Dancing With Demons : The Authorised Biography of Dusty Springfield - Softcover

Penny Valentine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340766743 ISBN 13: 9780340766743

Publisher: Coronet, 2001

Synopsis

Dusty Springfield made her name in the 60s with a string of top ten hits. Her unique singing style and distinctive bouffant blonde look made her famous throughout the world. Despite a period in the wilderness during the 70s and 80s, she was back at the top in the 90s until her death from cancer in March l999. Born an Irish Catholic in l939, her background set her almost schizophrenically at odds with herself as she realised her sexuality and moved further into the rock world. Both Penny Valentine and Vicki Wickham knew Dusty well, as friend and manager for much of her career. As well as charting her gay relationships, this book also looks candidly at the period of her greatest self-destruction while living in Los Angeles in the 80s. Covering every area of her career with honesty and affection, Dusty is brought vividly to life.

About this title

About the Author:

Penny Valentine was the most well-known music writer in the 60s. She appeared regularly on Juke Box Jury and Late Night Line-Up. Friends with most of the big rock stars, she knew Dusty well. She now works at the Guardian. Vicki Wickham was Dusty's long-time friend and manager. Assistant producer on Ready Steady Go! she then managed various acts including Marc Almond and Patti LaBelle. In 1999 she won the music industry's Woman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.

From Publishers Weekly:

Arguably Britain's top pop singer, Dusty Springfield (1939-1999) possessed a voice that survived decades of abuse and, over four decades of recording, proved to be equally adept at lushly orchestrated pop tunes (You Don't Have to Say You Love Me), R & B (Son of a Preacher Man) and disco (What Have I Done to Deserve This?). The confidence she exuded on vinyl was a facade masking severe insecurities, addictions to drink and drugs, bouts of self-mutilation and fear of losing her career if exposed as a lesbian. With her towering blonde beehive hairdo, panda-eye black mascara and elaborate hand gestures, Springfield had a decade of international hits in the 1960s before moving to the U.S., where her career faltered and her demons crippled her career. By the late '70s, she was once again releasing critically acclaimed albums with lackluster sales. Her career resurrected in the late '80s when her duet with the Pet Shop Boys became a global hit. With most of her demons behind her, the singer battled cancer for the last five years of her life, dying just shy of her 60th birthday and weeks before being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Although one wonders just who authorized this, as Springfield didn't participate in the writing of the book, the two authors are knowledgeable insiders (Wickham was Dusty's manager for 13 years and Valentine was a close friend and music journalist). The unvarnished portrait of a troubled, volatile and gifted singer is told with equal parts compassion and sensation. Most of Springfield's more eyebrow-raising incidents were played out of the spotlight (fans will get a first look at what went on during the "missing years" of the '70s); with this fast-paced tell-all bringing them center stage, she may soon rival Judy Garland for tragic diva status. 16 pages b&w photos.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Coronet
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0340766743
• ISBN 13: 9780340766743
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320