March 3, 1999

Posted March 03, 1999

Before Joni, before Laura, before almost all singers, for me there was Dusty Springfield. Her songs "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me," "The Look Of Love" and "I Only Wanna Be With You" are staples in my record collection. I heard this morning that Dusty died yesterday in London after fighting breast cancer for the last 5 years.

Recently, Rhino Records released expanded editions of a couple of Dusty's albums, including the classic Dusty In Memphis, and I've been enjoying the extra 14 tracks which were added to the 11 songs originally on the album. In fact, just last night, I introduced my young friend, Dan, to Dusty's album. He had heard "Son Of A Preacher Man" in the film Pulp Fiction, but hadn't heard much else. He loved the track "The Windmills Of Your Mind" so much that he made me repeat it a few times. At the end of our evening, I gave Dan my original CD of Dusty In Memphis and he told me that he listened to it when he went to sleep last night, only to be awakened this morning by the radio with news that Dusty had passed away yesterday.

I'm happy that Dusty's music continues to be passed along to new fans, who can appreciate her great talent and investigate her huge catalog, and I imagine being able to hear all those wonderful songs for the first time as a new fan, and that makes me feel happy. But I also feel such deep sadness that Dusty didn't live to accept her induction into The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame, which is happening in about two weeks. She deserves this accolade and so much more for all the beautiful music she made for more than 40 years. Long live Dusty Springfield's music.