I had no idea Dusty Springfield was English

...but...how?

Ignorance and lack of education, R1. x

Did you know The Queen is American?

Born to Irish parents. So....Irish/English?

Unfortunately yes, but she does sing well.

It's OK, Rhoda. She was often mistaken for a black American singer early on.

One of my favorite singers, ever. Back in the 60s, a lot of American women copied her look, with blonde hair piled high, and too much mascara.

r7 No one in Britain?

I’m on a real 60s vibe at the moment. I don’t know how I’ve let Dusty pass me by - she’s incredible. x

R8, Since I'm not British, I wouldn't know.

In the middle of nowhere.....

Did you know Dusty was once married to Mick Jagger, OP?

the joke was lost on you r10

R12 No! Are you pulling my leg? I don’t believe you. x

....

OP will shit herself when you tell her Dusty was a dyke

Actually, Dusty was an out Lesbian with substance abuse problems. She even managed to piss of Princess Margaret.

Help me.

I'm English. I'm English!

What the fuck. Are you girls trolling? x

She also had bipolar

' She even managed to piss of Princess Margaret. '

Is that meant to be 'piss off Princess Margaret,' or 'piss on Princess Margaret'

I'd venture to be that Dust was a gold star lesbian!

I thought she was Lebanese.

OK, so Dusty Springfield was an English bipolar lesbian drug addict that was once married to Mick Jagger? Wow. I need to know more. Is there a book? x

She was never diagnosed bipolar.

And she was NEVER married to Mick!

Dusty was fabulous and, as most wonderfully creative folks are, a bit complicated.

She was a lesbian but was evasive about that during most of her career. Her career was hemmed in by the times when she came to popularity - she could sing anything (Soul, rock, easy listening, new wave) but the industry of the day wanted her to be a cabaret lady like her fellow chanteuses Cilla Black and Lulu.

Of course her 60s music is very popular, as is her hidden masterpiece Dusty In Memphis, but there are a number of good songs from even her so called "down" period. She could sing the FUCK out of a sad song.

Her hardcore fanbase hate "Dancing With Demons," but it was written by Vicki Wickham, Dusty's friend and later manager. Wickham was a pioneering producer ("Ready! Steady! Go!") who would co-pen the lyrics for "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (in the back of a taxi, no less) and help LaBelle become a hit recording act.

' In the 1970s and early 1980s, Springfield's alcoholism and drug addiction affected her musical career.[107] She was hospitalised several times for self-harm by cutting herself, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.[19][144]'

What R28 said.

I think this is why we haven't seen a Dusty movie yet. The reality was she had a lot of struggles in the 70s and 80s. Some of her more prisspot type fans want her to be worshipped like Garland, but with no exploration of her demons.

I tend to believe Wickham, though she's also a piece of work and probably exaggerated a few things, too.

r24 I went to her restaurant

Well you’ve all sent me down the rabbit hole now. I’ve just ordered this. x

Her ashes were scattered at the cliffs of moher in co Clare Ireland

Dusty was never publicly out. She was uncomfortable about her homosexuality.

OP/R32 That one is pretty good, but do also read the Vicki Wickham one sometime. Even if you have to go to a library.

O'Brien's book is very complete about her career but not as much about her personal life.

Can I play her in the biopic?

R34, she was scared as she have been the time. Dusty called herself bisexual, when in reality she was lez x 1000.

Dusty was also addicted to plastic surgery.

The one written by... Karen Hewlett (?) painted a memorable picture of young, pre-showbiz Dusty. The image of Mary clutching the boiling hot radiator as a form of self harm has stayed with me since reading the passage. I don't recall how that was corroborated so it could have been made up. Another memorable description centred on the grim package tour era of the Lana Sisters (and I guess, The Springfields). If I were doing a Dusty biopic (for the BBC), I'd end it circa "I Only Want to Be With You."

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

My best friend's mum worked in marketing in the 60s in London and met almost everyone (she even danced on Ready Steady Go)...she said the nickname for her was Rusty Springboard due to her "inclinations".

One was partial to golden showers. Gold being superior. One was royalty after all. Oftentimes one preferred a scolding hot bath.

[quote] Back in the 60s, a lot of American women copied her look, with blonde hair piled high, and too much mascara.

She was actually copying the look of American women in the 60s. That popular look proceeded her.

preceded not proceeded

Actually, does stole the black eyed ("panda") look from Paris.

*Dusty (not does)

And the only people who mistook her for a black American singer...were not black. Come on now.

Dusty is fabulous. Possibly favorite singer of the 60s. Troubled but great. And got her life together eventually. Just for being an out lesbian at the time she should be revered.

I met Dusty in Greenwich Village's legendary Bonnie & Clyde's (lesbian bar) back in the late 70s. I loved her music then and do to this day, but I had the good sense to dodge that bullet!

Only a handful of albums can match the mastery of "Dusty In Memphis."

I always confuse her with Dalida, who was Polynesian!

She’s English. Yer stoopid.

[quote] The late Dusty Springfield who died in 1999, aged 59, sent a written apology to the Queen after telling an audience which included Princess Margaret: ‘It’s nice to see the royalty isn’t confined to the box’ – a reference to the ‘queens’ among her fans. So it was claimed by a BBC4 documentary marking the 75th birthday of the singer.

That line is on the CD for that concert, along with "Let me hear a girlish shriek or a butch roar - I'll let you work it out yourselves who does what!"

So is Olivia Newton-,Lez

OP = Nina Simone

Poignant:

[quote]Actually, Dusty was an out Lesbian with substance abuse problems.

Out to who? Her mother?

[quote]And the only people who mistook her for a black American singer...were not black. Come on now.

To gay men she sounds black.

...

