I have seen her sitting by candlelight in a Thames-side restaurant, silent with nostalgia as some heart-throbbing Latin heaped-it-on-heavy with the Italian version of "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." I have seen her elegant and serious at rehearsal sessions, and covering her shyness at a TV show with goon humour and funny faces.

But I speak only as a bystander. One of those who really knows Dusty is Johnny Franz, the amiable, quiet-spoken ex-pianist who has been her recording manager from the day she walked into his office with the Springfields.

"The three of them sat right here," he recalls, "right in front of my desk, and sang 'Dear John.' It was a new sound, a fresh sound. I signed them up on the spot." He remembers that although he was sorry, he didn't think it was the end for Dusty when the hit-making Springfields later decided to split and go their own ways.

"I knew she had terrific potential," he told me, "and I decided right away to make a lot of titles with her and release an LP. One of the first solo songs we did was "'Wishin' and Hopin',' which was a terrific hit for her in the States.

"Even then she knew the kind of numbers she wanted to record. She had always been an avid disc collector. She really knew what was going on.

"In fact, Dusty is such a record lover, you could give her one great new American disc and it would probably mean more to her than if you gave her a Rolls Royce.

"Throughout my career I have been lucky to be associated in one way or another with some great artists . . . Anne Shelton, Vera Lynn, Frankie Vaughan, Ronnie Carroll, Shirley Bassey, and a lot of others, too.

SPECIAL

"They all have that special something. And Dusty is no exception.

"I will say this. If Dusty had just made an absolutely sensational record, and she felt that by trying again she could get it just one percent better . . . then try again she would.

"She is such a perfectionist that sometimes she has been misunderstood by people who don't know her well.

"I have heard it said that she can be difficult, but what can you expect when she loves her music so much? So many artists get upset if they feel that the people around them are not getting things right.

"Now? Now they don't take exception. They know that when she makes a suggestion, it's always a good one. She has an instinctive feel for her music."

When we spoke at Johnny's office (early in the day) he had been at a Dusty recording session which had gone on till ten to five in the morning.

"We're both nightbirds," he smiled. "Dusty prefers to record at night and we take it from there. We just go on till we're happy with the result." He swivelled round to the record-player and let the tingling sound of "Goin' Back" soak through the room once again.

"We also spend a lot of time putting the backing voices on, with Dusty and Madeline Bell and Lesley Duncun. They get a tremendous sound.

"Dusty sessions are quite hard work. She is pretty serious in the studio, and it's a good thing.

"To tell the truth, I've a sneaking preference for Dusty singing a ballad, something like 'Who Can I Turn To.' On these she is magnificent-and there is no doubt that she is definitely emotionally affected when she sings a song like 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.'

FANTASTIC

"At the same time, she has a fantastic love of rhythm and blues; and even if I sound biased, I think that in her field she does it better than anyone else in this country."

But things don't always go smoothly and professionally at the sessions, Johnny told me.

There was the time a red-faced member of the studio staff dropped a whole armful of dishes just as Dusty was reaching a top note; and the time they were putting the finishing touches to "Goin' Back."

Dusty and everyone else concerned went into the studios at 7 p.m., but at 1 a.m. they'd achieved nothing and they all went home.

Thunder and lightning had been rumbling and flashing across the night shy . . . and with every bolt, the sound equipment crackled through the recording equipment.

Now-who says Dusty Springfield's records aren't electrifying and magnetic?!

Alan Smith
(Publication unknown)
August 1966