Dusty invented Blue-Eyed Soul!
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien got her stage name Dusty Springfield by combining her childhood nickname Dusty with the name of her second band, The Springfields.
“Dusty” is the nickname she was given for playing football with the boys in the streets of London, effectively describing her as a tomboy.
Growing up in the ’50s, listening to the radio and records by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and singers like Peggy Lee, Dusty was set to embrace the ’60s R&B sound that was emerging from America.
This was clearly on her mind as she left her first band, The Springfields which was more of a folk act. In 1963, she had her eyes firmly set on a more American sound, influenced by artists on record labels Atlantic, Chess, and Motown, as well as Phil Spector’s production techniques.
Her first single, I Only Want To Be With You, was produced by Johnny Franz who aimed to replicate Phil Spector’s famed “Wall Of Sound” techniques. The single peaked at #4 in the U.K. charts and sold over one million copies.
The following year, she released her debut album A Girl Called Dusty which was mainly a covers album.
Dusty was big on singing other people’s tunes and the same year she released Burt Bacharach’s I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself. This single peaked at #3 and would set the tone for what was to come.
In 1966, Dusty had her first #1 with You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, a song she heard in Italian, and had the words rewritten by her friend Vicky Wickham and future manager, Simon Napier-Ball.
During this time, Dusty was also presenting a TV show called The Sound Of Motown on British TV, effectively promoting artists like Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, and Mary Wells to a U.K. audience.
In 1968, Dusty released Dusty In Memphis, an album that had the iconic Son Of A Preacher Man on it. In 1970, it earned Springfield a nomination Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Being a white middle-class girl from London, Dusty promoted and borrowed from the American ’60s R&B/Soul genre. In doing so, she became known as a Blue-Eyed Soul artist, a genre she pioneered alongside the Righteous Brothers and Van Morrison.
Dusty Springfield tunes | Related pages
The Look Of Love
You can learn how to play The Look Of Love by Dusty Springfield using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| C#m7 | C#7sus4 | G#m7 | G#m7 |
The look of love is in your eyes…
Son Of A Preacher Man
Learn how to play Son Of A Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield using chords, lyrics, TAB, backing track, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| E E6 | A E E6 |
Billy Ray was a preacher’s son and when his daddy would visit he’d come along…
Spooky
You can learn how to play Spooky by Dusty Springfield using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| Am7 | D13 | Am7 | D13 |
In the cool of the evening when everything is getting kind of groovy…
Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart
Learn how to play Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart by Janis Joplin and Dusty Springfield using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recordings.
| D G | A G | D G | A G |
Didn’t I make you feel, like you were the only man…
Dusty Springfield on the web
