Digging deep to find real story of legend Dusty
DUSTY, the new musical about the life and work of legendary singer Dusty Springfield, begins its weeklong run at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle tomorrow.
For the first time it tells her story with the input of those who knew and loved her, drawing on the memories of Vicki Wickham, Dusty’s close friend and manager, as well as other key people from the life of one of Britain’s most successful and most revered performers.
Here, Vicki tells the audience in Newcastle what to expect.
That they’ll come out surprised at what a life she had, the challenges she faced and how she overcame them. All that plus they’ll have learned about Dusty’s loveability, her sense of humour and her extraordinary musical sense in choosing the right songs so that they were always very autobiographical for her. Have I Done to Deserve This? with the Pet Shop Boys but I had known and worked with her since 1963 and we’d been close friends. By 1987 I thought I could give her managerial help. Vocally, she had a “sound” and an innate instinct in choosing the right material to sing.
There are, yes. She was of her time in that, as with her music, she defined the times she was living through.
And she was ahead of her time in that she handson produced (with Johnny Franz) her own records on Philips in the ’60s, which is something even The Beatles didn’t do.
It’s very important because if you’re going to tell somebody’s story it has to be honest and told with integrity.