Blog 1: How it Began

I think it was around June of 2012 that Dusty came back to me. I kept hearing her songs on the TV and radio. It triggered something in me and I wanted to find out more. That was when I set out on my quest to find the girl who invented Dusty.

Glasgow tenements are entered through a close with stairs that lead to each flat. That year my close was painted in Dusty’s favourite colours, pink and purple.

Could this be a sign?

I started out just searching YouTube for anything I could find on Dusty; both singing and being interviewed. I was intrigued to see all the different ways she presented herself.

I found all the books about her and read them avidly. I searched google for the websites dedicated to Dusty: Woman of Repute (M Bayley), Dusty Devotedly (Simon Bell), The Dusty Springfield Network and the biggest and best and the one I used most often, Let’s Talk Dusty (LTD).

I spent months following the posts in LTD, and searching the archives. Here was a wealth of information on an endless number of topics, and thousands of photos. I was fascinated!

Through LTD I learned about Dusty Day and I began an annual pilgrimage to Ealing, where it was held.

Curious about Dusty’s family I began using ancestry websites (Ancestry, FindmyPast, Family Search, and more) to search for information about her ancestors. I made contact with her Irish cousins and travelled to Ireland to meet them.

Later I found my way to the places that had been important for Dusty. As well as Ireland and Ealing, I have been to High Wycombe, to London and New York, and to Elgin.

My quest to discover Dusty has enriched my life in ways I could not have imagined and I am grateful to her for the world she has shown me!