A voice worth returning to

Dusty Springfield was born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien on April 16, 1939, in West Hampstead, London. Raised on classical music and jazz, she worshipped Peggy Lee, sang with the Lana Sisters from 1958, and formed the folk-pop trio the Springfields with her brother Tom in 1960. When the trio split in October 1963, she launched a solo career that would make her the most distinctive British female voice of the decade.

Her solo debut, “I Only Want to Be with You” (1963), reached number four in Britain and crossed to America, making her one of the first voices of the British Invasion. What followed was a run of singles that defined sophisticated sixties pop: the Bacharach-David gems “Wishin’ and Hopin'” and “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” (both 1964), her only British number one “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” (1966), the whispered Goffin-King ballad “Going Back” (1966), and the Oscar-nominated “The Look of Love” from Casino Royale (1967). Along the way she became British pop’s great champion of American soul, hosting the 1965 television special The Sound of Motown that introduced Motown to Britain.

By 1968 her commercial fortunes were fading, and she made the bravest move of her career: signing with Atlantic Records and travelling to Memphis to record with producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin, backed by the Memphis Cats and the Sweet Inspirations. The resulting Dusty in Memphis (1969) was a commercial failure on release but is now ranked among the greatest albums of all time, its hit “Son of a Preacher Man” becoming her signature. Its fine follow-up, A Brand New Me (1970), recorded in Philadelphia with Gamble and Huff, gave her the hit “Spooky.”

The seventies brought personal struggles and chart indifference, but the eighties brought vindication: the Pet Shop Boys, lifelong fans, wrote “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” for her, and the 1987 duet reached number two on both sides of the Atlantic. She died of breast cancer on March 2, 1999, aged 59 — just days before her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This collection follows her from the 1963 debut to the 1987 comeback: ten records, one unmistakable voice.

Follow the years