A Girl Called Dusty

Two Swedish Dusty covers

2008-12-31T22:57:00.002+11:00

Swedish Pet Shop Boys cover group, West End Girls, released their version of What Have I Done To Deserve This? earlier this year. For the male vocals, they turned to Magnus Carlson (not the gay one but the one from the group Weeping Willows). Check it out:

You can hear the Club Mix and the Electro Mix over at their MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/westendgirls1

Swedish female rock group, Sahara Hotnights released In Private as their latest single earlier this month and it reached number 7 on the Swedish charts.

Here is the film clip:

Check out Sahara Hotnights' MySpace page here:

http://www.myspace.com/saharahotnights

Shelby Lynne's Dusty Springfield Tribute

2008-01-12T08:04:00.000+11:00

The release of Shelby Lynne's new album Just A Little Lovin' has been brought forward to 29 January 2008.

As a preview, Shelby has added the following studio footage to YouTube. The song is I Only Want To Be With You.

An Evening with Dusty Springfield - Swedish tribute

2008-01-12T07:37:00.000+11:00

On 28 December 2007, a tribute to Dusty Springfield was held in Malmö, Sweden. En Afton Med Dusty Springfield (An Evening With Dusty Springfield) featured such well-known singers as Nina Persson from The Cardigans and Titiyo. Other singers included Moto Boy, Per Sunding, Helena Josefsson and Niklas Frisk.

Here are some YouTube clips from the night.

Nina Persson - The Windmills Of Your Mind:

Per Sunding - Anyone Who Had A Heart:

Moto Boy: You Don't Have To Say You Love Me:

Moto Boy - If You Go Away:

Niklas Frisk - Just A Little Lovin':

The One And Only...

2008-01-12T07:17:00.000+11:00

The One And Only is a new reality show on the BBC in the UK. It is a talent show to find the best tribute act and give them a performing contract in Las Vegas. One of the acts is a tribute to Dusty Springfield.

An audition process narrowed the acts down to the top 3 for each artist. A group of super fans for that particular artist then selected the best.

Katy Setterfield is representing Dusty in the first proper show to be screened in the UK this Saturday. She will be performing I Only Want To Be With You.

There is an official BBC site which includes videos. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on where you live), the videos can only be accessed if you like in the UK.

www.bbc.co.uk/theoneandonly

Katy also has her own website.

www.katysetterfield.com

1,000 albums to hear before you die

2007-12-16T13:32:00.000+11:00

The Guardian in the UK recently ran a series of articles on the 1,000 albums to hear before you die. They steered clear of the obvious choices so "Dusty in Memphis" was not included.

But naturally Dusty was represented with "From Dusty With Love" (aka "A Brand New Me" in the US).

Dusty Springfield
From Dusty With Love (1970)
After triumphing with the Memphis set, Dusty headed north for the nascent Philadelphia sound. Gamble & Huff were a couple of years shy of their string-driven soft-soul peak, but songs such as Let Me Get in Your Way and Never Love Again are ornate, exquisite and just-so for the singer's most delicate performances.

Tina Arena pays tribute to Dusty

2007-11-26T05:36:00.000+11:00

Tina Arena has included her versions of four classic Dusty Springfield songs on her new album "Songs Of Love & Loss".

The songs are "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself", "The Look Of Love", "I Only Want To Be With You" and "Windmills Of Your Mind".

The album comes out in Australia on 1 December 2007 and is the first under her new contract with EMI.

You can listen to samples from all the songs on the album at the following link.

http://www.musichead.com.au/ecards/tinaarena

I Just Fall In Love Again - duet with Anne Murray

2007-11-26T05:30:00.000+11:00

A fan has put together a pictorial tribute to Dusty Springfield and Anne Murray on YouTube. The slide show is set to the "new" duet "I Just Fall In Love Again".

Just A Little Lovin' - A Tribute To Dusty

2007-11-03T12:32:00.000+11:00

The tracklisting for Shelby Lynne's Dusty tribute album Just A Little Lovin' has been revealed.

