Dusty Springfield

Dusty Springfield

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien OBE, known as Dusty Springfield, was an English pop singer and record producer. She was an important singer of blue-eyed soul and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

About Dusty Springfield in brief

Summary Dusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien OBE, known as Dusty Springfield, was an English pop singer and record producer. She was an important singer of blue-eyed soul and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, as well as her flamboyant performances, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties. She has been widely commended as the leading British soul singer of the twentieth century. She is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and UK Music Hall of fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time. Springfield was born in West Hampstead in London to a family that enjoyed music, and learned to sing at home. In 1958 she joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters, and two years later formed a pop-folk vocal trio, The Springfields, with her brother Tom Springfield, and Tim Feild. Her solo career began in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit \”I Only Want to Be with You\”. Among the hits that followed were \”Wishin’ and Hopin’ , \”I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself\”, \”You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me\”, and “Son of a Preacher Man’s’ “ “ Dusty in Memphis” has been ranked among the greatest albums of alltime by the US magazine Rolling Stone and in polls by VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers, and Channel 4 viewers.

In March 2020 the US Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry, which preserves audio recordings considered to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant’” The album was also awarded a place in the Grammy Hall Of Fame and in March 2020 it will be added to the National Recording Registry of the Grammy Hall of Fame. She died in a car crash in Los Angeles, California, on December 17, 2011. She had been diagnosed with cancer of the stomach and was in hospital when she died. Her funeral was held at St Mary’s Church, Ealing, London, on January 17, 2012. Her brother, Dionysius P. A. O’Brien, was later known as Tom Springfield. Her father, who had been raised in British India, worked as a tax accountant and consultant. Her mother came from an Irish family, originally from Tralee, County Kerry, that included a number of journalists. She lived in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire until the early 1950s and later lived in Ealing. Springfield and her brother were both prone to food-throwing incidents, and her mother would encourage her to guess the musical piece of music she was listening to. She listened to a wide range of music, including George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Countie Cole, Count Basie, and Cole Porter. She would tap out rhythms on the back of her hand on the table.