Dusty came out as bisexual in a 1970 newspaper interview. The quote went something like "I can as easily be swayed by a boy or a girl."

I would call the Dusty movie See All Her Faces and lean into all her different eras and the fact that she had the "real" her and then "Dusty" which was a completely invented persona.

I remember Adell was rumored to star in a biopic.

Who the fuck’s “Adell”, hunty? x

That fat whore was NEVER truly slated to star in a movie, that was a rumor started by her managers.

This was supposed to be made sometime this year, but its director ran for the union presidency, so I'm not sure if it really happened or not.

She pissed off Princess Margaret at a charity gig at The Royal Albert Hall by saying she was glad to see that the royalty wasn’t confined to the royal box, which of course the queens all adored and cheered. Dusty was made to sign a formal apology to the Palace which, to everyone’s surprise, she did. But she was fiercer in 1964 when she refused to play to segregated audiences in South Africa and was deported by the government. She had a special anti apartheid clause written into her contract saying she would only play to racially mixed audiences and stuck to her guns. She was the first international star to do so and it damaged her career, she had a lot of flak for it in U.K. When she was being escorted by armed guards across the tarmac to the waiting plane, the black airport workers formed a guard of honour and took their caps off for her. What a great singer and person she was.

The British press, in her early days of stardom, referred to Dusty by the quaint term, “The White Negress,” thus managing to be racist and sexist at the same time.

No it was Cliff Richard, apparently. It was not a term that caught on.

[quote]Once dubbed 'the white negress' by Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard is a dirty batty boy but I negress

Gemma Arterton actually has a similar face shape to Dusty in the pic above.

"I used to be Dusty Springfield," is how she introduced herself to me, perhaps predicting the title to a future biography or biopic. R48

[Quote] I used to be Dusty Springfield

I would have replied "Well, I'm forever Mary."

Miss Wilson, is that you?

R66 Agree, she would actually resemble Dusty.

I hope the movie happens but I am not particularly convinced.....

Oh, the Guardian thing made me cry a bit.....

"True to her survivor's reputation, she stormed back into the British charts in 1987 with What Have I Done to Deserve This? a duet recorded with the Eighties pop duo The Pet Shop Boys. The song was a worldwide hit, and was followed by a second collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, Nothing Has Been Proved, the theme to the film Scandal.

Matt Snow, editor of Mojo, said yesterday that, in bringing rhythm and blues into British pop music, Springfield had proved herself as significant as Lennon and McCartney.

'She was an unconscious stylistic revolutionary, but a revolutionary none the less. Her emergence symbolised the beginning of a new era, with white singers adopting the emotional range of black artists.

'Since the Pet Shop Boys rediscovered and re-presented her, she has been established in the pantheon of significant pop stylists and nothing can remove her from that.

'The unusual thing about her as big star was that she appeased her hunger for stardom quite quickly, and was not desperate to keep plugging away. She went into semi-retirement with barely a backward glance. Her legacy is the style in which every British singer sings.'

Adam Mattera, editor of the gay men's magazine Attitude, said Springfield's personal story had a huge resonance with gay men at the time.

'When the rumours began about her sexuality, and she actually said that she was attracted to men and women, it was very significant. Her lyrics were all about secret loves, but instead of going into the corner and weeping she stood defiant.

'After the lost years, with her Eighties comeback, there was a clever, knowing sense of camp. She was in on the joke, which separated her from traditional gay icons. She understood what made her popular in the gay community and played up to it.'

Springfield bridged the gap between old-school divas like Judy Garland and more modern artists. 'She paved the way for people like Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer, through to Debbie Harry and Madonna, who took the defiance further.

'She broke the mould with her music, her sexuality, by refusing to fit comfortably into the music industry's expectations. She was subversive.'

Lucy O'Brien, whose biography of Springfield was published in 1989, said: 'Dusty pushed back the frontiers and redefined the role of women in British pop music. She chose classic material which she invested...with a unique pathos and vulnerability. She made an enormous contribution to British pop.'

Tributes were paid by all generations of the pop business. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys said they had been proud to work with Britain's greatest female singer."

I saw Mari Wilson in Dusty the Musical about twenty years ago. It was a bit of a rip off of Blood Brothers but Mari sang her songs brilliantly. Worth seeing if is gets a revival.

While I think it's sort of mindblowing that Dusty addressed her sexuality in 1970, I think it's wrong to characterise her as defiant in that area. There was a Gay Times (or some such publication) cassette recording uploaded to YouTube of Dusty talking to a journalist who had been told that Dusty would talk about her sexuality while promoting her new album ("It Begins Again", I think). Dusty burst into tears at the prospect.

"Unconscious revolutionary" doesn't pass muster either. Dusty was very savvy. I don't think it's an accident that she never covered a Beatles song, for instance (except as part of a medley while guesting on a TV show). Dusty worked diligently to build a catalogue that was NOT dominated by standards or covers of other people's megahits.

The Let's Talk Dusty forum has an interesting thread of newspaper clippings about Dusty. It was quite a sad revelation to read how often her sexuality would be brought up in even two line snippets about a new single release of hers.

Most of them were, R33.

Dusty is a Goddess. My favorite singer. Nina Simone was mean to her, so Nina dropped in my esteem.

That seems silly. Neither Nina nor Dusty were easy. People struggled with mental health tend not to be easy to handle.

Throwing a drink in someone’s face is not being “not easy to handle,” R77. It’s being mean, and mean people suck.

[Quote] Throwing a drink in someone’s face is not being “not easy to handle,” [R77]. It’s being mean, and mean people suck.

And you think Dusty sat in a corner sucking on a straw when her demons reared their ugly heads?

As sad as it is, Dusty's voiced was ruined by the time she was 45. Really. It couldn't have been just age, it was too much booze, too many pills and too many women. I can't find it right now, but there's a duet she did with Dame Edna where you hear all the damage clearly. The other performance clips are all lipsynched and glossy engineered vocals.

This was live. I think it was her last live TV performance. The voice is diminshed but effective for this kind of material and the musicality is still there.

Well, I know she would ask for box of crockery to be in her dressing room so she could throw it against the walls, R79, but what are your “for instances” on Dusty being mean to people?

Have you read the quotes Dusty gave when she ran down an old woman while out driving (probably without her glasses)?

R81, I'm talking about a very rough unpleasant edge on her later voice to the point that you'd never know it sounded better. Think Judy Garland 1964 vs Judy Garland 1949.

This is another live performance, from about 5:50.

She only wants to be with you.

[quote]I'd venture to be that Dust was a gold star lesbian!

She apparently was. People who were close to her said that they never knew Dusty to have been intimate with a man.

Dusty's secretary Pat (a woman) said that Dusty spoke of a previous love affair with a man... It wouldn't surprise me if Dusty made that up for the (hetero) secretary's benefit.

There is a story in one of the books, I think from one of Dusty's ex-girlfriends, that they went to a party in Hollywood and Dusty made out with Adam Clayton of U2 after dinner. There's also a tidbit that Dusty would point out Miss Warwick's house when they drove on by.

R81 That one always makes me tear up when I see it, since it was her last public performance and clearly her swan song.

Her voice did go downhill from 71 onwards - booze,pills, laryngitis, nose jobs. But those live vocals on her 66-67 BBC shows remain unsurpassed. She is the greatest.

I think she always suffered from laryngitis. Her secretary remarked how Dusty would overwork her voice at soundcheck.

I think the last recording of her prime voice is "Let Me Love You Once Before You Go." The lovely, floaty head voice is still there. It's from 1976/77.

And there was I thinking she was Chinese.

Wasn't she Irish?

London Irish.

R94 - see R4

R92 I think that tracks with the worst of her drinking and drug abuse.

She supposedly had a nervous breakdown during the recording of "Longing" - which was shelved and later released on the Beautiful Soul compilation.

But she did sound good on the next album. It was after that, from 1978 to the early 80s, that she was at her lowest point.

Supposedly, it was a year or less before PSB asked her to sing with them that she was in an LA club, lip-synching to her own songs for money.

Fun Fact: Dusty is always a little flat, not enough for most people to notice. She had an interesting tone though.

One of my favorites. Dusty's version is way better than Barbra's.

Dusty also slays this song. It's my favorite of any number of versions I've heard over the years.

This whole album of hers - right before Memphis - is underappreciated.

Fun fact; Dusty was a groupie on the women’s tennis tour in the 1970s. So she can’t have been that far in the closet.

[quote]Dusty worked diligently to build a catalogue that was NOT dominated by standards or covers of other people's megahits.

Ahem.

What did she do to deserve the theme from [italic]Growing Pains[/italic]?

[quote] The Let's Talk Dusty forum has an interesting thread of newspaper clippings about Dusty. It was quite a sad revelation to read how often her sexuality would be brought up in even two line snippets about a new single release of hers.

The British press is worse than the American press ever was in that respect. I'll never forgive them for their role in Princess Diana's death.

Carole Pope, who Dusty had an affair with in the early ‘80s, said that Dusty used to ask her to “pound me into the mattress.” They broke up because of Dusty’s alcoholism.

At one point in her career, she was reduced to singing background vocals for me during my concerts. No joke, eh?

Carole Pope interview.

Dusty sang flat? Nonsense, her intonation is famously impeccable. Arif Marden of Atlantic Records, who co-produced Dusty in Memphis with Jerry Wexler, said “What vocals she sang! Perfect intonation, every note correct, gorgeous tone production, and her own trademark individual phrasing. We all stopped, mesmerised by her golden voice.” Jerry Wexler also commented: “Her pitch was incredibly accurate, hitting every note on the nose, sustaining her notes to perfection, wit a minimal vibrato that never wavered or quavered. She had miraculous range and technique.”

If you want to hear flat singing, listen to Shirley Bassey - she's like a foghorn on some notes.

[r99] She goes through the roof on Who Can I Turn To? Love that whole album, at her full throated best imo. Another great track from that record is I've Been Wrong Before, much better than Cilla's hit version. She seemed to have a particular affinity for bitter sweet Randy Newman numbers, like I Think It's Gonna Rain Today.

R102 That's not fair. Dionne didn’t write those songs. Yes Dusty covered some of the same Bacharach hits, but Wishin and Hopin was just a b side for Dionne on This Empty Place which had been a flop. Dusty initially released her version on an album but it made such a impression in the States that it was then released as a single and was a huge hit for her. And the treatment is quite different. The Look of Love and I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself we’re both written for Dusty, although Dionne also went on to record them, so who was copying who? Truth is, everybody did covers and swiped from each other in those days. However, whereas Cilla Black and Sandy Shaw blatantly copied Dionne and then released their singles in the UK before Dionne's had a chance to have whatever success they might have had, Dusty didn’t. Anyone Who Had a Heart was a huge single for Cilla in UK but Dusty only released her superior version on her first album, so it made no commercial difference to Dionne. So despite some unfair griping from Dionne, they remained firm friends and respected each other enormously.

Fun rock facts:

#1 Dusty toured with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple in 65. He said she was the greatest female rock vocalist he ever heard, adding “if anyone raises their eyebrows at that, believe me, I know, Dusty rocked!”

#2 Dusty invited Jimi Hendrix onto her TV show in 69 and they did a hard rock duet of Mockingbird.