1. Just a Little Lovin'
2. Anyone Who Had a Heart
3. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
4. I Only Want To Be With You
5. The Look of Love
6. Breakfast in Bed
7. Willie and Laura Mae Jones
8. I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore
9. How Can I Be Sure
10. Pretend

Pretend is an original song written by Shelby.

Shelby recently performed seven of the songs from the album on the radio station KCRW. You can still hear her performances at:

http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/mb071030shelby_lynne

Just A Little Lovin' is being released by Lost Highway Records in the USA on 5 February 2008.

Dusty DVD charts

2007-10-16T05:36:00.000+10:00

The new Dusty DVD "Live At The BBC" debuted at number five on the UK Music DVD chart. It was the only new entry in the top ten.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/musicdvds.shtml

My Inspiration

2007-10-14T13:21:00.000+10:00

HMV in the UK have started a campaign called My Inspiration where artists of the day quote a line from the song that has most inspired them. Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys has chosen "Goin' Back" by Dusty.

The Six Million Dollar Man

2007-10-08T05:13:00.000+10:00

A Dusty song that will probably never find its way to CD is the original theme song for "The Six Million Dollar Man". There were two versions, a shorter one over the opening credits and a longer one over the end credits.

Check it out at YouTube.

Jimi Hendrix and Dusty

2007-10-08T04:53:00.000+10:00

A more complete clip of Jimi Hendrix's appearance on "It Must Be Dusty" has appeared on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v9UClI6EY8

The quality is still shocking but you still get the gist of this historic collaboration.

New DVD spotted in Australia

2007-10-08T04:43:00.000+10:00

A friend called me yesterday to say that he had seen the new DVD at HUM Records in Newtown (a Sydney suburb) which is earlier than its UK release.

All Systems Go For New DVD

2007-09-08T22:10:00.000+10:00

A release date has been confirmed for the new Dusty Springfield DVD "Live At The BBC". It will be released in the UK on 8 October 2007.

Universal have set up a microsite to promote the release.

http://www.dustyspringfieldlive.co.uk

Here is the trailer for the DVD which I'm sure will whet the appetite of all Dusty fans.

Shelby Lynne pays tribute to Dusty

2007-08-29T06:45:00.000+10:00

Shelby Lynne has long been a Dusty admirer and her next album will be a tribute to Dusty. To be released in early 2008, the album will include her versions of Dusty classics.

You can hear samples from the album at Shelby's MySpace page. There are four songs featured - Just A Little Lovin', I Only Want To Be With You, The Look Of Love and Willie and Laura Mae Jones.

Another Dusty duet

2007-08-29T06:22:00.000+10:00

Following the release of the Dusty/Petula duet "Corner Of The Sky" comes the news of another newly recorded duet - this time with Anne Murray.

Anne is working on a duets album called "Anne Murray Duets: Legends and Friends" to be released in November (Canada) and the US (January). The album will include rerecorded versions of some of her classic songs. She is working with producer Phil Ramone.

Some of the artists to contribute are Shania Twain, Martina McBride, Nelly Furtado, Isabelle Boulay, kd Lang, Celtic Woman, Carole King, Olivia Newton-John, Emmylou Harris, Jann Arden, Shelby Lynne and Anne's daughter Dawn Langstroth.

And Dusty Springfield.

Both Anne and Dusty recorded the song "I Just Fall In Love Again" in 1979. It was a hit for Anne in 1980 and Dusty included it on her "Living Without Your Love" album. The song was originally recorded by the Carpenters in 1977.

The duet will combine Dusty's original version with newly recorded vocals from Anne.

Dusty and Anne were friends and did work together. Dusty provided backing vocals for Anne's 1975 "Together" album and guested on Anne's 1985 TV special "The Sounds Of London", peforming a medley of songs with Anne.

