Dusty Springfield’s voice has been labelled as that of the only white woman who can sing soul, and yet this reflects only one aspect of a woman who has successfully, convincingly and to much critical acclaim recorded jazz, blues, R&B, soul, pop, heavy metal, disco, techno, rock, dance, stage musical and even opera. Attempting to tie this singer down to a comfortable musical pigeon hole would not only be a fruitless task, it would actually prove impossible and ultimately result in misrepresentation.Dusty’s training ground was as part of a female trio called The Lana Sisters. She responded to an advertisement for a third member to join an ‘established sister act’ and was accepted. Here she developed the art of harmonising, learned microphone technique, recorded, did some television and played live both in the UK and at American Airbases. By the time that Dusty was to become part of The Springfields, she was the only member that had ever sung on stage.Dusty reflects on her time in The Springfields as a time of jolly and loud singing that wasn’t always in tune. The Springfields were successful on both sides of the Atlantic, recording commercial folk music. Dusty herself describes The Springfields as a group that were "pseudo everything" and working a niche that they had discovered was marketable for people that were cheerful and "jumped around a lot". The years of jumping around in her bedroom a la Cyd Charisse had found adult expression, and the jollity of The Springfields appeared to work.By 1962 Dusty was becoming restless. After a trip to America she had heard The Exciters singing "Tell Him" and was gripped by what she describes as "the most exciting thing I had ever heard, the attack in it!" The Springfields were becoming increasingly caught between the tensions of pop and folk and Dusty finally left the trio in 1963.Dusty was now free to explore her love of American Black music and her first solo single at the end of 1963, "I Only Want To Be With You" achieved gold status in the UK and began to reveal the link between soul and pop that Dusty was to make her own. The first album "A Girl Called Dusty" revealed the R&B love affair that Dusty enjoyed, producing a raw sound that enabled deeper exploration that singles unashamedly aimed at the commercial market perhaps could not provide. Hits flowed from here on in, the follow up single "Stay Awhile" peaked at number 13 and the third single "I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself" hit number 3, with only The Rolling Stones and The Beatles beating her to the top spot. Dusty was on a roller coaster of success, and from 1963 - 1969 she made the UK chart seventeen times, scoring ten top ten singles, her biggest being "You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me" which hit the number one spot in 1966, (number 4 in the USA) and remained on the UK chart for thirteen weeks. however the heavy touring and publicity appearances necessary for this level of success were taking a toll on her health, producing bouts of laryngitis that have followed Dusty at times of stress throughout her career.To dismiss Dusty as a singles artist would be a mistake. The sixties saw all her albums making the top 50 in the UK, three of them in the top ten. Her appropriately titled "Golden Hits" hit the number two spot. Apart from "Golden Hits", her albums all had carefully crafted identities - separate from her singles which, with few exceptions, did not appear on the albums.The sixties ended with the release of Dusty’s most famous and critically acclaimed album "Dusty In Memphis". Strangely, the album did not sell too well, only reaching number 43 in her home country. Now it is acknowledged as being one of the great albums of the decade.The seventies saw crises in both Dusty’s career and personal life. She moved to the United States. Chart success eluded her and Dusty "retired" from show business in the mid seventies, leaving behind her, among other things, two unreleased albums of material.Dusty made the first of several comebacks in 1978 with the album appropriately called "It Begins Again" which enjoyed moderate success but not enough to appease record company executives. Another album the following year flopped and Dusty was out of the public eye yet again. A few sporadic recordings in the eighties (including an album only ever released in the USA and Canada) did not catch the public’s imagination.It was not until she joined the Pet Shop Boys in 1987 on their single "What Have I Done To Deserve This" that Dusty was back with a vengeance. The single was a huge success all over the world, reaching number two in the UK and the coveted number one spot on the USA Cashbox chart. Suddenly, a whole new audience were aware of Dusty and that voice.Dusty’s collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys continued on two singles "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private", both successful on the charts as well as an album, "Reputation". Unfortunately, nothing new came after this and Dusty slipped out of the public eye again.1994 was the lead up to a new album, recorded in Nashville. A new greatest hits compilation was released, making the top 5 in the UK as well as a box set of both released and unreleased material. A documentary, "Full Circle", was also screened and the inclusion of "Son Of A Preacher Man" in the hit movie "Pulp Fiction" had Dusty Springfield on everyone’s mind again. But the new album failed to materialise.It is now known that, at this time, Dusty was diagnosed as having breast cancer. The release of the album was postponed to allow her time to have treatment. Once she was given the all clear, "A Very Fine Love" was released in 1995 but the momentum had been lost and the album was not a success, suffering from unfair comparisons to the classic "Dusty In Memphis" album.Sadly, the cancer returned and this time Dusty lost the battle in March 1999. In this same year she was awarded the OBE in the UK and inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in a ceremony in New York. These awards reflect the affection and esteem in which she is held. Her loss to many fans, the music industry and musicians alike should not be underestimated. We have lost a pioneer, a serious musician, a woman of major influence on the world stage and a woman who knew how to convey emotion to a depth that no other singer this century has managed. So genuine was this emotional intelligence that many fans feel we have lost a dear and much loved friend. We have lost the singer, but the music will live forever.