#3 Dusty knew Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones when they were session players in the late 60s for major stars. JPJ arranged and played bass Take Another Piece of My Heart on one of Dusty's albums on Philips. When she moved to the Atlantic label to record Dusty in Memphis she recommended the newly formed Led Zeppelin to the record bosses, who immediately signed them up.

Dusty was also largely instrumental in bringing the Motown sound to the UK. She tirelessly and selflessly promoted Motown and black soul artists. She and Vicky Wickham had the idea to do a special Sound of Motown on Ready, Steady, Go in 65 inviting over artists like Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, The Supremes etc, some of whom had received little or no exposure before in the UK. This helped them get their break and most went on to have huge careers here. Martha Reeves was a great friend and has often said how Dusty helped her and other US artists.

R3, The Queen Elizabeth II's ancestors are German. I can't speak for QEII's children and later, but her sister and most prior ancestors were known anti-Semites. Princess Margaret called Schindler's List "a tired movie about Jews." She stopped an interview with a respected American journalist to ask, "Are you a Jew?" Prince Philip is Greek and a horrid cad. I favor eliminating the British monarchy. Let them retain their billions of wealth, but no royal titles or privileges.

As for Dusty Springfield, she was known as a warm, wonderful lesbian. Never heard or read a bad word about her!

R112 Dusty was awarded an OBE but was too ill to go to the Palace to receive it in person from the Queen. It was brought to her in her hospital bed. She laughed and said, “It's a nice enough medal. But couldn't they have got a better ribbon? It's a bit frayed.” Stroppy dyke till the end.

R113 sounds to me as if she was just stating a fact, if she indeed said that. Where's the proof? I'm not going to believe someone who posts something like that on The DL.

R114 reported by Vicky Wickham who gave her the medal. Anyway you missed the point. She was funny and irreverent till the end. The story reflects well on her, dumbo.

R115, that's not the definition of "stroppy" unless you misused it.

Sandie Shaw released "Always Something There to Remind Me" in 1964. Dionne didn't release a version until 1967... Shaw was covering the Lou Johnson recording. Dionne is wrong (not unusual for her) to bring Sandie Shaw up in interviews.

Dusty released "Wishin' and Hopin'" as a single in the US (but not the UK) about a year after Scepter released Dionne's original as a b-side. Dionne should talk shit about Scepter on that front, not about Dusty.

"I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" was not written for Dusty. It was first released in 1962 by Scepter recording artist Tommy Hunt. His version is a lovely, plaintive counterpart to the bombastic production of Dusty's.

"Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty" (camp title, elle?) is probably Dusty's best album after "Dusty in Memphis." She found lesser known songs and particularly the more raucous and/or bluesy numbers (e.g. the closer "Packin' Up", "I Had a Talk with My Man") are better delivered than their counterparts ("Nothing", "Don't You Know") on the debut.

Controversial opinion but I think Cilla aces Dusty on "I've Been Wrong Before." It may largely be down to the tempo, though. Dusty's is a shade too lethargic, as I recall.

R117 “I Don't Know What to Do with Myself” was first recorded by Chuck Jackson (and shelved) then by Tommy Hunt but his version failed to chart. Dusty met Bacharach in New York in 1964 and returned to London with the song, recording it at Olympic Studios, with his blessing. Warwick recorded it a couple of years later. The point is it's Dusty's version that set the world alight.

My points at r117 were crystal clear, dear.

[Quote] The Look of Love and I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself we’re both written for Dusty, although Dionne also went on to record them, so who was copying who? Truth is, everybody did covers and swiped from each other in those days. However, whereas Cilla Black and Sandy Shaw blatantly copied Dionne and then released their singles in the UK before Dionne's had a chance to have whatever success they might have had

R118 Yes, probably her best album, although I have a real soft spot for Dusty Definitely, released in UK in 68, where she was going towards Nancy Wilson/Julie London supper club territory mixed with some stompers on side 1. “Who Will Take My Place” is one of those perfect jewels that fall nonchalantly from her lips.

The "A Girl Called Dusty" album is very obviously a collection of prospective singles. Dusty recorded "Wishin' and Hopin'" as far back as October 1963, though the album wasn't released until April 1964. She recorded "Anyone Who Had a Heart" after seeing Dionne perform it at the L'Olympia in Paris but she dithered on releasing it as a single.

"Dusty... Definitely" is indeed very strong, though I think it's a little jerky in how it switches gears between genres. "Ev'rything's Coming Up" does that better, I suspect because the whole album was arranged by Ivor Raymonde IIRC.

Dusty's version of "This Girl's In Love With You" pre-dates Dionne's, I think, as it doesn't feature the "girl" lyrics ("And you'll be my guy").

R121 Dionne's main gripe with Cilla was over Anyone Who Had a Heart. Dionne was preparing to release it in UK when Cilla brought out her (very similar) cover and denied Dionne's original version the chance to do what it could do. I think that's a fair gripe. With Dusty, not so, because Dusty didn’t release competing singles and the versions she did either predated Dionne's or were given to her by Bacharach to record.

Dionne certainly had a legitimate gripe with Cilla as the latter's was truly a "cover" in the chart sense, i.e. meant to cover/bury a competing version. Cilla gets the lyrics wrong at points (and it has an organ, rather than sax break), so Dionne's comment that Cilla would have coughed on her version if Dionne had done so on hers is, again, inaccurate (if a fun jab). Cilla, or rather, her handlers (Brian Epstein, George Martin etc.) were pretty bold. It's amazing to think that they covered the Righteous Brothers "You Lost That Lovin' Feeling" at the same time as the original's UK release and managed to get to #2 while the American original was at #1. Cilla & Co. did not lack balls.

R125, ugh that photo. Those are two ugly women! No wonder they were feuding!