Here is Dusty's version of the song:

Dusty Live At The BBC DVD

2007-08-29T06:11:00.000+10:00

Above is an image of the cover for the new Dusty Springfield DVD "Live At The BBC". This is the biggest version of the cover and was found at www.sendit.com.

There are two different dates being bounced around for the release of this DVD. 24 September and 8 October.

The contents of the DVD have been posted at the Fire Escape Talking blog.

Dusty BBC TV Shows

Series 1

1 September 1966
The Real Thing
Some Of Your Lovin’
Bring Him Back
Poor Wayfaring Stranger
The Mood I’m In
Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa
Packin’ Up

8 September 1966
Call Me Irresponsible
Tell The World About You
I Don’t Want To Go On Without You
Won’t Be Long
I’ll Never Stop Loving You
The Real Thing

22 September 1966
You Lost The Sweetest Boy
To Love and Be Loved
Anna (El Baion)
Gonna Build A Mountain
Losing You
Won’t Be Long

Series 2

15 August 1967
Live It Up
I’ll Try Anything
The Water Is Wide
I Only Wanna Laugh
If You Go Away
Everybody Needs Somebody

22 August 1967
Get Ready
The Beautiful Land
All I See Is You
Medley: Do Re Mi, Soulville

29 August 1967
Come Back To Me
Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream
Peel Me A Grape
If You Go Away
You Can Have Him

5 September 1967
By Myself
Sunny
Two Brothers
Time After Time
You'd Better Run

12 September 1967
Let The Good Times Roll
If My Friends Could See Me Now
I Wish You Love
It Was Easier To Hurt Him
Heatwave

19 September 1967
Nowhere To Run
Sweet Lover No More
My Lagan Love
The Mood I'm In
It Ain't All Honey
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

Extras

26 August 1970: THE MORECAMBE & WISE SHOW (BBC2)
How Can I Be Sure

28 December 1972: TOM JONES SHOW (BBC1)
I Am Woman
Since I Fell For You

7 April 1979: SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MILL (BBC1)
Interview/I'm Coming Home Again

Photo Gallery

Audio Jukebox of tracks plus hit singles:
I Only Want To Be With You
Son Of A Preacher Man
I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself
You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
I Close My Eyes & Count To Ten

Collector’s Edition contains:
4 Unique Picture Postcards from the TV Series
Limited edition numbering

Format
DVD
5.1 surround sound

Dusty Springfield Bulletin #62

2007-07-12T22:07:00.001+10:00

The latest issue of the Dusty Springfield Bulletin is now out and members should be receiving their copies soon. The cover is a stunning shot of Dusty. To find out more about this essential publication, click here.

Publication date for The Complete Dusty Springfield

2007-07-01T07:59:00.000+10:00

Amazon UK are now listing the book for publication on 9 July 2007.

The Complete BBC Sessions on iTunes / in Australia

2007-06-12T06:13:00.000+10:00

The new CD "The Complete BBC Sessions" is available as a digital download from iTunes. Click here or search for Dusty Springfield directly.

Also, the CD has been released in Australia. Copies manufactured in Australia are available in stores now.

Rest In Peace, Fraser

2007-06-11T08:29:00.000+10:00

The Dusty fan community is still reeling from the untimely passing of Fraser O'Brien, a great Dusty fan.

I was fortunate to meet Fraser several times on trips to London and was struck by his kindness and generosity to other fans. He was always willing to share what he had and what he knew about Dusty and trust me, his knowledge was vast.

Fraser also had a very acid wit and could reduce me to hysterics with a few well-chosen words. I have been looking back at old emails with a smile on my face.

Fraser was also a great support to myself during some of the heady days of Dustymail, the first email group dedicated to Dusty as well as this very website. It was people like Fraser who kept me going when I felt like giving up.

I have included the iconic photo of Dusty above simply because it was both Fraser's favourite one as well as his trademark.

Fraser will be sadly missed and my thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.

