Dusty Springfield

Greetings, fellow time travelers, and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this episode I will discuss the career of the woman who, I would argue, was perhaps the finest white soul singer of her era!  I'm referring to the great British singing icon, Dusty Springfield!  So sit back and have a listen as we flash back in time in this edition of Rock and Roll Flashback!
During her 1960's peak, with her trademark peroxide blonde beehive hairdo, heavy makeup and eyeliner, evening gowns, and flamboyant performances, Dusty Springfield was an icon of the Swinging Sixties.  From 1963 to 1989 Dusty ranked among the most successful British female performers on both sides of the Atlantic with 6 top 20 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and 16 top 20 singles on the U.K. Singles Chart.  Several international polls have named Dusty Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time.  

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Transcript

Thank you for that introduction!  Greetings, fellow time travelers, and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this episode I will discuss the career of the woman who, I would argue, was perhaps the finest white soul singer of her era!  I'm referring to the great British singing icon, Dusty Springfield!  So sit back and have a listen as we flash back in time in this edition of Rock and Roll Flashback!

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien was born on April 16th, 1939 in the West Hampstead section of London, England.  Her family was very musical, and Mary learned to sing at home.  In 1958, she joined her first professional group, the Lana Sisters.  Two years later - in 1960 - Mary and her brother Dion O'Brien formed a folk-pop vocal trio with Dion's friend Tim Feild.  They called their trio The Springfields, with Dion taking up the moniker Tom Springfield and Mary adopting the stage name Dusty Springfield.  Reportedly as a young girl Mary had been given the nickname "Dusty" for playing football with boys in the streets of London.  

The Springfields soon became the U.K.'s top selling musical act.  Two of their Top 40 U.K. hits - "Island of Dreams" and "Say I Won't Be There" - reached #5 on the British charts, both in the spring of 1963.  They also had three other U.K. Top 40 hits:  "Breakaway," "Bambino," and "Say I Won't Be There."  In 1962 Tim Feild left the group to care for his wife, and he was replaced by Mike Hurst.  With Hurst on board, the trio covered a country song, "Silver Threads and Golden Needles".  This recording reached #20 on the U.S. Billboard chart, the first single by a British group ever to do so, months before The Beatles and the British invasion.  The group traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to record an album called "Folk Songs From The Hills".  While in the U.S., Dusty was so impressed by the emerging American girl group and Motown sounds that she decided to leave The Springfields at the peak of their fame to pursue a solo career.  Following the 1963 break-up of The Springfields, Tom Springfield continued songwriting and producing for other artists, notably the Australian folk-pop group The Seekers.  

[Be sure to check out our episode #73 podcast about The Seekers, as part of Rock and Roll Flashback's Down Under Series]

Dusty Springfield's solo career began in November 1963 with the upbeat pop tune "I Only Want to Be with You."  Released three weeks after The Springfields' final concert, "I Only Want to Be With You" was a global success in 1964, reaching #4 in the U.K., #12 in the U.S., #6 in Australia, and #21 in Canada.  On January 1st, 1964 Dusty performed the song on the first-ever edition of the BBC's Top of the Pops.  In the U.S., Dusty Springfield was the second artist of the British Invasion, after the Beatles, to have a hit.  "I Only Want to Be with You" entered the Billboard chart at #77 in the last week of January 1964, a week after the debut of the Beatles' first hit "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and in the same week as the debut of "She Loves You".  Dusty was clearly at the forefront of the British Invasion!

Dusty Springfield's version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Wishin' and Hopin''' was issued in the U.S. as a single in May 1964.  "Wishin' and Hopin'" broke nationally that June, entering the Top Ten in July, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It reached #4 on the U.S. Easy Listening chart and #4 in Cashbox.  Additionally charting in 1964 with hits including "Stay Awhile" (#13 in the U.K. and #38 in the U.S.) and "All Cried Out," by the end of 1964 Dusty Springfield was arguably the biggest solo act in British pop.

In 1966 Dusty recorded an English version of an Italian song that would end up being her most successful single.  "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" was released on March 25th, 1966 in the U.K.  The single release of Springfield's recording became a huge international hit and remains one of the songs most identified with her.  The song hit #1 in the U.K. charts and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S.  She also was successful internationally with the single "All I See Is You" in 1966. 

