April 16, 1939, She is one of the most important recording artists of my long lifetime. Her music has moved me, thrilled me & comforted me for 55 years. For me, the album Dusty In Memphis is a perfect LP, I cannot fault a single note, every selection is delicious, & it is on my list of Top 10 Albums of all time.
Dusty Springfield was an unlikely Gay Icon. Born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien in London just a month before that start of WW2. She started life as an Irish Catholic schoolgirl, yet she gained stardom as a sultry singer of soul, the “white girl singing black music.”
Her love for other women was forbidden in the Britain at the time, illegal actually. Like most of the great gay artists in history, there were innovative ways of maneuvering around expectations of the heterosexual majority while covertly conveying the constrained emotions in the work. Springfield’s gayness is the core of the melancholy & vulnerability that she brings her recordings. Her songs go straight to my heart: How Can I Be Sure, All Cried Out, I Close My Eyes & Count To 10, The Look Of Love, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, & my personal favorite, her devastating version of I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself. She does more than sell the song; she inhabits & makes them her own in the way that only the true great artists can do.
With a strong, almost masculine countenance but a feminine style, she has real appeal to gay people. She studied & copied drag acts, creating an image confusing to a lot of the 1960s listening public. In the press, her image was vigorously protected against her gayness. The press releases stressed Springfield’s Catholic faith & middle-class roots. The fact she was living with a fellow singer, Norma Tanega, was just conveniently overlooked. After she & Tanega split up, there was always another woman keeping Springfield’s bed warm.
She invented a look for herself which became iconic, with tall beehive hair & thick, dark eye make-up. Her style was copied by fellow recording artists of the time, plus many teenage girls, & drag queens. Her career left a lasting legacy on modern fashion.
Springfield became an expert in all aspects of music recording. The male dominated industry resented a young woman who seemed to know it all. She had a sharp ear for quality & a perfectionist approach. Women were simply not allowed to use the mixing equipment or to commandeer the production booth. She gained a reputation for being difficult & eccentric. Her headstrong personality & working knowledge of the technical aspects of recording did not endear Springfield to a male dominated professional musical community, but she certainly enchanting her fans.
In 1964, while on tour in South Africa, & with no prior interest in politics, Springfield found it abhorrent that it was illegal to perform a concert to a mixed audience. But there was a loophole in the law that allowed live performances for mixed-race audiences as long as they were in a movie theatre. Springfield booked the biggest film house she could find & played to a large black & white audience. When she arrived back at her hotel, Springfield & entourage were placed under arrest & deported. Back home the public loved her for it. She was hailed as an anti-apartheid hero.
Springfield was at her apex in the mid-1960s. She had hit albums, & her own TV show. She was credited as the woman who brought Motown to the UK. But in the early 1970s, when I was digging her the most, the kids who bought records, pushed against Springfield’s style, preferring songs with a strong political message. Her love songs & throaty jazzy voice began to lose popularity.
At a loss, Springfield was sucked into a spiral of drink, drugs & the parties. She abused a variety of substances on a daily basis. The pressure of a closeted life manifested itself in depression & a desire to avoid the spotlight. An album she had started to record for Atlantic Records was shelved due to her ‘poor mental health’.
Ashamed by the abandoned album, Springfield moved to LA & dropped deeper drugs & booze. She spent most of the 1970s living late nights of partying. She sometimes woke up in a hospital.
Late in the 1970s, Springfield had begun to speak openly about being bisexual, although she was never known to ever have had a boyfriend. Her bad publicity devastated Springfield. She came out to her parents, but far from outraged, they did not take her seriously. This hurt her even more deeply.
In the 1980s, Springfield’s drug abuse was at an all-time high. She continued to have short-lived affairs. Her recordings made little impact & had low sales. Springfield was constantly between rehab or the hospital.
Salvation came in 1987 when her longtime fans, Pet Shop Boys, asked her to collaborate. The resulting record, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, was a worldwide smash hit & one of my favorite singles of all time. Suddenly, the fading singer was among the smart set once more. Pet Shop Boys produced an album for her. At 48 years old, her life started to get better. She gave up drugs & partying. More hits singles followed.
In 1994, just as Springfield’s career was back on track & a new generation was embracing her sound, she was diagnosed with that damn cancer. She received treatment, but remission was short lived. She spent her final years fighting against a second bout of cancer. Springfield moved in with her lifelong friend & back-up singer, Simon Bell, who took care of her.
On New Year’s Day 1999, Springfield was awarded an Order Of The British Empire for her contribution to music. Too sick to make the ceremony, her longtime manager, with permission from Queen Elizabeth 2, picked up the award on her behalf. It was carried directly to Springfield & given to her in front of a small gathering of friends, & her Oncologist. On the very day when Springfield would have received the award, she lost her battle against cancer. Her memorial was attended by thousands of mourners including Elvis Costello, Lulu, Elton John & Pet Shop Boys. 10 days after her death, her friend Sir Elton inducted Springfield into the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame, stating:
“She was the greatest white singer of all time”.
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