Clive Burgess, of Dusty Day team, has passed away.
l-r Simon Bell, CLIVE BURGESS, Paul O’Mara, John Aitken
It was with great sadness that we heard, yesterday that Clive Burgess has passed away unexpectedly.. Clive was an unwavering supporter of Dusty Day in recent years.
In his life outside of the Dusty world Prof. Clive Burgess was a learned & highly respected expert in Medieval History.
RIP Clive.
Ed Sheeran’s new song “Dusty"
Ed Sheeran’s new album “-“ (subtract) features a touching description of the moment he chose to play his young daughter “Dusty In Memphis”.
In the video he is seen taking the 1969 LP from a rack and playing it as he prepares breakfast. The song isn’t about Dusty, but is about the effect of her music & voice have in that moment with his daughter.
It’s beautiful and very touching, as is the whole album.
Wee Willie Harris has died, aged 90
Wee Willie Harris, the legendary rock’n’roll artist has died aged 90. Willie enthralled us at Dusty Day 2019, including in his act - Someone's In The Kitchen With Dinah - his 1966 single which featured Dusty & Madeline Bell on backing. Dusty & Mad happened to be at Central Sound in Berwick St. London & heard the music session. Next thing, they found themselves joining in!
We extend our condolences to Willie’s family & friends
Burt Bacharach dies at 94
Burt Bacharach, one of the writers most loved by Dusty, has died at the age of 94.
Dusty recorded many of his songs, including The Look Of Love, I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself, They Long To Be Close To You, Long After Tonight Is All Over, and 24 Hours from Tulsa.
from The Guardian:
In all, he scored 73 Top 40 hits in the US and 52 in the UK.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1928 and raised in New York, Bacharach would sneak into jazz clubs underage to hear performers such as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie, while immersing himself in the work of composers such as Stravinsky and Ravel. He was classically trained at schools in Montreal, New York and California, and, following a spell in the US army, he became a piano accompanist to musicians, including Vic Damone, the Ames Brothers and his first wife, Paula Stewart. He also worked as an arranger and conductor for Marlene Dietrich when she toured Europe in the late 50s and early 60s.
Bacharach’s songwriting breakthrough came in 1957, when he met lyricist Hal David at New York pop powerhouse the Brill Building. They scored back to back UK No 1s with two of their earliest songs, The Story of My Life by Marty Robbins (Michael Holliday in the UK hit version) and Magic Moments by Perry Como.
Topped by David’s variously whimsical, wounded and earnestly romantic lyrics, Bacharach created expert arrangements featuring close vocal harmonising, string sections, jazz piano and distinctive details, such as twinkling percussion and whistled melodies. Bacharach’s classical training also helped him deploy unusual and characterful time signatures.
Together, he and David created a string of all-time classics: I Say a Little Prayer, sung by Aretha Franklin, What’s New Pussycat? by Tom Jones, The Look of Love by Dusty Springfield, Make It Easy on Yourself by the Walker Brothers, and many others.
Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, performed by BJ Thomas and featured in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, won a Grammy and an Oscar in 1969, while Bacharach’s music for the film won the Oscar for best original score.
Dionne Warwick became one of Bacharach’s most enduring and fruitful collaborators. Their hits together include Walk on By, Do You Know the Way to San Jose?, Anyone Who Had a Heart, A House is Not a Home (later a hit for Luther Vandross) and her own original version of I Say a Little Prayer. Warwick later successfully sued Bacharach after he and David stopped working together, stranding her without material. It was a “very costly and unfortunate” dispute, Bacharach told the Guardian in 2019: “I stupidly handled it wrong.” He and Warwick reconciled for the 1985 Aids charity single That’s What Friends Are For.
After he and Stewart divorced in 1958, Bacharach married three more times, to Angie Dickinson in 1965, Carole Bayer Sager in 1982, and Jane Hansen in 1993. He and Hansen, who remained married until his death, had two children, Oliver and Raleigh. Nikki Bacharach, his daughter with Dickinson, killed herself in 2007, aged 40, after a history of mental health issues.
Bayer Sager became a successful musical collaborator in the 80s, writing lyrics for new Bacharach songs performed by Neil Diamond, Roberta Flack and Christopher Cross, whose theme for the 1981 movie Arthur won Bacharach his second Oscar for best original song.