In January 1967 Dusty recorded "The Look of Love" for the Casino Royale movie soundtrack.  The film version received an Oscar nomination for songwriters Bacharach and David.  Dusty re-recorded the song the same year for Philips Records with an arrangement about half a minute shorter than the soundtrack version.  Her Philips single version reached #22 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in November 1967.  The Philips version was later featured in the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can.  Another international hit for Dusty in 1967 was "I'll Try Anything".

Then in 1969 she charted internationally again with "Son of a Preacher Man".  Released on November 8th, 1968, the single would reach #9 in the U.K. and #10 in the U.S.  "Son of a Preacher Man" was featured on her fifth album:  the pop and soul LP called Dusty in Memphis, which was one of Springfield's defining works.  In March 2020, the U.S. Library of Congress added the album to the National Recording Registry, which preserves audio recordings considered to be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

During the 1960's Dusty Springfield appeared regularly on British television.  She presented many episodes of the British TV music series Ready Steady Go!.  Between 1966 and 1969 she hosted her own series on the BBC and ITV.  Dusty received the most votes in the New Musical Express  British Singer category from 1964 to 1966.  In 1965 she was the first British singer to top the New Musical Express readers' polls for Female Singer, and topped that poll again in 1966, 1967, and 1969.  In 1966, Springfield was chosen as Melody Maker's Best International Vocalist.  

Interestingly, between 1964 and 1969, Springfield charted 5 tunes in the U.K., which either failed to chart or were not released in the U.S.  They were "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", "In the Middle of Nowhere", "Some of Your Lovin'", "Goin' Back" and "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten".  Conversely, during this same time period she had charted in the U.S. - but not in the U.K. - with the hits "Wishin' and Hopin'", "The Look of Love", and "The Windmills of Your Mind".

Her career slowed down, and from 1971 to 1986 Springfield only briefly appeared in the U.K. charts in 1979 and failed to register a hit from five album releases.  However, her 1987 collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", was very successful, reaching #2 on both the U.K. Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.  That collaboration also yielded two 1989 U.K. top 20 hits: "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private".  In 1990, Springfield had her 25th and final U.K. top 40 hit with the song called "Reputation".

In March 1999, Springfield was scheduled to go to Buckingham Palace to receive her award as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, given for "services to popular music".  However, due to the recurrence of her breast cancer, officials of Queen Elizabeth II gave permission for the medal to be collected earlier.  In January 1999, the medal was presented to Springfield in the hospital with a small group of friends and relatives attending.  Sadly, Dusty Springfield died at the age of 59 from breast cancer on March 2, 1999.  Her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame occurred two weeks after her death, and she was inducted posthumously by her close friend Elton John.  At the ceremony Elton said [and I quote] "I'm biased, but I just think she was the greatest white singer there ever has been - every song she sang, she claimed as her own" [end quote].

The awards and honors presented posthumously to Dusty Springfield are numerous.  In addition to the induction to the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she was also inducted into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame in 2006 and the U.S. National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2023.  Her album Dusty in Memphis has been listed among the greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone.  In 2001, she received the Grammy Hall of Fame award.  She has been placed among the top 25 female artists of all time by readers of Mojo magazine, by the editors of Q magazine, and by a panel of artists on the VH1 TV channel.  In 2008, Dusty was ranked #35 on the Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".   

Dusty Springfield was a very complicated person.  At times she battled depression, self-doubt, substance abuse, and bravely came out as bisexual in a 1970 interview.  Nevertheless, she is remembered as a performer of remarkable emotional resonance and as an important singer of blue-eyed soul.  During her 1960's peak, with her trademark peroxide blonde beehive hairdo, heavy makeup and eyeliner, evening gowns, and flamboyant performances, she was an icon of the Swinging Sixties.  From 1963 to 1989 Dusty ranked among the most successful British female performers on both sides of the Atlantic with 6 top 20 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and 16 top 20 singles on the U.K. Singles Chart.  Several international polls have named Dusty Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time.  

This has been Rock and Roll Flashback…a brief overview of the career of one of Britain's greatest female pop singers, Dusty Springfield!  I'm Jumpin' John McDermott, and until next time….Rock On!