65 Facts About Dusty Springfield

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was a British singer.

Dusty Springfield was born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien on 16 April 1939 in West Hampstead, the second child of Gerard Anthony 'OB' O'Brien and Catherine Anne 'Kay' O'Brien, both Irish immigrants.

Dusty Springfield's father grew up in British India and worked as a tax accountant and consultant.

Dusty Springfield's mother came from an Irish family originally from Tralee, County Kerry, that included a number of journalists.

Dusty Springfield grew up in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire living there until the early 1950s and later in Ealing in West London.

Dusty Springfield attended St Anne's Convent School in Northfields, a traditional all-girl school in London.

Dusty Springfield was given the nickname "Dusty" because she played football with boys in the street; she was described as being a tomboy.

Dusty Springfield's father tapped out rhythms on the back of her hand and encouraged her to guess which musical piece had the beat.

Dusty Springfield listened to a wide range of music including George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Glenn Miller.

Dusty Springfield adopted the stage name "Shann Lana" and "cut her hair, lost the glasses, experimented with makeup, fashion" becoming one of the 'sisters'.

Dusty Springfield left the band after their final concert in October 1963.

Dusty Springfield released her first solo single, "I Only Want to Be with You", co-written and arranged by Ivor Raymonde, in November 1963.

Dusty Springfield received the award again for the next three years.

Dusty Springfield's dramatic recording of the ballad was released in March 1966 and reached number one in the UK in its fifth week on the singles chart.

Dusty Springfield called it "good old schmaltz", and it became her signature song.

Dusty Springfield stood it on its head and made it a passionate lament of loneliness and love.

Also in 1968, Dusty Springfield scored with one of her biggest UK hits of the decade: the dramatic "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten", written by Clive Westlake.

Springfield's 1968 TV series It Must Be Dusty was broadcast on ITV in May and June; episode six featured a duet performance of "Mockingbird" with singer-guitarist Jimi Hendrix, fronting his band the Experience.

Dusty Springfield's performing career was limited to the UK touring circuit of working men's clubs, hotels and cabarets.

Dusty Springfield had never worked with just a rhythm track, and it was her first time with outside producers; many of her previous recordings had been self-produced, while not being credited.

Wexler felt Dusty Springfield had a "gigantic inferiority complex", and due to her pursuit of perfection, her vocals were re-recorded later, in New York.

In November 1968, during the Memphis sessions, Dusty Springfield suggested to Wexler that he should sign the newly formed UK band Led Zeppelin.

Dusty Springfield knew their bass guitarist, John Paul Jones, from his session work on her earlier albums.

Until her 1987 comeback with Pet Shop Boys, 1969 marked the last year in which Dusty Springfield achieved any notable singles chart presence.

Dusty Springfield was one of the best-selling UK singers of the 1960s.

Dusty Springfield was voted the Top Female Singer by the readers of the New Musical Express in 1964 to 1966 and Top Female Singer in 1965 to 1967 and 1969.

The album and related singles only sold moderately; Dusty Springfield was unhappy with both her management and record company.

Dusty Springfield sang backing vocals with her friend Madeline Bell on two tracks on Elton John's 1971 hit album Tumbleweed Connection.

Dusty Springfield recorded some songs with producer Jeff Barry in early 1971, which were intended for an album to be released by Atlantic Records.

Dusty Springfield signed a contract with ABC Dunhill Records in 1972, and Cameo was issued in February 1973 to respectable reviews, though poor sales.

In early 1979, Dusty Springfield played club dates in New York City.

On 3 December 1979, Dusty Springfield performed a charity concert for a full house at the Royal Albert Hall, in the presence of Princess Margaret.

In 1980, Dusty Springfield sang "Bits and Pieces", the theme song from the movie The Stunt Man.

Dusty Springfield signed a US deal with 20th Century Records, which resulted in the single "It Goes Like It Goes", a cover of the Oscar-winning song from the film Norma Rae.

Dusty Springfield was uncharacteristically proud of her 1982 album White Heat, which was influenced by new wave music.

Dusty Springfield tried to revive her career in 1985 by returning to the UK and signing to Peter Stringfellow's Hippodrome Records label.

Dusty Springfield sang lead vocals on the Richard Carpenter song "Something in Your Eyes".

Dusty Springfield returned to the studio with the Pet Shop Boys, who produced her recording of their song "Nothing Has Been Proved", commissioned for the soundtrack of the 1989 drama film Scandal.

The last studio track Dusty Springfield recorded was George and Ira Gershwin's song "Someone to Watch Over Me" in London in 1995 for an insurance company TV ad.

Dusty Springfield had a finely tuned musical ear and extraordinary control of tone.

Dusty Springfield sang in a variety of styles, mostly pop, soul, folk, Latin, and rock'n'roll.

Dusty Springfield consistently used her voice to upend commonly held beliefs on the expression of social identity through music.

Dusty Springfield did this by referencing a number of styles and singers, including Martha Reeves, Carole King, Aretha Franklin, Peggy Lee, Astrud Gilberto, and Mina.

Dusty Springfield instructed UK backup musicians to capture the spirit of US musicians and copy their instrumental playing styles.

An editorial review at Publishers Weekly of Valentine and Wickham's 2001 biography, Dancing with Demons, finds that "the confidence [Dusty Springfield] exuded on vinyl was a facade masking severe insecurities, addictions to drink and drugs, bouts of self-harm and fear of losing her career if exposed as a lesbian".

Dusty Springfield had a great love for animals, particularly cats, and became an advocate for animal protection groups.

Dusty Springfield enjoyed reading maps and would intentionally get lost to navigate her way out.

Dusty Springfield was hospitalised several times for self-harm and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

From mid-1966 to the early 1970s, Dusty Springfield lived in a domestic partnership with fellow singer Norma Tanega.

In September 1970, Dusty Springfield told Ray Connolly of the Evening Standard:.

In 1981, Dusty Springfield had a six-month relationship with singer-musician Carole Pope of the rock band Rough Trade.

Dusty Springfield met an American actress, Teda Bracci, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in 1982 and they moved in together in April 1983.

In January 1994, while recording her album, A Very Fine Love, in Nashville, Dusty Springfield began to feel ill.

Dusty Springfield received months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and the cancer was found to be in remission.

Dusty Springfield was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two weeks after her death.

Dusty Springfield was popular in Europe and performed at the Sanremo Music Festival.

Dusty Springfield is known to have brought many little-known soul singers to the attention of a wider UK record-buying audience.

Dusty Springfield is a cultural icon of the Swinging Sixties, where she "was an instantly recognisable celebrity".

Dusty Springfield borrowed elements of her look from blonde glamour queens such as Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve and pasted them together according to her own taste.

In March 1999, Dusty Springfield was scheduled to receive her award at Buckingham Palace as an officer of the Order of the British Empire, given for "services to popular music".

Dusty Springfield died on the day that she would otherwise have collected her award from the Palace.

In 2012, a biographical jukebox musical titled Forever Dusty Springfield opened Off-Broadway in New York City at New World Stages.

The production starred Kirsten Holly Smith as Dusty Springfield; Smith co-wrote the book of the musical.

In 2015, Dusty Springfield was named by Equality Forum as being one of their 31 Icons of the 2015 LGBT History Month.

Dusty Springfield was the presenter or host of several TV musical series:.