Died: March 2, 1999, Henley-on-Thames, United Kingdom
Lived: 38 Aubrey Walk, Kensington, London W8, UK
85 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6QS, UK
113 Baker St, Marylebone, London W1U 6RP, UK
Little Hill, Harpsden Bottom, Harpsden, Henley-on-Thames RG9 4HR, UK
Buried: St Mary the Virgin, Hart Street, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 2AU
Find A Grave Memorial# 7144619
Full name: Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien
House: Dusty Springfield (1939-1099), singer and gay icon, lived at 38 Aubrey Walk, Kensington, London W8 7JG, from 1966 to 1972. At 85 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6QS, Dusty Springfield lived in 1965, after leaving her flat at 113 Baker St, Marylebone, London W1U 6RP.
Queer Places, Vol. 2 edited by Elisa Rolle
ISBN-13: 978-1532906312
ISBN-10: 1532906315
Release Date: July 24, 2016
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/6228833
Amazon (print): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1532906315/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
House: In the 1990s Dusty Springfield moved to a house beside the River Thames near Henley-on-Thames. While recording a new album she became ill with cancer. Treatment helped for a while but then her health deteriorated badly. Her OBE was collected on her behalf a few weeks before she died at home in 1999.
Address: Harpsden Bottom, Harpsden, Henley-on-Thames RG9 4HR, UK (51.52227, -0.9191)
Life
Who: Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE (April 16, 1939 – March 2, 1999) aka Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield was an English pop singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive sensual mezzo-soprano sound, she was an important blue-eyed soul singer and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with six top 20 singles on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen on the United Kingdom Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, as well as her flamboyant performances made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties. Some of Springfield's biographers and journalists have speculated that she had two personalities: shy, quiet, Mary O'Brien – and the public face she had created as Dusty Springfield. An editorial review at Publishers Weekly of Valentine and Wickham's 2001 biography, “Dancing with Demons,” finds "the confidence [Springfield] exuded on vinyl was a facade masking severe insecurities, addictions to drink and drugs, bouts of self-harm and fear of losing her career if exposed as a lesbian". Springfield was never reported to be in a heterosexual relationship and this meant that the issue of her sexual orientation was raised frequently during her life. From mid-1966 to the early 1970s Springfield lived in a domestic partnership with fellow singer Norma Tanega. In September 1970, Springfield told Ray Connolly of the Evening Standard: “many other people say I'm bent, and I've heard it so many times that I've almost learned to accept it ... I know I'm perfectly as capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy. More and more people feel that way and I don't see why I shouldn't.” By the standards of 1970, that was a very bold statement. Three years later, she explained to Chris Van Ness of the Los Angeles Free Press: “I mean, people say that I'm gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay. I'm not anything. I'm just ... People are people ... I basically want to be straight ... I go from men to women; I don't give a shit. The catchphrase is: I can't love a man. Now, that's my hang-up. To love, to go to bed, fantastic; but to love a man is my prime ambition ... They frighten me.” In the 1970s and 1980s, Springfield became involved in several romantic relationships with women in Canada and the US that were not kept secret from the gay and lesbian community. From late 1972 to 1978, Springfield had an "off and on" domestic relationship with Faye Harris, a US photojournalist. In 1981 she had a six-month love affair with singer-musician Carole Pope of the rock band Rough Trade. In 1982 Springfield met an American actress, Teda Bracci, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting – in April 1983 the pair moved in together and seven months later they exchanged vows at a wedding ceremony which was not legally recognised under California law. The pair had a "tempestuous" relationship which led to an altercation with both Springfield and Bracci hospitalised – Springfield had been smashed in the mouth by Bracci wielding a saucepan and had teeth knocked out requiring plastic surgery. The pair had separated within two years. Springfield's funeral service was attended by hundreds of fans and people from the music business, including Elvis Costello, Lulu, and Pet Shop Boys. It was a Catholic funeral, which took place in Oxfordshire, at the ancient parish church of St. Mary the Virgin (Hart Street, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 2AU), where Springfield had lived during her last years. A marker dedicated to her memory was placed in the church graveyard. Springfield was cremated and some of her ashes were buried at Henley, while the rest were scattered by her brother, Tom Springfield, at the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland.
Queer Places, Vol. 2 edited by Elisa Rolle
ISBN-13: 978-1532906312
ISBN-10: 1532906315
Release Date: July 24, 2016
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/6228833
Amazon (print): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1532906315/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1KZBO/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
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