Directed by Sean O'Hagan and Seamus McGarvey, and inspired by the film Into the West, the video places Dusty amidst the flowing streams, standing stones and picturesque Celtic ruins of County Clare and the Galway coast, as she knowingly acknowledges life's uncertainties and disappointments while nonetheless imparting a transcending message of hope:

Such wisdom and serenity were evident throughout Dusty's promotional work for A Very Fine Love, as perhaps for the first time, she appeared at peace with herself and her artistry. More than once she acknowledged that it had been her experience of a life-threatening illness that had facilitated a re-prioritizing of her life and values.

"ROLL AWAY [means a lot to me] because of the line 'Roll away, it's only time and the river.' . . . For the last year I'd been obsessed with going to the Shenandoah River. And I did it this year [1995], in the snow. I don't know whether it was a previous life or whatever, but I had to be there. I stood there and wept. And I have NO idea why. I felt so still, so happy. The tears were not sad at all. They were: 'I've done it. I'm here.' This last year has been pure shit, but . . . I've done the record. the cancer is over. I'VE DONE IT! That was a genuine spiritual experience, watching the flow in utter silence.

Dusty's long-time friend Lee Everett Alkin recalled hearing the devastating news: "[Dusty] was on holiday in Ireland when she felt the cancer again . . . she felt a pain in her collar bone. She knew. She just knew. She called me and she said 'Lee, I need your professional help, not just your friendship'." A holistic therapist and psychic, Lee would prove to be a supportive and loving friend and mentor for Dusty in the months ahead.

It was Lee who insisted that Dusty's house in Oxfordshire was an inadequate place for Dusty to confront and deal with the cancer. "She had to move. [Where she was] was too public and it was becoming clear she needed live-in staff, so I found a house large enough for her. She adored it from the moment she saw it and I truly believe that living there gave her another year of life." A river-side mansion in Harpsden on the outskirts of Henley-on-Thames was secured, and became Dusty's new home as she commenced two three-month-long treatments of chemotherapy.

By January of 1998 news began filtering out that the cancer was not being checked by the treatments and that Dusty's health was deteriorating. At the 13th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York, Nona Hendryx dedicated a rendition of "Son of a Preacher Man" to Dusty, who had been nominated for induction that year, but had missed out in the final vote. Hendryx's tribute to Dusty was the first time in the Hall's history that a non-inductee was honoured in such a direct and prominent way. In response to the tribute, Vicki Wickham, Dusty's longtime friend and manager, stated that "We have every expectation that Dusty's going to make a full recovery. But we're honoured that the Hall wants to pay this kind of respect."

In February, Dusty had to cancel an appearance at the 1998 Brit Awards where she had been scheduled to present Bjork with the Best International Female award. On the night of the awards, host Ben Elton stunned the audience by announcing that "We had hoped that Dusty Springfield, that icon of music, would be here tonight. Sadly, Dusty's management have asked us to convey her apologies and say she's very ill and courageously fighting a battle against cancer. I know everybody in the industry will send our love and our very best wishes."

Again, Vicki Wickham spoke to the press, allaying fears that Dusty was at death's door. "She is in remarably good spirits," she told USA Today in an article entitled "Dusty Again Battles Cancer: Singer Springfield Refuses To Give Up." