Soundtrack Of My Life

"Son Of A Preacher Man" - Dusty Springfield

And now we come to Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien. Now there's a name that might just be a tad too long for a billboard. Dusty Springfield definitely has that snappier edge to it.

We're again in the "I was too young" category, but as I've listened to the famous mainstream white female singers of that era - not that I explicitly think in such terms - it's hardly as if I hear Sandie Shaw or Petula Clark and think "Ah yes, Class famous, if I'm not mistaken, Order mainstream, Family white, Genus female, Species singer - a most pervasive creature, pleasant on the ear yet unlikely to frighten the horses" - it's just that there's a certain type that you subconsciously pigeon-hole - and in the pigeon-hole marked "Phylum 1960s-70s/Class famous/Order mainstream/Family white/Genus female/Species singer" the stand-out is most definitely Dusty Springfield (née Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien). There - I'm glad we've cleared that up.

She gives the impression of being a spiky character in real life, but we'll forgive her that as she did a lot to give Motown artists greater exposure in the UK. This is my favourite of her catalogue, and is probably the one she's best known for.