Definitely Dusty
As a shy and unassuming schoolgirl, Mary O'Brien shocked the nuns at her school when she revealed her ambition to become a blues singer. Overcoming her insecurities and shyness, Mary O'Brien donned a boufant hairdo and caked on black eye makeup, transforming herself forever into the sultry chanteuse Dusty Springfield. Throughout the rest of her life the real Mary O'Brien was seemingly left behind as the public persona of Dusty took center stage and gained international acclaim as a world class diva. Known as the queen of blue-eyed soul, Dusty first gained popularity for her powerful renditions of American Blues and Soul stanrdards formerly unheard of in Britain. Through her hit television program, Dusty introduced performers such as the Temptations, the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas to the British public. Her hot temper and goonish sense of humor gained Dusty notoriety in the media as a bit of a hellraiser. Throughout her career, Dusty both invited and shunned the attention of the public, basking in the limelight of her success one moment and hiding behind the mask she created for herself the next. This program searches for the Dusty that the public never knew, the innocent and vulnerable schoolgirl who disappeared the moment she stepped onstage. Through interviews with back-up singers, secretaries, managers and close friends, the events of her childhood and rise to fame are documented as a complete picture of this inspiring artist emerges. Discussing her public persona and staunchly guarded private self with admiring artists such as Elton John, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, Burt Bacharach and Martha Vandella, this profile show that throughout her career and up to her death in 1999 she was Definitely Dusty.