With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dramatic ballads, with French chanson, country, and jazz also in her repertoire.

Her image–marked by a peroxide blonde bouffant/beehive hairstyle, heavy makeup (thick black eyeliner and eye shadow) and evening gowns, as well as stylised, gestural performances–made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

Between 1964 and 1969, Springfield enjoyed success in her native United Kingdom with several singles which in America either failed to chart or were not released, among them being "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (the biggest of her many Burt Bacharach/Hal David covers), "In the Middle of Nowhere", "Some of Your Lovin'", "Goin' Back", and "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten".

[18] The band was voted the Top British Vocal Group in a New Musical Express poll in 1961 and 1962,[19] although their two biggest hits were in 1963: "Island of Dreams" and "Say I Won't Be There", both peaking at number five within five weeks of each other.

[22][23] The record was produced by Johnny Franz in a manner similar to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound";[24] it included rhythm-and-blues features like horn sections, backing singers, and double-tracked vocals along with strings, recalling Springfield's influences such as the Exciters and the Shirelles.

[26] In December 1963, New York disc jockey "Dandy" Dan Daniel of WMCA nominated the single as a "Sure Shot" pick of records not yet charted, preceding Beatlemania.

91), which peaked in December–the same month in which the singer's tour of South Africa, with her group The Echoes, was terminated following a controversial performance before an integrated audience at a theatre near Cape Town, in defiance of the government's segregation policy.

[40] During the competition, she heard the song "Io Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)", performed by one of its composers, Pino Donaggio, and separately by US country music singer Jody Miller.

There, standing on the staircase at Philips studio, singing into the stairwell, Dusty gave her greatest ever performance – perfection from first breath to last, as great as anything by Aretha Franklin or Sinatra or Pavarotti.

[26] From the mid-1960s onward Springfield used the pseudonym "Gladys Thong" when recording backing vocals for other artists including Madeline Bell, Kiki Dee, Anne Murray and Elton John.

[51][52] For "one of the slowest-tempo hits" of the sixties, Bacharach created the "sultry" feel by the use of "minor-seventh and major-seventh chord changes", while Hal David's lyrics "epitomised longing and, yes, lust.

(October 1967)–her first album of new material since 1965–experimented with various styles including a "jazzy", orchestrated version of "Sunny" and an acclaimed cover of Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas" ("If You Go Away").

[60] Springfield's 1968 TV series It Must Be Dusty was broadcast on ITV in May and June; episode six featured a duet performance of "Mockingbird" with singer-guitarist Jimi Hendrix, fronting his band the Experience.

[30][65] In November 1968, during the Memphis sessions, Springfield suggested to Wexler (one of the heads of Atlantic Records) that he should sign the newly formed UK band Led Zeppelin.

[68] Greil Marcus of Rolling Stone magazine wrote: "most of the songs... have a great deal of depth while presenting extremely direct and simple statements about love...

[81] In January 1970, her second and final album on Atlantic Records, A Brand New Me (re-titled From Dusty... With Love in the UK), was released; it featured tracks written and produced by Gamble and Huff.

[86] In 1973, Springfield recorded the theme song for the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man, which was used for two of its film-length episodes: "Wine, Women & War" and "The Solid Gold Kidnapping".

In the 1960s and early 1970s, gay or bisexual performers "knew that being 'out' would lead to prurient media attention, loss of record contracts... the tabloids became obsessively interested in the contents of celebrity closets".

[44][69] BBC News noted "[h]er soulful voice, at once strident and vulnerable, set her apart from her contemporaries... She was equally at home singing Broadway standards, blues, country or even techno-pop".

[99] Allmusic's Jason Ankeny described her:[T]he finest white soul singer of her era, a performer of remarkable emotional resonance whose body of work spans the decades and their attendant musical transformations with a consistency and purity unmatched by any of her contemporaries; though a camp icon of glamorous excess in her towering beehive hairdo and panda-eye black mascara, the sultry intimacy and heartbreaking urgency of [her] voice transcended image and fashion, embracing everything from lushly orchestrated pop to gritty R&B to disco with unparalleled sophistication and depth.

[105] Greil Marcus of Rolling Stone captured Springfield's technique as "a soft, sensual box (voice) that allowed her to combine syllables until they turned into pure cream".

She did this by referencing a number of styles and singers, including Martha Reeves, Carole King, Aretha Franklin, Peggy Lee, Astrud Gilberto, and Mina.

An editorial review at Publishers Weekly of Valentine and Wickham's 2001 biography, Dancing with Demons, finds that "the confidence [Springfield] exuded on vinyl was a façade masking severe insecurities, addictions to drink and drugs, bouts of self-harm and fear of losing her career if exposed as a lesbian".

[121][122] Springfield's funeral service was attended by hundreds of fans and people from the music business, including Elvis Costello, Lulu, and the Pet Shop Boys.

[27][107] Quentin Tarantino caused a revival of interest in her music in 1994 by including "Son of a Preacher Man" on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, which sold over three million copies.

[130][131] In the same year in the documentary Dusty Springfield: Full Circle, guests of her 1965 Sound of Motown show credited her efforts with helping to popularise US soul music in the UK.

[134] German recordings include the July 1964 single, "Warten und hoffen" ("Wishin' and Hopin'") backed with "Auf dich nur wart' ich immerzu" ("I Only Want to Be with You").

[15][99] In public and on stage, she developed a joyful image supported by her peroxide-blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns and heavy make-up that included her much-copied "panda eye" mascara.

[2] Due to the recurrence of the singer's breast cancer, officials of Queen Elizabeth II gave permission for the medal to be collected earlier in January, by Wickham and it was presented to Springfield in hospital with a small group of friends and relatives attending.

On 12 January 2006 an Australian stage musical, Dusty – The Original Pop Diva, received its world premiere at the State Theatre of the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne.