Was dusty springfield gay
THE DUSTY SPRINGFIELD OF IT ALL
Disclaimer: there are Eras tour spoilers!
I’ve been thinking about Dusty since hearing “You Don’t Own Me” prior to Eras tour starting, so last night I took a gummy and proceeded to view every single one of her melody videos I could find. And spiritual shit are there some interesting visual parallels…
Even though I’m sure most of you don’t want an introduction to Dusty, I wanted to start with a summary for those who might not be as well-acquainted:
Dusty’s Career & Personal Life:
Born on April 16, 1939 in West Hampstead, London, Dusty (birth name Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien) was known for her distinctive sentimental and husky voice. “The White Queen of Soul” was one of the leading blue-eyed spirit and pop singers of the 1960s.
She joined “The Lana Sisters” in 1958, but later left to form a folk band called “The Springfields” with her brother, Tom (birth name Dionysius PA O’Brien), and Tim Feild. The band name origin: they were rehearsing in field in Somerset in the spring.
In 1963 she went solo and adapted the entitle Dusty (reporte
In the 1960s, Britain was a earth of psychedelia, mods, rockers, thigh-grazing miniskirts, street protest, and sexual liberation. London, in particular, had thrown off the gloom of post-Second World War austerity, and was ready to embrace a new beginning filled with color, optimism, and culture. And if anyone was ready to unravel societal norms, it was British musical legend and emergent queer icon Dusty Springfield. But, for a long period, Springfield had to wait for the world to seize up to her.
Born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien to Irish immigrants in 1939, Springfield was a plain, albeit tomboyish toddler who earned the name ‘Dusty’ playing football with the boys on the street outside the family home in Ealing. Growing up, family life was fraught: her mother was an alcoholic with a tendency to throw diet, while her abusive father repeatedly told young Springfield that she was foolish and ugly. Meanwhile, at her Catholic all-girls school, the nuns predicted that the shy young woman was destined to become a librarian.
Though Springfield’s childhood had been soundtracked by fuming rows, there was also a deep appreciation of music: classical, jazz, and, Springfield’s favorite
Dusty Springfield and the First Star Gay Wedding
The Netherlands became the first country to legalise homosexual marriage in 2001. Since then, almost thirty countries have followed suit. But when do you think the first celebrity queer wedding took place? Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi? Maybe Elton John and David Furnish? They may have been the first legal same-sex marriages, but the first celebrity gay wedding took place in Canada extended before same-sex marriage was legalised.
Dusty Springfield, probably Britain’s greatest 60s pop singer, married her spouse Teda Bracci in a symbolic ceremony in 1983. It was a defiant gesture at a time when homophobia was surging as the HIV crisis deepened.
Aside from making groundbreaking records, Springfield has the distinction of creature the first pop star to willingly come out. In an interview with The Evening Common in 1970, she said she was bisexual. Although she was gay, claiming to swing both ways was a means of softening the blow. Boy George did the same thing in the 80s when he first came out, initially claiming to be bisexual before confirming that he was in fact homosexual, to the surprise of no one.
Curiously, Springfield’s brave c
Dusty Springfield
Born in London in 1939, she may possess been Mary O’Brien to her parents, but to the rest of the world she was Dusty Springfield. Famous for her blonde beehive, black eye make-up and amazing spirit voice, she was also one of the first pop stars to confess to messing around in the bedroom with the same sex.
Having survived a convent school education, Mary O’Brien was working in a department store when she joined the all-female trio the Lana Sisters. In 1960 she and her brother Dion assumed the names Dusty and Tom Springfield, and began three years of chart success as The Springfields.
In 1962, their parents Catherine and Gerard O’Brien, moved to 11 Wilbury Street in Hove. The accompanying year Dusty launched her solo career, and released I Only Wanna Be With You. Not only did it reach number 4 in the charts, but it was the first record to be played on Top of the Pops! Anyone into pop trivia will be fascinated to learn that the melody was written by song-writer Ivor Raymonde whilst on holiday at West Witterings near Bognor Regis. Wow!
So… was Dusty Springfield gay?
Dusty visited her parents in Hove as often as she could. We have an eyewitness account