R98 Now you mention it she does sing slightly under the note on some songs like the Who Will Take My Place one above. It gives it a kind of melancholy, sexy languor. I don’t think any blues singer has ever sung sharp.

Apropos of nothing, here's Lulu and Dee Dee Warwick.

Lulu is a tub of guts. I'm afraid any reference to caca disgusts me and I'm surprised you should mention that word in front of me.

[Quote] Lulu is a tub of guts. I'm afraid any reference to caca disgusts me and I'm surprised you should mention that word in front of me.

It's always time for a cocktail, huh?

Indeed, a Bloody Mary is called for

Beautiful, R99. But I prefer Lena's.

Lena sounds mighty assured, maybe too wholly assured for the lyric. I don't think she gives a shit about darkness to hide her.

R128, yes! I didn't mean, though, every single note she sings is flat, mainly the lower.

"As for Dusty Springfield, she was known as a warm, wonderful lesbian. Never heard or read a bad word about her!"

Yeah, but with the drugs, booze and mental illness, she was a handful. Billie Jean King once told of how everyone tried to help her when she went crazy...it was exhausting.

Dusty scratched Anne Murray's husband in the face (why didn't she viciously slap him?) when Anne had invited Dusty up to her hotel room. I guess Dusty thought the invite was of a different nature...

R136/R137, sounds like gossip. When that happens, you get someone to a psychiatrist. Was Springfield ever evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist? I haven't read about her in depth. I don't appreciate when people talk about "everyone tried to help" then learn a person never saw either one of those licensed professionals. That means no, everyone did not try to help.

Gossip? Anne Murray wrote about it herself.

Dusty was hospitalised at times, yes. There's a pic, I think in "Dancing With Demons", from about 1980 where Dusty looks wraithlike. She was also a cutter.

I know stans will be stans, but adults with mental health problems can be very hard to treat. They can get diagnosed, get on meds etc. but it's not uncommon for them to decide to go off their meds, refuse all help etc. The urge to point the finger at everyone but the individual ("Why didn't anyone help her?!?!?!") is rather simple minded.

R138, the comment is on video coming out of Billie Jean's mouth, that's where I saw it. King also surmised in hindsight that Dusty was probably bi-polar. You could post ANY psycho Dusty incident - made up or documented - and there's probably a real story just or more sordid. She was that crazy, and substance abuse exacerbated it x 1000.

R140, 1980 was a difficult time. A good and reliable antidepressant, Prozac, wasn't available until 1988. There were a few in the 1960s, but they were dangerous and not many doctors were good with them. I didn't know that about her, but she had the money to get good treatment. The meds available then were horrible.

I don't know that Dusty did have the money for treatment at that time. She didn't write a lot (Petula Clark, in contrast, wrote a lot of b-sides to her hits) and she didn't like working the hotel circuit. When she knew her cancer was terminal, she sold her future royality rights just to buy the little house in Henley upon Thames.

Psychiatrists and the meds they prescribe will make most people poor. And many people with mental illness (and people without) do self-medicate with alcohol and other substances.

When Dusty got cancer, she wondered how much her drug use and drinking contributed to it.

R4 No her father was born and raised in India. He was British and was of Scottish and Irish descent.

Dusty coming to America was supposed to jumpstart her career and get her away from the cabaret/Shirley Bassey circuit she would have otherwise been destined for in England.

But instead, it was the worst of times for her, career wise and personally. She spent most of her money in the 70s on people who took advantage of her, and once her money disappeared and the parties stopped, her "friends" disappeared too.

(and yet she was in America for over a decade, until the mid 80s.)

I love this Pat Benatar-esque track from her early 80s album.

Dusty could rock!

This is thirty years ago. Thirty.

Fuck, we're old.

I've always loved Nothing Has Been Proved. FABULOUS song. Dusty knocked it out of the park.

I love what Neil Tennant said about what she does at the end of songs - she "Dustifies" them!

Takes it up an octave and sings the hell out of it!

Nothing Has Been Proved was one prime example, of course.

I loved this woman! And I'm a woman! Dusty was my first girl-crush and I crushed the hell out of her!

Dusty liked her women like she liked her coffee - strong, black and piping hot!

[Quote] I loved this woman! And I'm a woman! Dusty was my first girl-crush and I crushed the hell out of her!

Are you under the impression that only gay men like Dusty Springfield?

Dusty does seem to have favored swarthy women but she lived with the mother of these creepy twins for a few years. I can't find any pics of the mother.

Carole Pope, of Canadian new wave band Rough Trade, was her GF for about a year in the early 80s, and co-wrote one of my favorite Dusty performances, "Soft Core."

Norma Tanega was her GF near the end of the 60's - Norma an interesting folk rocker in her own right who was most known for the song "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog."

I've seen claims that she was also with her frequent collaborator, but they've only ever been officially referred to as friends. They lived together for a time.

Dusty with once upon a time girlfriend Sue Cameron. They're flanked by Lesley Gore and Ellen Weston.

R159 Is that Madeline Bell?

You can hear Dusty so clearly on Madeline's hit single - she appeared on that single and others credited as "Gladys Thong."

Were Martha Reeves and Dusty ever a couple?

Reeves tells a story of Dusty coming to her hotel room, distraught. Reeves comforted Dusty, who fell asleep. Next morning, someone from Motown discovered Dusty in Martha's bed. But it was all a misunderstanding, you see.

I love everything about this thread.

Dusty and Miss Reeves.

I feel like The Eldergays have hijacked this thread and run with it. Not that that’s a bad thing. I’ve learnt so much! x

[Quote] I don't recall Dusty making any appearances in Brazil, although she visited the city for a Carnival vacation with Tom, Peppi and Martha Reeves.

Tom was Dusty's brother. And Peppi was Tom's... friend.

Miss Warwick, Peppi, Dusty.

