How Dusty Springfield introduced the UK to soul
Dusty Springfield’s singing career spanned over five decades, making her one of the most successful British artists of all time. A 1960s icon, Springfield was known for her pop ballads and blue-eyed soul. However, she was also capable of performing country, jazz, R&B, folk, and French chanson.
Springfield had a love for music from an early age, and at age 12, recorded herself singing ‘When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam’ by Irving Berlin in a record shop after being inspired by her love for artists such as Peggy Lee and Jo Stafford.
Once Springfield – real name Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien – had left school, she began singing in folk clubs and holiday camps with her brother Tom. She responded to an advert to join The Lana Sisters, much to her success, which is where she gained even greater experience as a singer and performer.
Later, she moved on to form a folk-pop trio with her brother and Reshad Feild under the name The Springfields, and the group travelled to Nashville to make an authentic-sounding US album. The band found some success; however, Springfield decided to leave the group in 1963, instead focusing on a solo career. Pushing forward and gaining international acclaim as a solo artist, author Martin Aston stated that “she wasn’t a songwriter, but she was a brilliant interpreter of pop and soul songs, and probably had the best voice of any British singer during that era.”
Her 1969 album Dusty in Memphis was critically lauded and famously featured her iconic song ‘Son of a Preacher Man’. From this moment on, Springfield became an iconic face of the swinging sixties, what with her beehive hairdo and glamourous and polished look. Not only this, but Springfield was also seen as “the queen of white soul”. The British singer was actually credited with playing an important role in bringing the Motown genre over to the UK. In 1965, she hosted an important BBC special which contained performances by Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Miracles, and Smokey Robinson.
In 1964, she was even deported from South Africa when she refused to play for a segregated audience during the apartheid. Springfield was a huge supporter of racial equality, constantly emphasising the important influence of black artists over her own music. For example, despite the success of her song ‘Son of a Preacher Man’, Springfield once revealed that “Aretha [Franklin] had been offered it but didn’t record it until after I had, and to this day I listen to her phrasing and go, ‘Goddammit! That’s the way I should have done it.’”
Musician Bishi cites Springfield as a major influence, claiming: “She had a great respect for and an extensive knowledge of soul, gospel and R&B, so she was never just a white woman appropriating another culture.”