- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien
- Nicknames
- The White Queen of Soul
- The Queen of Blue-eyed soul
- Height5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
- Dusty Springfield has been acknowledged around the world as the best female soul singer that Britain ever produced. With her oddly erotic, throaty voice, she racked up a string of hits from the 1960s onwards. Born in London to Irish parents, Dusty grew up in and around London. Her early work included an all-girl trio, "The Lana Sisters" and, then, with her brother Tom Springfield (Dion O'Brien), The Springfields. Inspired by Phil Spector's "wall of sound", Dusty recorded her first pop song "I Only Want to Be with You" in 1963. It reached No. 4 in the charts and was the first song played on the new BBC TV pop show Top of the Pops (1964). The sixties brought a steady succession of top-ten hits and a lifestyle to match. However, Dusty used to campaign to get the little-known American soul singers a better audience in the United Kingdom which led to her own show The Sound of Motown (1965). In 1970, she moved to America and, although she attempted a few come-back tours, they never really worked. However, time in the studio did produce the seminal album, "Dusty in Memphis". A downward spiral of drugs and drink followed for most of the latter seventies but then she overcame these problems and, helped by lifelong fans "The Pet Shop Boys", came back with songs such as "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" and the album "Reputation". Cancer was diagnosed in 1994 and, although it was kept at bay for quite a while, it finally got her.
- IMDb mini biography by: Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk> - Dusty Springfield was an enormous cat lover. She left behind her twelve year old pet cat, Nicholas. She had suffered from drug and alcoholism during the seventies. She was the first person to bring the sound of Motown to England in her variety music show. She performed "Mockingbird" with Jimi Hendrix. She appeared as herself in An Audience with Dame Edna Everage (1980) in the eighties. The Pet Shop Boys were lifelong fans and wanted Dusty for their song, "What Have I Done to Deserve this?" in the eighties. Her album, "Dusty in Memphis", is considered by the music industry to be a very important album.
- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous
- RelativesTom Springfield(Sibling)
- Blonde beehive hair and heavily mascara'd "panda" eyes
- Oddly erotic throaty voice
- Evening gowns
- Part of her ashes were buried at Henley, the rest were scattered by her brother, Tom Springfield at the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland.
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
- Her alcoholism and drug addiction affected her musical career in the 1970s and early 1980s.
- Upon visiting New York City, heard the Exciters' recording of "Tell Him" playing in a record store. She was so impressed with the sound and recording style that it influenced her to begin a solo career with a Pop/Soul direction.
- Refused to perform concerts in South Africa before segregated audiences, as required by that country's apartheid system, and in fact was deported from South Africa shortly after she arrived to the country for performing before an integrated audience.
- Hell, have I been a hell-raiser!
- I couldn't stand to be thought of as a big butch lady. But I know that I'm as perfectly capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy.
- A lot of people say I'm bent, and I've heard it so many times that I've almost learned to accept it.
- Basically I'm a drag queen myself.
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