A thrilling string of early hits--"I Only Want To Be With You," "Stay Awhile," Wishin' and Hopin'"--established Springfield as one of the indelible figures of the mid-Sixties. After that point, success came in frustrating fits and starts. The sophisticated soul of her 1969 classic, Dusty in Memphis, and a glittering comeback in the late Eighties, engineered by the Pet Shop Boys, were subsequent high points. But deep insecurities about her talent, her appearance and her sexual identity; a reluctance to perform live; and bouts of substance abuse often derailed her momentum.

Dusty Springfield was born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in London, and she was educated in convent schools. After briefly singing with a retro-style group called the Lana Sisters, she joined her brother Dion in a trio that became known as the Springfields, with Mary and Dion taking the names Dusty and Tom. In 1961, the Springfields were the best-selling group in the U.K.; they even had their own television show. In 1962, they cracked the U.S. Top Twenty with a sprightly version of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles."

The group planned to record an album in Nashville but stopped in New York on the way. While in the city, Dusty got swept up by the Exciters' "Tell Him" as the single blasted out of a record store on Broadway. She decided at that moment that she had heard the sound of her future. She left the Springfields in the fall of 1963.

Springfield's first solo single was the spectacular "I Only Want To Be With You," an irresistible whirl of Phil Spector-style energy, with Springfield's vocals conveying equal parts boldness and vulnerability. Those strangely united qualities would establish Springfield as one of the greatest pop singers of her generation.

For a time, the hits kept coming: "Stay Awhile" and her gorgeous rendition of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Wishin' and Hopin'." A dramatic new look accompanied Springfield's solo success. "In the Springfields, Dusty used to wear these sensible-looking clothes," recalls Tennant, who was a young boy in England when the group broke up. "Suddenly she was sexy, with the black eye shadow and the bouffant."

Springfield's blending of pop and soul charmed audiences but did not always win her friends. In truth, Springfield could be stubborn and demanding both as an artist and as a person, and her intense self-consciousness often manifested itself in diva-like outbursts.

Motown great Martha Reeves met the singer when they shared a bill in 1964. "As I approached her dressing room, I heard profanity and the crashing of plates, cups and saucers," Reeves recalls. "I started throwing them with her to get her attention. It looked like fun! When she turned around, I asked her what the problem was. It turns out her manager had left her alone at the theater.

"I settled her down," Reeves said, "and I became her friend. That resulted in her becoming a Vandella. We sang backup for Marvin Gaye, and she would join us. We kept her busy." Springfield returned the kindness when she hosted a special called "The Sound of Motown" on the English TV show Ready, Steady, Go! Rebuffing Berry Gordy's effort to team her with Diana Ross, Springfield insisted that Reeves duet with her on "Wishin' and Hopin'."

A desire to sign to the same label as Aretha Franklin and to work with Franklin's producer Jerry Wexler led Springfield to Atlantic Records in 1968. It seemed as if it would be the perfect creative marriage, but, in fact, Wexler found Springfield exasperating. She rejected many of the songs he selected for her, and when they's settled in at American Recording Studios, in Memphis, Springfield found Wexler's down-home approach to recording the album intimidating. She refused to record her final vocals in Memphis, so the sessions relocated to New York. "My producers didn't exactly have an easy time with me," Springfield admitted later. "I was terrified the entire time."

"Dusty had an absolute commitment to perfectability," Wexler says. "Now, a lot of people have that - but they don't get there! Dusty got there. She was timorous; she was almost neurotic about letting a vocal go for fear that it would not meet her empyrean standards. But the thing is, she always met them."

Dusty in Memphis appeared in 1969 to critical applause and public indifference--despite the popularity of the single "Son of a Preacher Man." The album has only gained in stature since its release. Along with the masterful singles sprinkled throughout her career, Dusty in Memphis is the jewel in Springfield's artistic crown.

In the early Seventies, Springfield moved to the U.S.--first to New York, which she said "nearly killed" her, and later to California. "In England, she had the whole lesbian thing being thrown at her in the papers," Tennant says. She wasn't married--did she 0r did she not have a boyfriend? Those days were tough. I mean, that was before even tennis players came out. I think that's why she went to America. She was fed up.

"You could never discuss that with her. But I also remember her saying how attractive she thought Michael Hutchence of INXS was. I don't think she thought it was all quite so cut and dried. Anyway, she was in California in the Seventies, and I guess she took tons of coke and drank a lot."

Consequently, Springfield acquired a reputation for being strung out and difficult. Still, artists and producers were forever trying to coax her into comebacks. She samg on Elton John's 1974 single "The Bitch Is Back," and he was eager to produce an album for her, but it never came together. Elvis Costello and Sting gave her songs in the early Eighties. Producer Joel Dorn, who had made classic albums with Roberta Flack, sought out Springfield in the mid-Eighties. They recorded a version of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" that has never been released.

"She was phenomenal," Dorn says. "It was if Billie Holiday were to sing a Phil Spector song. And when I was with her, she was actively being clean."

Tennant and fellow Pet Shop Boy Chris Lowe had worshipped Springfield since their boyhoods, and they recorded "What Have I Done To deserve This?" with her for their second album. It went to Number Two in the U.S. and the U.K., and made Springfield a star again. Another Pet Shop Boys-produced U.K. hit followed--"Nothing Has Been Proved," from the soundtrack to Scandal--and Tennant and Lowe worked on half of Springfield's 1990 U.K. album, Reputation.

Springfield was diagnosed with breast cancer in the mid-Nineties and battled the disease for the rest of her life. She released one last album, A Very Fine Love, in 1995. She was awarded an Order of the British Empire in January, two months before she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

"When Dusty died, it was a good time for her," Tennant says. "In the Seventies, you might have thought she would have died forgotten, with a bottle of vodka by her side. But, in fact, she died in a mansion in Henley with views down the river. she knew she hadn't got long to live, and my impression is she dealt with that really well.

"She got the OBE from the queen, which would mean a lot to her--she pinned it to her dressing gown. She knew that she was going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. She'd gotten all this recognition, and she had her friends and her cat around her. I guess what I'm saying is, she went out on a high."

Anthony DeCurtis
Rolling Stone, April 15, 1999