- Grant Whittingham

1987

2007-06-11T07:32:00.000+10:00

It's hard to believe that it's been twenty years since Dusty made her big comeback courtesy of the Pet Shop Boys on the mega hit "What Have I Done To Deserve This?".

It's also been twenty years since I became a Dusty fan. I was a big Pet Shop Boys fan and absolutely loved "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" along with the rest of their album at the time, "Actually". As many others have done, I fell in love with that voice and it started an amazing journey of seeking out everything I could from Dusty Springfield.

The success of "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" seemed to overshadow another collaboration from the same period - with Richard Carpenter on "Something In Your Eyes".

Richard's first project since the death of his sister Karen was an album called "Time". Richard invited guest vocalists to provide the female vocals. Dusty supplied the vocals on the beautiful ballad "Something In Your Eyes", one of my favourite Dusty songs.

"Something In Your Eyes" was released as a single on the back of "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" but unfortunately barely scraped into the absolute lowest regions of the charts due to a lack of promotion. The single cover did not even mention Dusty although she is the singer of the song.

I didn't get to hear the song until 1993. I was on a trip to the US and I was hanging out in second hand record shops on both sides of the continent. I found the "Time" album in a small shop on a back street in San Francisco and snapped it up immediately.

The one piece of promotion that was done was a film clip featuring Dusty and Richard, which has recently popped up on You Tube.

Enjoy one of my favourite Dusty songs.

The Complete Dusty Springfield encyclopedia

2007-06-11T07:26:00.000+10:00

Back in 2001, Paul Howes wrote "The Complete Dusty Springfield" which was the essential guide to Dusty's music. A bible for Dusty fans.

Later this year, a revised and expanded edition is being published. It will have a new cover (the stunning shot above), updated information, information on live songs, a new foreword from Petula Clark and lots more.

As soon as I have a date, I will post it here.

The Complete BBC Sessions

2007-06-11T06:07:00.000+10:00

A new Dusty CD is now in the shops - in the UK at least. It is called "Dusty: The Complete BBC Sessions" and features Dusty singing live on BBC Radio. The first three tracks are from the Springfields.

1. Swahili Papa (The Springfields) - BBC Russ Conway Show 26/7/62
2. Dear John (The Springfields) - BBC Russ Conway Show 26/7/62
3. Say I Won't Be There (The Springfields) - BBC Ken Dodd Show 14/7/63
4. La Bamba - BBC Top Gear 16/7/64
5. Tossin' And Turnin' - BBC Top Gear 16/7/64
6. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - BBC Top Gear 16/7/64
7. I Can't Hear You (No More) - BBC Top Gear 10/11/64
8. Wishin' And Hopin' - BBC Top Gear 10/11/64
9. Losing You - BBC Top Gear 10/11/64
10. I Can't Hear You (No More) - BBC Saturday Club 5/7/65
11. In The Middle Of Nowhere - BBC Saturday Club 5/7/65
12. Mockingbird - BBC Saturday Club 5/7/65
13. Little By Little - BBC Saturday Club 24/1/66
14. Uptight (Everything's Alright) - BBC Saturday Club 24/1/66
15. Chained To A Memory - BBC Saturday Club 24/1/66
16. We're Doing Fine - BBC Saturday Club 12/4/66
17. Every Ounce Of Strength - BBC Saturday Club 12/4/66
18. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - BBC Saturday Club 12/4/66
19. Good Lovin' - BBC Saturday Club 12/4/66
20. To Love Somebody - BBC DLT 5/1/70
21. Son Of A Preacher Man - BBC DLT 5/1/70
22. (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher And Higher - BBC DLT 5/1/70

Tracks 7 to 22 previously appeared on a CD called "The BBC Sessions" produced exclusively for subscribers to the Dusty Springfield Bulletin in 1999.

I am still waiting for my copy but from all reports, the quality is very good and the CD is well worth having.

Here is a review from the Get Ready To Rock website.