Is her brother still alive?

R169 I think so.

And I don't think Martha and Dusty did the lez lez together.

I assume Nina Simone throwing a drink in Dusty's face must have been because Dusty made a pass or said something along those lines that Nina didn't like.

No. Nina Simone was having issues (beyond personal) - work related. Dusty attempted to offer help. She got a drink in the face for her trouble.

"I assume Nina Simone throwing a drink in Dusty's face must have been because Dusty made a pass"

Nina was no stranger to girl-girl sex, so I don't think so.

R110. Dusty rocked live. Here she gives us The Power of Love

Higher the hair, closer to heaven

R172. I read it was because Nina resented Dusty's success as a white singer riding on the back of black artists, called her a honky or some such. Truth is Dusty did filch materials and vocal moves from lesser known but great US soul artists like Maxine Brown and Baby Washington, as she was the first to admit: “I was deeply influenced by Black singers from the early 1960s. I liked everybody at Motown and most of the Stax artists. I really wanted to be Mavis Staples. What they shared in common was a kind of strength I didn't hear on English radio." But she also talked them up at every opportunity and did her best to promote their records. Plus she was heavily influenced by the likes of Peggy Lee (most of all) and Jo Stafford as well as Brazilian singers. She just had very wide and eclectic musical tastes.

R173 Lulu tells stories of how Dusty could never remember lyrics and was too short sighted to read cue cards. So she'd write lyrics on her hands and look at them mid song without missing a beat. Hence the unique Dusty hand gestures. You can clearly see her do that in this clip at 0:14!

Dusty going to her Hollywood Irish roots. Gorgeous.

Was a child during the 60's and aware of all the popular female singers Cilla, Dionne, Lulu, Sandie. Only later in life did I come to appreciate Dusty. So many wonderful tracks. I loved it when the pet shop boys revived her career after it went down the shitter. Love "nothing has benn proved.' But my all time favourite Dusty song is 'Sometimes like Butterflies' written by Donna Summer and produced by Peter Stringfellow. It was suppose to relaunch her career but It disappeared without trace and Stringfellow said it was the worst experience of his life. Still one of my all time favourites. Just listen to it. Beautiful.

[quote]I assume Nina Simone throwing a drink in Dusty's face must have been because Dusty made a pass or said something along those lines that Nina didn't like.

Nina was a bipolar, alcoholic mess. She might’ve just been hallucinating.

That "Butterflies" song is dreck. And Dusty was not in good voice at the session.

Dusty did a program that showcased the popular Motown artists of the time, giving them exposure to the British audience. Berry Gordy wanted Diana Ross to perform a duet with Dusty, but Dusty said no. She wanted, and got, Martha Reeves. I'm glad Dusty stuck to her guns.

Martha cackled about that in one of the Dusty documentaries.

There's a very good BBC one, and also the one Dusty did while she was still alive w/French and Saunders.

"Nina was a bipolar, alcoholic mess"

Then they had a lot in common.

Love Dusty. A modern Judy.

R183, I don’t think Dusty got really bad until the ‘70s.

And your evidence is, R185? She was always mentally ill, the drug use was probably worse in the 70s.

Dusty was hospitalised a few times in the 1960s - "exhaustion" etc.

R186 It's been verified by several people that Dusty had issues with both mental health and drug use in the late 70s and early 80s.

If she showed signs of illness in the 60s it was covered up better.

Neither Cilla or Lulu could sing well. Cilla was mates with Epstein and got her start that way, she was not liked in Liverpool.

Lulu had her big break with "shout", the isley Brothers did it a million times better but it had not been heard in the UK at that time.

None of these gave credit to the artists they were ripping off, only Dusty did.

Also Lulu was a fat ugly troll at the time

An engaging Dusty documentary. I'm viewing it now.

R180 I agree, Butterflies is Dusty at her very worst vocally and materially

Lulu, like Dusty, always talked up black American artists in the press. There's no need to perpretuate falsehoods.

*perpetuate

R190 I think that's similar to the BBC documentary and/or shares some of the same footage

Can't find the BBC one now but I remember it was on what used to be Ovation network ALL the time for a while back in the early 2000s, right after she died.

I love this of PM helping her do her ‘do

I love the click clack of her heels as she walks to the microphone.

Allee Willis dies at 72, collaborated with Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield on "What Have I Done To Deserve This".

I'd always thought she was Korean.

Some of her wigs may have been.

A beautiful duet with Scott Walker from Dusty's BBC show:

I don't know why some people cream over Scott Walker's singing. I just hear a standard crooner. No great ranger. No distinctive style. Some of the Walker Brothers hits are classic 60s pop singles but I can take or leave him.

*no great range

I find her earlier work with The Springfields kinda fascinating.

Love their singles.

And then there was stuff like this, which was.....very.....Up With People?

Yeah, the Springfields stuff is... variable.

Their version of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" remains the best.

She looks so much more butch in The Springfields.

I don't get the butch comments. She was a short, small framed woman whose movements were decidely unmasculine. Is it the strong jaw?

Lesley Gore, OTOH... quite butch in her bearing.

R202 Scott Walker was a genius. No Scott Walker = no David Bowie, so influential on his style and sensibility. Great composer and singer too. He deserves his own thread but here's an early classic from the first solo album. Like Dusty, he recorded on the Philips label in the late 60s with Jonny Franz as producer and with access to top arrangers like Wally Stott. But he also created later classics like Nite Flights (with the Walker Brothers on Columbia in 78) that ushered in the hard electro/synth sound of the 80s and which Bowie covered, among other Walker songs.

Didn't Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer usher in the electro sound with "I Feel Love"? That was 1977.

