Randolph Magri-Overend

POP AND BLUES LEGEND : DUSTY SPRINGFIELD

She was nicknamed “Dusty” because from a young age she liked playing soccer with the boys.  A tom-boy; which probably was an indicator for her later years when her sexual orientation was (at least according to her) indeterminate.

Born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien on 16 April 1939 she was the second child to Gerard Anthony O’Brien and Catherine Anne (nee Ryde).  He’d been raised in India and worked as a tax accountant and consultant, she was originally from Tralee, County Kerry and included a number of journalists as relatives.  Their dysfunctional frustrations would sometimes boil over and would manifest itself in food-throwing, a custom Dusty and her older brother Dionysius continued as adults, to the great regret of the managers of the hotels they were staying at.  Dusty was brought up in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and educated at St Anne’s Convent, Northfield.

Dionysius changed his name to Tom Springfield and Mary to Dusty Springfield and together they sang in local folk clubs and later at Butlin’s Holiday Camps.   In 1958 Dusty joined the Lana Sisters an established sister act…who weren’t really sisters. They performed on TV and played in live shows in the UK and at USA bases in Europe.  By 1960, Dusty had left the group to concentrate on her reunion with her brother and Reshad Feild in a pop-folk trio which they named The Springfields. They travelled to Nashville, Tennessee and it was there that Dusty discovered pop music rooted in rhythm and blues.  In October 1963 she went solo. Tom went on to write some of The Seekers biggest hits including “I’ll Never Find Another You” and “Georgy Girl.” 

Dusty was a contemporary of Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Lulu but she preferred singers like Aretha Franklin and Gladys Pip.  Her favourite composers were Burt Bacharach and Carole King. She was known for her blonde bee-hive hair style and the black and white eye make-up or “panda” look.  In those days of black and white TV it was considered normal but would probably be frowned on now for its garish look. She had three wigs for different occasions….she called them suitably Cilla, Sandie and Lulu.  One day she was caught abusing one of the wigs. ‘I’m just giving Cilla a good kicking,’ she responded. Dusty was unrecognisable without her wigs or eye make-up.  

She was known as a perfectionist.  When interviewed by Melody Maker magazine in 1966, the writer stated : ‘(She) is a singer who knows music well…..a singer with soul.  Her reputation in music circles can be summarised in three words….ANYTHING WON’T DO!’

Her high standards occasionally led to arguments with waiters at restaurants.  She made headlines in the Daily Mirror when she threw a cake at a waiter whose attitude she’d taken offence to.  She was thereafter labelled a trouble-maker. She was never out of the headlines for very long and her time at the top of the music charts seemed to indicate she was going to be one of the great performers.

December 1964 was a case in point when she was invited to tour South Africa.  She was an anti-apartheid advocate and she insisted as part of her contract that she never perform in front of a segregated audience.  After a big row she was deported from South Africa. But she had made her point and the world noticed.

Her first solo single “I Only Want to be With You” rose to number 4 on the UK charts.  It sold over 1 million copies and earned itself a gold disc. The following April, she released her first album A Girl Called Dusty which included such tracks as “You Don’t Owe Me” and “Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa”.  When some of the tracks were issued as singles one of the B-sides “Somethin’ Special” was written by Dusty herself and was described as ‘a first rate Springfield original.’  Dusty was unimpressed. ‘The only reason I write is for the money,’ she said, then added, cheekily ‘Oh, mercenary creature!’

From 1965 to 1968 she was rarely out of the charts – from ‘In the Middle of Nowhere’, ‘Some of your Lovin,’’ ‘Little by Little’ to her biggest hit in 1966 ‘You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me’ which sold a million and went to number 1 in the UK and number 4 in the US.  Dusty called it ‘good schmaltz.’ ‘The Look of Love’ which she recorded for the first James Bond Casino Royale film also was a chart hugger and was nominated for the Academy Award Best Song for 1967.  It was composed by Bacharach as a sultry number and incorporated ‘minor-seventh and major-seventh chord changes.’   Hal David who wrote the lyrics later stated that it ‘epitomised longing and, yes, lust!’    