Probably the best British white soul singer of her, and any other generation, this collection brings together the complete surviving BBC sessions spanning The Russ Conway Show sessions in 1962 to her appearances on the Dave Lee Travis Show in 1970.

And let us not forget - Dusty was an icon who was up there with the greats of the Sixties - holding her own with the best the States had to offer, sharing the bill and more than holding her own in the company of the likes The Supremes, and Martha Reeves and The Vandellas. She even dueted with Hendix on a live version of Mocking Bird on her sixties TV show Dusty.

This collection pulls the remaining BBC tapes together for the first time, twenty-two tracks starting while she was still with the Springfields and features their first 3 singles - Dear John, Swahili Papa and Say I Won't Be There. These and the 1964 sessions that followed (for the Top Gear Show) had been considered ‘lost' until recently.

Included are 5 top 10 hits, a string of album covers and B-sides, and for Dusty completists To Love Somebody - a cover of the Bee Gees classic - a number that was originally recorded in Atlanta for inclusion on Dusty Goes To Memphis, but which was destroyed by fire. This track, and Dusty versions of Tossing And Turning, Up Tight, We're Doing Fine, Good Loving, and Higher And Higher now only exist in the BBC archives.

So this really is one for those who want their Dusty collection to be complete. As with any BBC productions, you're guaranteed immaculate sound quality and wonderful performances. It doesn't improve on the original versions, but it is a collection that fans will want to own.

****

Review by Pete Whalley

Just a minor correction. In the review, it mentions that "To Love Somebody" was recorded for the "Dusty In Memphis" album. This is not quite true. At one point, it was planned for a follow-up album to "Dusty In Memphis" produced by the same team of Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd. "To Love Somebody" was planned to be included on that album but the project never went ahead and the recording was then apparently destroyed in a fire.

Happy Birthday Dusty

2007-04-16T22:50:00.000+10:00

Today (16 April 2007) would have been Dusty's 68th birthday.

Dusty may no longer be with us in body but she is still with us in spirit and of course, through her music.

Think of Dusty today and better still, play your favourite Dusty CD and play it loud. Celebrate Dusty as she would like us to celebrate her.

Dusty Springfield lives on.

Dusty DVD in the charts

2007-03-15T00:27:00.000+11:00

The People Get Ready DVD has proven a hit in the UK, having been in the top 10 music DVDs chart for several weeks now.

The highest position reached was number three and at the time of writing, is sitting at number seven.

Check out the chart here.

"New" duet now out

2007-03-15T00:05:00.000+11:00

Corner Of The Sky, the duet with Dusty and Petula Clark has now been released in the US on Petula's Duets album.

I don't know about anyone else but I have been eagerly waiting for this one. I must confess that I'm not familiar with the original song from the stage musical Pippin so this will be a totally new song for me.

I was excited to get the email to say that my copy has been shipped. Since I am in Australia, I will have to wait at least a week which is increasing the anticipation on a daily basis.

Dusty Sings The Blues - the Jeff Barry album

2007-01-06T06:48:00.000+11:00

Writer Don Charles has researched and written a detailed essay on what was going to be Dusty's 1971 album. The album sessions were produced by Jeff Barry and was ultimately never released except for two singles. The remaining tracks were finally released in 1999 as bonus tracks on "Dusty In Memphis Deluxe Edition" issued by Rhino Records. However, there was still some mystery surrounding the songwriting credits of some of the songs. But now, all is revealed in this fascinating essay.

Don has published the essay on his blog, The Pop Culture Cantina. You can read it by clicking here. The essay is about halfway down the page.

Dusty and the Sugababes

2007-01-06T06:22:00.000+11:00

On Christmas Eve, the BBC screened "Duet Impossible", a concept where artists of today could duet with artists of yesterday. By use of technology, it could appear that the artists were onstage together.

Dusty appeared with popular UK girl band, the Sugababes singing "Dancing In The Street". The footage of Dusty was taken from the 1965 NME Poll Winners concert.