I love the wholesome, sturdy tomboy Dusty of The Springfields before she became a soul diva. Island of Dreams was another great record but have a soft spot for this bizarre little song, her voice is so pure.

R11 Nah, that's more disco. This is the cold electro synth sound of Eno, Kraftwerk and Bowie's Berlin trilogy. Hard to say who influenced who, but it's a big departure from Walker's earlier symphonic pop, more cutting edge.

R201 Stellar duet with Mel Torme on Dusty' BBC show

Was Dusty ever huge in the US? I was just watching the doc linked upthread and I don't know any of the songs. I was born in 1979, so bear with me.

R212 Lol, it's quite a journey from Waf Woof to this live version of To Love Somebody - pity the studio recording got lost, could have been a hit.

R215 Yes, she had some big US hits, like Wishin and Hopin, in fact she was part of the British invasion before the Beatles.

R215 Have you never heard Son of a Preacher Man? A lot of people assumed it was an African American singing.

R217 and R218 I know both of those songs! Had no idea they were her hits. Thanks for the education!!

R218, I totally thought that was performed by an black southern US singer. Love that song.

Dusty had some big hits but she was never huge in the US. When she was on Atlantic, they planned a tour for her but it had to be cancelled. She was very big in the UK and she managed to headline package tours over male acts, which was rare at the time for a woman.

It was. Aretha cut it after Dusty. (She originally turned it down, which was how Dusty got it.)

I love learning from you guys.

Methinks you're feigning ignorance.

R221 She wasn’t mega huge in the US but certainly well known and appeared on the big tv shows like Ed Sullivan regularly. Probably her standing was higher than her sales as she was admired as a singer's singer by her peers such as Cher, Martha Reeves, Patti L, Aretha, even Dionne Warwick called her a “tremendous singer, tremendous voice”. Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Randy Newman and other US songwriters were very happy for her to cover their material, as she was a great interpreter of song, and recognised her talents. I believe she was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, before the the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006. She has been placed among the top 25 female artists of all time by readers of Mojo magazine, editors of Q magazine and a panel of artists on VH1 TV channel. Her reputation is huge.

Dionne being shady as fuck, as per usual:

[Quote] Tremendous voice, tremendous singer. And very emotional about what she does, and I think that’s probably not only her first love, but her only love.

[Quote] We did not know Dusty before the tour. She was mad as a hatter and great fun to be with. Once somebody at the theatre brought a cup of coffee to Dusty's dressing room. She had wanted tea, and when she noticed it was not she threw the cup against the wall and whacked out all the light bulbs in her dressing table mirror with the tray. She was shouting, what is this ? We heard smashing and rushed to see what was happening. I thought rock on. Good for you girl.

Yikes.

R224, why would I feign? I knew the name, but not the songs she sang. Others have stated she was big in the UK, not the US (or not as big). I came of age in the 90s grunge scene. Do you know every grunge band? I do.

A lesbian acquaintance was in rehab with her. She was bipolar and sobriety was a lifelong struggle. Despite her mental health and addiction issues, she was reportedly a very nice woman--no diva behavior, no tantrums or nasty antics even when in withdrawal. IMO, her album Dusty in Memphis, is a masterpiece.

"I don't get the butch comments. She was a short, small framed woman whose movements were decidely unmasculine. Is it the strong jaw?"

I think she was butch too...I knew Dusty was a lesbian the first time I saw her. Butch doesn't necessarily mean masculine the way a man can be masculine. Some of it has to do with Dusty's over the top look - big wigs, too much makeup - she looks like a drag queen. And don't say everyone did it. Aside from Pricilla Presley on her wedding day, not one else over did it like that.

I love Island of Dreams.

I first heard it on the Anthology of Dusty's. When I first heard her solo chorus.....my hair stood on end, goosebumps everywhere, tears falling down my face.....she was magic.

Every April DUSTY DAY is held!

R226 Still, that's quite a plaudit coming from Dionne!

Dusty famously loved to throw food and crockery around at parties, she was a live wire... Buddy Rich once called her a 'fucking broad' when she got top billing over him in a NY club. She punched him in the face and sent his toupee flying!

One of her more 'emotional' numbers:

Dusty's crockery throwing was a stress release for her.

She apparently enjoyed a bit of that English style slapstick comedy vibe (there's a name for it, specifically, from this era but I am blanking out on what it is. Goonish?) so the food fights probably stemmed from that.

Also her name when she sang on others' records always made me laugh: Gladys Thong.

She was a diva but not diva-ish. A perfectionist who could be hard on herself and insisted on getting things right. But people say she was also kind and generous with a great sense of fun. On a tour of rural Ireland, she played a venue with no dressing room so had to change frocks out the back in a field in the pouring rain among the cow pats. She thought it was hilarious.

[Quote] Aside from Pricilla Presley on her wedding day, not one else over did it like that.

What absolute twaddle. The 1960s was THE era of overdone eye make up (and often, big hair).

Agreed.

Brigitte, wearing quite a lot of make up and big hair.

Twinkle.

Barbara Windsor.

R236 The Shrimp. Now runs a hotel in Penzance and looks like this

Tina Turner.

Etta James.

[Quote] The Shrimp. Now runs a hotel in Penzance and looks like this

And ex-boyfriend Terence Stamp made a comment in the papers about seeing her on the street and how she looked awful. What a shitbag.

R228 Surprised if you haven’t also heard Dusty's version of Windmills of Your Mind, used in Grand Tour, Breakfast on Pluto etc.

Nancy Sinatra

Nancy Sinatra

r228

"Son of a Preacher Man" was prominently used in PULP FICTION. It gave Dusty's profile a bump. Maybe you missed that... were you doing a lot of drugs on the grunge scene?

Here she outgores Gore for bulldykery

She toned down the panda eyes after the first few years.

She looks so lovely here.

