Dusty Springfield Bulletin editor Paul Howes' book The Complete Dusty Springfield (Reynolds and Hearn Ltd., London, 2001; ISBN 1-903-11124-2) is a comprehensive volume detailing Dusty's entire recording output.

The book takes every song recorded by Dusty and details writers, producers, arrangers, release dates, chart placement (if applicable), and anecdotal snippets about each song's recording and background. Quotes by Dusty concerning each song are also included, as are descriptions and critiques by Paul, a highly respected expert on Dusty's career and musicality.

Other features of The Complete Dusty Springfield include UK and US discographies, details of Dusty's major live performances and television and radio appearances, and over 70 rare photographs of Dusty on stage and in the recording studio.

In short, The Complete Dusty Springfield is the ultimate reference book on the musical legacy of Dusty Springfield.

Part of Amazon UK's synopsis of The Complete Dusty Springfield reads as follows: "Tracing Dusty's career is a daunting proposition, made complicated by simultaneous transatlantic record deals and a number of failed comebacks. No one is better qualified to tackle the task than Paul Howes, editor of The Dusty Springfield Bulletin and associate producer of 2000's acclaimed four CD box set Simply Dusty. Howes details every song and album in Dusty's entire catalogue, revealing new recording session information from the archives of Philips Records. Howes also describes the 'lost' recordings from the 1960s and '70s, many of which still languish in the vaults awaiting an official release. Full details of foreign editions and rarities are also provided in this encyclopedia of every track Dusty Springfield recorded--released and unreleased."

In January 2002, I had the honor of interviewing Paul Howes--editor of the Dusty Springfield Bulletin and author of The Complete Dusty Springfield. In the course of the interview, Paul talked about the experience of writing and compiling The Complete Dusty Springfield. My interview with Paul can be found here.

Dusty by Lucy O'Brien (updated and revised edition, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1999; ISBN 0-283-06347-5).

In April 1999--one month after Dusty's death-- Mike Pettenden of The Times of London wrote of O'Brien's book, "This updated and revised version of [her] 1988 biography, originally intended to coincide with [Dusty's] 60th birthday, is now, sadly, a eulogy. A sympathetic portrait of an artist who spent much of her life at odds with herself over her work and her sexuality, it tells how at the dawn of the Sixties, Mary O'Brien, a convent girl [and no relation to Dusty author Lucy O'Brien], transformed herself into Dusty, the woman with the big hair, panda eyes and booming soul voice."

For the full review, click here.

Dancing with Demons: The Authorized Biography of Dusty Springfield by Penny Valentine and Vicki Wickham (Hodder & Stoughton General, London, 1999; ISBN: 0-340-76673-5, and St. Martin's Press, New York, 2000; ISBN 0-312-28202-8).

Originally published in the United Kingdom in August 2000 and then later in the United States in September 2001, Dancing with Demons has caused considerable controversy among Dusty's friends and fans.

At the heart of many people's dissatisfaction with "Dancing With Demons" is it's overt emphasis on Dusty's troubled years in America from 1973 to 1989. The comments of Andy Robinson, creator of the Dusty Springfield: The White Lady of Soul website, typify much of the sentiment that has been expressed since "Dancing With Demons" was first published in the U.K: "[The book's focus] on Dusty's episodes of self harm, substance abuse, sexuality, self-loathing, and incarceration in mental institutions . . . appears to show little respect towards the private and sensitive woman Dusty was . . . and [does] little in drawing people's attention to the hugely gifted singer that she was and the rich legacy she has left us."

Simon Bell, creator of the Dusty Devotedly website, and Dusty's close friend and colleague, reported in September 2000 that when the authors of "Dancing With Demons" appeared on the U.K. television show "Open House," Vicki was asked if Dusty had been the one who had "authorised" the book. Her response, notes Simon, was to repeat "the controversial statement that it had been authorised by the estate--of which Tom Springfield [Dusty's brother] is the major partner." Simon also observed that "Penny, in particular, looked very uncomfortable and said that she felt Dusty would be amused by the revelations in the book." Such a comment compelled Simon to declare: "That confirms what I already thought--that she really didn't know Dusty!"

To her credit, Vicki Wickham (who was Dusty's manager during the late '80s and '90s) did contact Simon to express her "regrets" over the book. "I think I must have been too close to the book," she said. "I really believed that we had presented a balanced picture. Looking at it now, I see that . . . if I were to write it again today I would leave the details [of Dusty's personal problems] out."

Vicki also acknowledged that there were numerous "musical inaccuracies" in the text, and that it was "inexcusable in a musical biography to have so much of the detail wrong". Vicki also admitted that the book's description of Simon and Dusty's friendship as "volatile" was "not the case."

Simon compiled and submitted to Vicki a list of the book's errors in relation to Dusty's music career. Fred Perry, Dusty's friend and long-time lighting director, also submitted to the book's U.K. publisher, an extensive list of corrections. Unfortunately, these corrections were not made in the U.S. edition of the book.

For various reviews of the U.K. edition of "Dancing With Demons" see the Reviews section of Woman of Repute. My personal favorite of these reviews, the Eric Griffiths-penned "Dusty Springfield's Tough Frailty," can be found here.