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Dusty Springfield
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== Personal life == Springfield's parents, Catherine and Gerard, lived in [[Hove]], East Sussex from 1962. Catherine died in a nursing home there in 1974 of [[lung cancer]].<ref name="Brighton">{{cite news |title=Dusty Springfield |work=Brighton Ourstory |url=http://www.brightonourstory.co.uk/newsletters/springfield.html |year=2000 |access-date=1 July 2012 |archive-date=21 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021002132/http://www.brightonourstory.co.uk/newsletters/springfield.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1979, Gerard died of a [[heart attack]] in [[Rottingdean]], East Sussex.<ref name="Brighton" /> A recurring theme amongst journalists and Springfield's biographers {{who|date=January 2023}} is that she had two personalities: shy, quiet Mary O'Brien and the public face she had created as Dusty Springfield. 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 faΓ§ade masking severe insecurities, [[Substance dependence|addictions to drink and drugs]], bouts of [[self-harm]] and fear of losing her career if exposed as a lesbian".<ref name="Cahners">{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Demons-Authorized-Biography-Springfield/dp/product-description/0312304994 |title=''Dancing with Demons: The Authorized Biography of Dusty Springfield'' β Penny Valentine, Vicki Wickham β Editorial Review β Cahners Business Information, Inc. |website=Amazon |year=2001 |access-date=30 June 2012}}</ref> Simon Bell, one of Springfield's session singers, disputed the twin personality description: "It's very easy to decide there are two people, Mary and Dusty, but they were the one person. Dusty was most definitely Dusty right to the end."<ref name="Randall129">Randall, (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=O4kFsOnFQqMC&q=%22two+people%22 p. 129].</ref> In her early career, much of her odd behaviour was seen as more or less in fun, described as a "wicked" sense of humour, including her [[food fight]]s and hurling crockery down stairs. She had a great love for animals, particularly cats, and became an advocate for [[Animal ethics|animal protection groups]]. She enjoyed reading maps and would intentionally get lost to navigate her way out.<ref name="secret" /> In the 1970s and early 1980s, Springfield's alcoholism and drug addiction affected her musical career.<ref name="BBCObit" /> She was hospitalised several times for self-harm and was diagnosed with [[bipolar disorder]].<ref name="demons" /><ref name="Randall128">Randall, (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=O4kFsOnFQqMC&q=bipolar p. 128].</ref> Springfield was never reported to be in a [[Heterosexuality|heterosexual]] relationship; it meant the issue of her [[sexual orientation]] was raised frequently during her life.<ref name="repute" /> From mid-1966 to the early 1970s, Springfield lived in a domestic partnership with fellow singer [[Norma Tanega]]. In September 1970, Springfield told [[Ray Connolly]] of the ''[[Evening Standard]]'': {{blockquote|Many other people say I'm bent and I've heard it so many times that I've almost learned to accept it ... I know I'm perfectly as capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy. More and more people feel that way and I don't see why I shouldn't.<ref name=repute>{{cite web |url=http://www.cpinternet.com/mbayly/article38.htm |title=The Invention of Dusty Springfield |last=Sweeting |first=Adam |work=The Independent |publisher=Woman of Repute |date=26 March 2006 |access-date=1 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502064348/http://www.cpinternet.com/mbayly/article38.htm |archive-date=2 May 2010 |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Connolly">{{cite web |url=http://www.rayconnolly.co.uk/pages/journalism_01/journalism_01_item.asp?journalism_01ID=78 |title=Dusty Springfield |last=Connolly |first=Ray |author-link=Ray Connolly |work=London Evening Standard |date=September 1970 |access-date=1 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004212559/http://www.rayconnolly.co.uk/pages/journalism_01/journalism_01_item.asp?journalism_01ID=78 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}} By the standards of 1970, that was a bold statement.<ref name=repute /> Three years later, she told Chris Van Ness of the ''[[Los Angeles Free Press]]'': {{blockquote|People are people ... I basically want to be straight ... I go from men to women, I don't give a shit. The catchphrase is: I can't love a man. Now, that's my hang-up. To love, to go to bed, fantastic but to love a man is my prime ambition ... They frighten me.<ref name=secret />}} In the 1970s and 1980s, Springfield became involved in several romantic relationships with women in Canada and the United States that were not kept secret from the gay and lesbian community. From 1972 to 1978, she had an "off and on" domestic relationship with Faye Harris, an American photojournalist.<ref name="Gulla372">Gulla, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YNae0zmGow4C&pg=PA364&q=i+only+want+to+be+with+you+phil+spector#v=onepage&q=%22Faye%20Harris} p. 372].</ref> In 1981, Springfield had a six-month relationship with singer-musician [[Carole Pope]] of the rock band [[Rough Trade (band)|Rough Trade]].<ref name="demons" /> During periods of psychological and professional instability, Springfield's involvement in some intimate relationships, influenced by addiction, resulted in episodes of personal injury. She met an American actress, Teda Bracci, at an [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] meeting in 1982 and they moved in together in April 1983. Seven months later they exchanged vows at a wedding ceremony, which was not recognised under California law.<ref name="holics" /> The pair had a "tempestuous" relationship which led to an altercation with both hospitalised. Bracci hit Springfield in the mouth with a saucepan and knocked out her teeth, necessitating plastic surgery.<ref name="Gulla375">Gulla, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pLgqFaYmgw8C&q=Dusty+was+hospitalized&pg=PA376 p. 375].</ref> The pair separated within two years.<ref name="holics">{{cite web |url=https://www.musicoholics.com/backstage-stories/dusty-springfields-untold-story-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-repressed-pop-icon/21.html?br_t=ch |title=Dusty Springfields' Untold Story: The Rise and Fall of a Repressed Pop Icon |website=Musicoholics |date=20 February 2020 |access-date=23 April 2021}}</ref>
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