By 1968 Dusty’s career was relegated to performing at working-men’s clubs, hotels and cabarets.  She was also in a domestic relationship with Norma Tanega – a US born singer-songwriter who had made the UK charts with a novelty song called ‘Walkin’ My Cat called Dog!’  Wanting to revive her career she embarked on an ambitious plan, moved to the US, and recorded an album Dusty in Memphis.   The album received rave reviews from the critics but failed to achieve any success either commercially or on the charts.  In November 1968 the lead single from the album ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ was released but it didn’t reach any great heights until 1994 when it was featured in the film Pulp Fiction and the soundtrack album sold over 2 million copies.

By 1970 Dusty’s record sales were declining.  Norma Tanega had left and Dusty was spending more time in the US, recording sporadically and receiving no recognition from the UK.  She was getting upset at the prominence the UK media treated her sexual orientation. After a 1975 Evening Standard interview she said: ‘…I can’t stand to be thought of as a big butch lady.  I’ve done nothing wrong and I refuse to invent a relationship to appease people.’

Depression set in and though she lived in Los Angeles she felt ‘totally alienated’ in the city. In 1973 she was quoted in the Los Angeles Free Press: ‘…people say I’m gay….I go from men to women; I don’t give a shit.  The catchphrase is I can’t love a man. Now, that’s my hang-up. To love, to go to bed, fantastic; but to love a man is my prime ambition…..they frighten me.’

From 1974 to 1977 she drank heavily and no recordings were made.  In an effort to revive her career she teamed up in 1987 with the Pet Shop Boys in London.  They were an openly gay duo and Dusty seemed to feel more at ease singing with them. Together they recorded ‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’ which went to number 2 in both the UK and the US.

In 1982 she met an American actress called Teda Bracci at an Alcoholics Anonymous gathering. They moved in together but the relationship turned sour when they had a spat and Bracci swiped Dusty with a saucepan, smashing her mouth and knocking several teeth.  A friend lent her money to have plastic surgery. Apparently, Dusty chose the cheapest job and spent the rest on drugs. 

In 1994, while recording in Nashville, Dusty fell ill. Returning to England doctors diagnosed cancer of the breast.  After months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment the cancer seemed to be in remission only to surface again in mid-1996.  

She died in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire on 2 March 1999, just shy of her 60th birthday.

Dusty Springfield was a cultural icon of the Swinging Sixties.  She developed a joyful image and was one of the best-selling UK singers of the period.  Of all the female singers that crossed the pond to perform in the US, she was one of the most prominent and successful.

Wonder how many people remember her today?

Published by Randolph Magri-Overend

One of the questions Randolph hates to answer is “Where do you come from?” Why? Because the answer can be so time-consuming and, in a way, also gives away how old he is!! Plus the questioner has to wrestle with the wish he hadn’t asked the question!! He was born in Cairo, Egypt, many moons ago of British parents although he can trace Maltese and Croatian ancestry in his lineage. Educated in a Jesuit college in London his wander lust for things unorthodox drove him to embark on a seafaring career with both Canadian Pacific Steamships and Shaw Savill. That in itself dates him because both lines have been redundant for many a year. One of his boasts is that he was the Purser on the “Gothic” which ten years previously had been Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Yacht soon after her coronation in 1953. One of the objects imported on the ship by HM and left behind was a tape player which Randolph utilised on many a memorable Sunday evening with a classical concert for his passengers. Thus began a journey that not only awakened Randolph’s love for good music but also eventually led to his extensive knowledge of music in all forms. That he loves the era of Sinatra, Crosby, Armstrong, Dorsey (both) and many many more exponents of the post-war music scene is also part and parcel of his appreciation of the music of many an era. These days Randolph is retired but still reviews CDs and DVDs and has written articles on such diverse personalities as Yvonne Kenny, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Alexander Briger, the late Sir John Tavener, Sir James Galway, Dawn Upshaw and countless probes into the music of Gustav Mahler, Elizabeth Shwarzkopf and her husband Walter Legge, Glenn Gould, Leonard Bernstein and many many more he regrets to admit he has lost track of! Before emigrating to Australia, Randolph spent a number of years as a Flight Dispatcher in Canada. Since arriving in Australia, Randolph has written for The Weekend Australian (especially in their travel pages), The Sydney Morning Herald, Opera Opera and Fine Music magazine as well as some jazz magazines. If you require an extensive coverage of your music to a public that, at last count, reaches the best part of 818,000 please contact David Kary on editor.sydneyartsguide@gmail.com or email me directly on ibmar@bigpond.com. This also includes advertising any forthcoming shows by promoting featured artists. Cheers and thank you.