The 59-year-old singer died at 10:40 last night at her home in Henley-on-Thames, her agent Paul Fenn said today.

Dusty was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours and her investiture had been due to be held yesterday. But, because she was too ill to go to the palace, she was allowed to have her medal collected for her ahead of the official date. A palace spokeswoman said today: "The Queen was saddened to hear of her death."

Dusty had also been due to receive a second major accolade - her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York - in two weeks' time. Despite the reclusive life she led at her Henley mansion, she had been eager to meet the Queen, and also to join the traditional jam session at the Hall of Fame with fellow inductees, including Bruce Springsteen and Sir Paul McCartney. Her place in pop's hall of fame had already been assured, however.

Born Mary O'Brien in Hampstead in 1939, she became one of the top female singers of the Sixties. Her string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic included "I Only Want To Be With You," "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself," and "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me."

Lulu, who knew Dusty for more than 30 years and was a close friend, said today: "I'm terribly, terribly sad at her loss but also at the same time relieved that she is no longer suffering."

Dusty was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994. She thought she had beaten it but learned in the summer of 1996 that it had returned. She spent the next 18 months fighting the disease but a year ago she was too ill to attend the Brit Awards, where she had been due to be a guest of honour.

Just before Christmas she moved out of her converted granary in Oxfordshire to seek more seclusion in the larger house in Henley, with more picturesque views. Last May, shortly after the death of Linda McCartney from the same disease Dusty, whose mother Kay died of lung cancer, sold the rights to her 275 songs to Prudential Insurance for 6.25 million pounds.

She never married and in the mid-Seventies consolidated her long-held status as a gay icon by finally admitting in the Evening Standard that she was bisexual.

With her sensuous, smokey voice, and an ability to sing anything from ballads to soul stompers, Dusty Springfield was one of the few white singers who could match the black Motown stars of the era and thus enjoyed greater musical credibility than her female rivals like Sandie Shaw and Cilla Black.

In the early Seventies, after recording her landmark album Dusty In Memphis, she moved to America but her record sales waned and in the mid-Seventies she took a break from music.

As she battled against drink and drug problems and depression, she became increasingly involved in animal welfare. Various attempts at a musical comeback in the late Seventies and early Eighties were unsuccessful, as was another backed by London nightclub king Peter Stringfellow.

However, she came back into the public eye - and won over a new generation of fans - when she was invited by chart-toppers The Pet Shop Boys to join them on their 1987 hit "What Have I Done To Deserve This?"

Her songs have been covered by stars including Bruce Springsteen, The Byrds, The Tourists and Nils Lofgren. As she fought her lonely battle against what she knew had become untreatable breast cancer, close friends said she was desperate to return to the anonymity of being Mary O'Brien.

Today friends and celebrity colleagues paid tribute to Dusty. In a joint statement Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys said: "It was a dream come true for us when Dusty agreed to sing with us. as soon as she arrived in the studio and began to sing we knew that the greatest singer Britain has ever produced was still in brilliant form. We are proud to have been a small part of her fabulous career."

Former Ready, Steady, Go! presenter Cathy McGowan described her as a "lovely, lovely person". Ms McGowan's friendship with Dusty dated back to the Sixties. Record producer Mickie Most said: "I would say that she was one of the best pop artists this country has ever produced. Her album Dusty In Memphis was one of the best albums by a British artist ever."

Dave Stewart, whose cover version of "I Only Want To Be With You" was a huge hit when he was in The Tourists with Annie Lennox, said today: "She was one of Britain's most unbelievable voices."

Nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow said he was saddened. "She was a super lady and an icon for a lot of people,"

A spokesman for Cilla Black said the star was too upset to comment. He said: "I called her home and she was devastated. They were friends for more than 30 years."

Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the research charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said Dusty's death highlighted the "very great need for research to find less debilitating and more effective treatments for breast cancer.

"We owe it to Dusty, and to all those thousands of women who are battling this devastating disease, to continue to raise money for this vital research, so that one day breast cancer can be eradicated."

Tim Cooper
Evening Standard,
March 3, 1999