You can judge the result for yourself below.

"New" Dusty and Petula duet

2007-01-01T02:15:00.000+11:00

According to the official Petula Clark web site, Petula will be releasing a CD called "Duets" which collects together duets that Petula has recorded over the years plus two new duets.

One of the new duets has been especially created for the album and features Dusty. The song is "Corner Of The Sky" from the musical "Pippin".

Dusty originally recorded "Corner Of The Sky" for the ill-fated "Longing" album in 1974. Work on the album was never completed and the recordings languished in a vault. In 2001, the tracks from "Longing" were finally released for the first time on a CD called "Beautiful Soul". All the tracks except "Corner Of The Sky" that is.

The reason that "Corner Of The Sky" was not included was that Dusty did not complete the vocals and there was not enough to be able to release the track.

Petula has now provided the missing vocals and the track will be released as a duet. An exact release date is unknown but it is expected to be released in the next few months. Keep checking A Girl Called Dusty for any updates.

People Get Ready - new Dusty DVD

2007-01-01T02:00:00.000+11:00

A new budget DVD called "People Get Ready" will be released in the UK on 15 January 2007 by Delta Music.

This is the tracklisting although the source programs for the clips have not been confirmed.

01. Introduction
02. I Only Want To Be With You
03. Losing You
04. What's It Gonna Be
05. Son Of A Preacher Man
06. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
07. I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten
08. Quiet Please, There's A Lady On Stage
09. Every Day I Have To Cry
10. Can I Get A Witness
11. How Can I Be Sure
12. People Get Ready
13. The Look Of Love
14. A Brand New Me
15. Some Of Your Lovin
16. Ain't No Mountain High Enough feat. Engelbert Humperdinck
17. I Think It's Going To Rain Today
18. Since I Fell For You
19. Spooky
20. I Wanna Be A Free Girl
21. Lost
22. When Love Has Gone (instrumental)

The DVD can be pre-ordered from Amazon by clicking here.

Simply Dusty box set reissue

2007-01-01T01:44:00.000+11:00

The "Simply Dusty" box set from a few years ago has been reissued in a new format called an ear book.

It is a large format book of 120 pages, 28.5cm x 28.5cm and is packed with pictures as well as the original text from the booklet included with the box set initially.

The four CDs are included in the inside front cover. The tracklisting is the same as the original release.

The ear book can be ordered from Amazon by clicking here.

Dusty song used in TV commercial

2006-12-31T15:54:00.000+11:00

I have had a lot of people write to me about a TV commercial for Journey Diamond Jewelry asking if that is Dusty singing.

The answer is yes, it is Dusty and the song is the hauntingly beautiful "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?". Dusty recorded the song in 1970 and was intended for the "See All Her Faces" album. For reasons unknown, it was not released at the time and fans had to wait until 1994 to hear this masterpiece.

You can view the commercial here:

Another popular TV commercial I get asked about from time to time is the one that Dusty did for Mother's Pride bread and here it is:

Enjoy.

Welcome to the new look site

2006-12-31T15:27:00.000+11:00

Regular visitors to A Girl Called Dusty would have noticed that the site has not been updated for a very long time. This has been due to a couple of reasons but mainly due to technical problems surrounding a computer crash.

The time was right for a new look and I decided to set the site up as a blog to allow quick updates and for site visitors to comment on news items. Over the next month or so, information from the old site will be transfered to the new site. I ask for your patience during this process.

A Girl Called Dusty was the first website on the internet purely dedicated to Dusty Springfield and was launched on 1 April 1997, almost 10 years ago. Not long after, I started the first email discussion list, Dustymail, which was very successful, Dustymail ran for over 5 years and closed in May 2003.

There will be a number of postings over the next few days as I attempt to catch up all the current news. Hopefully, it won't be too long before things will settle and the new look A Girl Called Dusty will be fully operational.

Happy New Year.

- Grant Whittingham