She hated the big wig but I thought she also looked great here.

Her performance here is so fucking flawless. (Pre-recorded or not, it's just perfect.)

It makes me cry every time.

Big hair aided by pieces if not full wigs were huge in 1960's. Haven't you ever seen Valley of the Dolls?

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

If it wasn't big hair created by piling on curls or falls, it was the bouffant done by teasing and if needed adding hair.

Since drag queens were mentioned... one of their old standards......

Scott Walker was fantastic!

IIRC from a television documentary on Ms. Springfield, those exaggerated hand/arm movements served a purpose. Unable to remember entire songs for live performances Ms. Springfield had words written discretely on hands or forearms. How true this is one does not know, but there you are.....

R250 Very Lady Di lookey here. R252 Not pre recorded. She spoke about being nervous about singing with Burt Bacharach at the piano and how she just had to hit those notes. Her live performances were often flawless and she was always a crap lip syncher.

R258 Lulu claimed that at Dusty's funeral, but others have said that was utter bullshit.

Fun fact #1 Dusty named her wigs Lulu, Sandy and Cilla and liked to fling them around her dressing room and stomp on them

Should we tell OP that she's dead?

See clip at R173, she sneaks a look at her hand twice. And she often forgot lyrics or got them wrong in live performances.

[Quote]Should we tell OP that she's dead?

Dusty loved reading up about American history and was an American civil war buff. This song (written by her brother Tom) is about the American civil war and is quite haunting.

R258 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me was her biggest UK hit, #1 in 1966. A cover of an Italian ballad by Pino Donaggio which Elvis also covered later. I think it was played in one of the Madmen episodes a few years ago. Amazing vocals. She recorded this at the bottom of the stairwell of the Philips studio as she found the acoustics too dead in the actual recording booth. She pretty much produced her own records to get the sound she wanted.

I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten was recorded around 6am in the ladies loo with the cleaning lady clanking around outside. It gave her the big ambient sound she wanted.

R262 She closed her eyes and stopped counting

R266 Dusty had the voice for over the top Italian ballads...

What's it gonna be, Dusty? A northern soul belter

And a big flop.

R271 Top 50 in US and she wasn’t in the U.K. to promote it. Still an amazing track with Valerie Simpson, Madeline Bell and Carole King on backing vocals.

R255 Oh you are awful...

Seriously OP? Aren't you from the UK yourself?

I think Rhonda was just trying to promote discussion. Like those eldergays who start threads with "Eldergays, tell me about..." Dusty Springfield has been much covered in the British media since her death. You would have to avoid damn near all media to miss it.

Is this the one with John Paul Jones on bass? Has a slight Led Zep feel to it.

Angel of the Morning

I hear she's Lebanese......

R230: Trust me, Dusty was definitely butch (who could pass for what we used to call a soft butch). The night we met she was with her wing-dyke, Nona Hendryx, formerly of LaBelle. I was a beautiful young femme back then and the "roles" were well-defined and adhered to.

Dusty, in a book / interview, recalled an incident that happened shortly after "Son Of A Preacher Man" became her career record, and just after Aretha finally got around to recording it.

She got onto an elevator somewhere by herself, and just as the doors were about to completely close, they flew open, and in walks Re Herself.

Dusty said she was too intimidated to speak, and the Queen of Soul also remained silent for about a minute. Franklin then took Dusty gently by the arm, and with an uncharacteristic grin, exclaimed, "Gurrrrl!"

Aretha covered a number of songs the Brit girls recorded for Atlantic (e.g. Jerry Butler's "Brand New Me," which had been a single for Dusty; and "Oh Me Oh My," which has been a hit for Lulu). Aretha was nothing if not territorial.

Dusty said she thought Aretha's version of Son of a Preacher Man was better than her own, she preferred Re's phrasing, saying “that's how it should have been sung”. Typical modesty and I completely disagree.

R279 = she pegged you with a huge black dildo?

Dusty's Facebook page just posted that they received word this morning that Norma Tanega has died.

RIP Norma T

It's their secret love song to each other

Is No Stranger Am I an anagram for Ladyham Beef Curtains?

R287 I think you inserted a few extra letters there. It's really an anagram for 'angina tremors'

One I've never seen before. Dusty was serving Disco Queen realness.

Another disco Dusty track

she really could sing anything

What Have I Done To Deserve This?

Like Gaga, she was born this way

Which was penned (and produced) by Dan Hartman, IIRC.

Just have to give a shout out to late Mr. Dan Hartman; another great we lost far too soon.

Happily left us with a huge volume of work to remember him by.

One of his most successful projects hasn't even been released on CD/download. It's the "I Can Dream About You" album, right?

Who said it wasn't?

That being said good luck finding a CD either new or even used; both go for very dear money.

Luckily there is always YT.

Dusty seemed to be more hardcore lezzer in 63-64, then toned it down - really dykey here

B side to Little by Little, better than the A side

Dusty was never a "hardcore" lezzer in her singing and appearance in early days.

The butchest she ever sang and appeared during her career - minus the very end, when she was fighting cancer - was during her White Heat era.

The butchest she ever sang?! Some of you are typing nonsense.

R302 Well, you know what I mean. She was not one to really ever present that in her image before or after. The White Heat stuff had the hardest edges.

Then again, most veteran singers at that time - Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Joni - were singing that new wave inspired stuff, too.

Her image was definitely more tomboy in ‘64 A Girl Called Dusty debut - denim jeans and jacket...

No comment on the big wig and full beat?

...than the hyperfeminised supper club 'drag queen' look of ‘68 Definitely Dusty

A tragedy beyond compare: Dusty Day 2020 is CANCELLED due to the virus.

I've not familiar with the opening song. Was it a hit for someone else around that time?