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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2002)
march IS. 2002 ? BOOKS hen 1 first heard of the legendary Dusty Springfield it was 1987,1 was 11, and her comeback-making collab oration with gay synth-pop smarties the Pet Shop Boys on their hit single “W hat Have I Done to Deserve This?" was ubiquitous. W hat 1 didn’t know about her could’ve filled a book: She was one of Austin Powers- era England’s most successful singers, she went on from a string of smash hits in the ’60s to he acclaimed as an exemplary artiste of the pop/soul vocal, she is a Rock ’n ’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and she was revered by the masses and in-the-know hipster rock critics alike. Fortunately, that book has now been written, and it goes well beyond her remark able career to give the reader a complete por trait of a woman who, like so many public per sonalities, had the alluring combination of extroversion and self-destructiveness until her death in March 1999. Dancing with Demons: The Authorized Biog raphy of Dusty Springfield (St. M artin’s Press, 2001; $24.95 hardcover) is, like its subject, contradictory. Despite the trashy hyperbole on the dust jacket (“W hat were the demons that plagued Dusty with the highest highs and low est lows?” it asks breathlessly— an imaginary Behind the Music: Dusty Springfield), it’s written with such empathy that most readers wouldn’t even consider approaching the triumphs and travails of this talented, tortured woman with the kind of voyeuristic, envious superiority often reserved for celebrities. The work is by turns startlingly honest and irksomely apologetic, which we can chalk up to the authors. The pair were tnisted longtime Springfield confidants with real involvement in her life— Penny Valentine as a music journal- A dusty road to the horrifying (her bouts I of self-mutilation, her unfail ing ability to develop an addiction to virtually any substance), by repeatedly reminding us that she was insecure, that she had life by C hristopher M c Q u a in long difficulties with anxiety, that she suffered from bipolar ist, Vicki Wickham as producer of the English A n avid disorder. television program on which the singer tennis fan, she What feels like the authors’ launched her career. was close to constant vacillation between Billie Jean T he story they tell is of a mousy Catholic cozy armchair psychology and King, m ain schtxilgirl from a strict hut eccentric family blind defensiveness is the book’s taining a warm who, driven by a desire for the attention of her only real flaw. It’s the downside friendship with unflappable, detached parents, eventually rose of having a biography written the controver to fame and acclaim with her gorgeous voice by friends: Laudably attempting sial lesbian steeped in American pop and R & B. She more than a puff piece, they tennis player. deployed her gift with a self-flagellating perfec offer so many excuses on Springfield tionism, causing major delays in recording stu Springfield’s behalf that one admired King’s dios and at live performances and creating the wonders whether the brassy, fortitude and popular misconception that she was “difficult.” irreverent woman we meet in openness after Springfield’s biggest PR concern and the the book wouldn’t have been a divorce pro most anxiously concealed facet of her life— exasperated with so many pat, ceeding what was, according to the biographers, her Penny Valentine and Vicki Wickham tidy answers. revealed her exclusive homosexuality— is discussed here But there’s no question orientation to much more thoroughly and confidently than it Springfield would have been pleased finally to a hostile public, but the singer had a horror ever has before, suggesting Valentine and have someone introduce the world to the real of appearing “unfeminine" to her own fan W ickham had her permission to speak frankly Dusty: a very human star who fought to sidestep of the matter once she was safely beyond the base. showbiz victimization, a recovering substance Her closeted state didn’t pose a threat to reach of the tabloids. abuser, a flamboyant gay icon and friend of the her relationships, most of which took place All of her long-term committed relation community who felt burdened by her own sexual during a time when hiding one’s homosexuality ships— and a few minor flings— are described ity, an animal lover, a restless nomad, a kind and was the socially enforced norm. Her mood candidly and expansively. Always a presence in generous friend. swings and erratic behavior, however, even the gay community (she enjoyed the friendship T he authors have succeeded at that, inter tually caused irreparable rifts with even the of gay men and loved to see drag queens “do" estingly and effectively recasting a pop music most patient of her partners. Dusty), Springfield lived with female lovers all icon and thereby doing Springfield and her The authors explain Springfield’s trouble over the world throughout her career: an (until now incom plete) legend an invaluable some attributes, from the fairly benign (she American artist in the ’60s, a film journalist in service. i n was fond of throwing things, especially food) the ’70s, a Canadian rock singer in the ’80s. Friends offer a candid biography of lesbian pop star Dusty Springfield *y ( new f/tol/a/i É8/<s£ro «_ /c/Hhf/t /r o to f /e t éT Iteater Home of “ Free Range” Organic Ales Wednesday is Brewer Day! 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