Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as
Dusty Springfield, was an English
pop singer and
record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive sensual sound, she was an important
blue-eyed soul singer and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with six top 20 singles on the United States
Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen on the United Kingdom
Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989. She was a member of both the
US Rock and Roll and
UK Music Halls of Fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time. Her image, supported by a
peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle,
evening gowns, and heavy make-up, as well as her flamboyant performances on the black and white television of the 1960s, made her an icon of the
Swinging Sixties.