His hit rate tailed off after the mid-80s, but he continued to pursue eye-catching collaborations, with, among others, Ronald Isley, Dr Dre and Sheryl Crow. He made a pair of albums with Elvis Costello, plus a version of I’ll Never Fall in Love Again with him for the 1997 movie, Austin Powers.
Dusty’s brother, Tom Springfield has died
Songwriter/producer Tom Springfield has died at his home in London. He was 88.
News of Tom’s passing took a few weeks to come to us. He actually died on July 27th.
A t this time we have no further information.
He was born Dionysius Patrick O’Brien on July 2, 1934, in West Hampstead, London.
Forming The Springfields with Dusty and Tim Feild, they began a successful career on record and television. Tom composed Island Of Dreams, Say I Won’t Be There & Come On Home before they split and Dusty went solo. Dusty’s Losing You & Summer Is Over were written by Tom.
He then teamed up with The Seekers, writing I’ll Never Find Another You, A World Of Our Own, Georgy Girl (nominated for an Oscar), and The Carnival Is Over (based on a traditional Russian folk song Tom had become familiar with during National Service).
The surving Seekers have issued a statement: "We have heard reports that Tom Springfield has died. Tom was our fifth Seeker and we could not have done it without him. He was our creative heart and soul. A truly gifted songwriter, guiding light and powerhouse”. Tom went on to record solo projects including Sun Songs in 1968.
In later life Tom was content to live a quiet life, with recording projects just for his own pleasure.
The last time I saw him was in HMV in Oxford Street, where he was checking out his sister’s section.
Pat Rhodes and myself are very sad to hear of Tom’s passing. May he rest in peace.
Simon Bell
BBC Four Dusty evening
BBC Four is showing two editions of Dusty’s 1966 series on Friday March 19, from 19:00
Guests are The 4 Freshmen & Senor Wences.
The are followed by Sounds of the Sixties featuring The Springfields
09 March 2022
Dusty Day 2021 cancelled
I’m sure it will come as no surprise that there will be no Dusty Day in April, as the pandemic continues. Stay home & safe and we hope to see you in 2022.
Dec 17 Dusty night on BBC TV
Dusty features in the third of Andrew Marr’s New Elizabethans on December 17 on BBC 2, followed on BBC four by Dusty At The BBC, and then one of her TV series from 1967.
21:00 BBC 2 Andrew Marr’s NEW ELIZABETHANS
featuring Dusty Springfield
22:00 BBCfour DUSTY AT THE BBC
23:00 BBCfour DUSTY : show 6 of Dusty’s second BBC series, featuring Scott Walker. Dusty sings Nowhere To Run, Sweet Lover No More, My Laggan Love, The Mood I'm In, It Aint All Honey, You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.
Plaque unveiled at Dusty’s former school
Ealing Civic Society have erected a plaque for Dusty outside her former school in Ealing. It was unveiled on 13th October, 2020 at a small ceremony.
former Breakaway Jean Westwood has died
Jean Westwood, formerly Jean Hawker, and born Jean Ryder, has passed away in Spain after a long illness.
The Breakaways - l-r Vicki Brown, Jean Hawker, Margo Quantrell
Jean was an original Vernons Girl from the “Oh Boy!” TV shows, going on to form the Two Tones with Maggie Stredder. In 1963 Jean joined Vicki Haseman (later to become Vicki Brown after marrying Joe Brown) & Margo Quantrell, filling a vacancy in The Breakaways. They cut numerous singles without troubling the charts, but, as backing singers, they had a string of hits for almost everyone in London - Petula Clark, Billie Davis, Cilla Black, Alma Cogan, and of course Dusty. Jean’s husband Mike Hawker co-wrote I Only Want To Be With You, Stay Awhile, Your Hurtin’ Kinda Love, and I Wish I’d Never Loved You, and The Breakaways sang background on Dusty’s recordings of those songs, and all of her first album.
Throughout the 60s they sang with everyone who recorded in London - famously on Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Jean was also a member of the James Last Choir for a time in the 1970’s, touring with Kay Garner ,Lyn Cornell, and Sue & Sunny.