Dusty Springfield was an English singer whose career spanned over five decades. She died in 1999. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a significant singer of blue-eyed soul, pop, and dramatic ballads, with French chanson, country, and jazz also in her repertoire.
Dusty, whose birth name was Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien, was born on April 16, 1939, in West Hampstead, London, England. Dusty was the second child of Gerard Anthony O’Brien and Catherine Anne ‘Kay’ O’Brien, both of Irish descent.
Dusty’s parents, Catherine and Gerard, lived in Hove, East Sussex from 1962, however, in 1974, Catherine died in a nursing home of lung cancer, and Gerard, Dusty’s father, died of a heart attack in Rottingdean, East Sussex in 1979.
In Dusty’s early career, much of her odd behavior was seen as more or less fun, described as a “wicked” sense of humor, including her food fights and hurling crockery downstairs. Springfield had a great love for animals, particularly cats, and became an advocate for animal protection groups.
Dusty was an alcoholic and was also addicted to drugs in the 1970s and early 1980s. Due to her addiction, she has been hospitalized several times as she causes harm to herself by cutting her body. This act of hers has affected her musical career. During this time, Dusty was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Dusty began feeling in 1994, during the time she was recording her penultimate album, “A Very Fine Love,” in Nashville, Tennessee, and was later diagnosed with breast cancer. She received a lot of chemotherapy and radiation treatments but Dusty did not survive them.
On March 2, 1999 – a month and a few days before her 60th birthday, Dusty died. At the time of her death, she was 59 years old.
