Dusty Springfield

Britain's greatest pop diva, Dusty Springfield was also the finest white soul singer of her era, a performer of remarkable emotional resonance whose body of work spans the decades and their attendant musical transformations with a consistency and purity unmatched by any of her contemporaries; though a camp icon of glamourous excess in her towering beehive hairdo and panda-eye black mascara, the sultry intimacy and heartbreaking urgency of Springfield's voice transcended image and fashion, embracing everything from lushly-orchestrated pop to gritty R&B to disco with unparalleled sophistication and depth. She was born Mary O'Brien on April 16, 1939 and raised on an eclectic diet of classical music and jazz, coming to worship Peggy Lee; after completing her schooling she joined the Lana Sisters, a pop vocal trio which issued a few singles on Fontana before dissolving.

In 1960, upon teaming with her brother Dion and his friend Tim Feild in the folk trio the Springfields, O'Brien adopted the stage name Dusty Springfield; thanks to a series of hits including "Breakaway," "Bambino" and "Say I Won't Be There," the group was soon the U.K.'s best-selling act.

Dusty Springfield was a camp icon. She is an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the U.K. Music Hall of Fame. She was placed among the 25 female rock artists of all time by the readers of Mojo magazine (1999), editors of Q magazine (2002), and a panel of artists by VH1 TV channel (2007). In 2008, Dusty appeared at #35 on the Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". Various films and stage musicals continue to commemorate her. Universal Pictures has scheduled a biographical film to be released in 2011 with Kristin Chenoweth playing Springfield.