She hosted her own BBC series from 1966. The Look of Love, which she first recorded for the 1967 spoof James Bond film Casino Royale, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Dusty... Definitely (1968) reached number 30 in Britain and was not released in the United States.

Memphis

In 1968 she signed to Atlantic Records for the United States, the label of Aretha Franklin, on condition that she work with Jerry Wexler. With Wexler, Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd producing, she recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis with the Sweet Inspirations and the Memphis Boys. The sessions were hard on her. She later said she feared comparison with the soul singers who had worked in the same rooms, and her final vocals were recorded in New York. Dusty in Memphis came out on 31 March 1969, and its single Son of a Preacher Man reached number nine in Britain and ten in the United States. The album itself reached only 99 in the United States and did not chart in Britain.

Its standing grew slowly. Robert Christgau called it a pop standard and classic in 1973. Rolling Stone ranked it 89th on its 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums, it entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001, and in 2020 the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.

Wilderness and return

Commercial success did not follow. A Brand New Me (1970) featured songs written and produced by Gamble and Huff, and in 1972 she signed to ABC Dunhill for Cameo. By 1974 she had put her solo career on hold and was living in the United States, and from 1971 to 1986 she failed to register a hit from five album releases, apart from a minor 1979 chart appearance in Britain. Then in 1987 Pet Shop Boys asked her to sing on What Have I Done to Deserve This?, which reached number two on both sides of the Atlantic. They went on to write and produce Nothing Has Been Proved and In Private for her, and both are on Reputation (1990), which reached number 18 in Britain. Her last live singing performance was on Later with Jools Holland on 30 June 1995.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994 and died at Henley-on-Thames on 2 March 1999, aged 59. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two weeks after her death, with Elton John saying he thought she was the greatest white singer there ever has been. Quentin Tarantino used Son of a Preacher Man in Pulp Fiction in 1994. PopMatters' Eric Klinger said Dusty in Memphis became a blueprint for British female singers of the 2000s, among them Adele and Amy Winehouse.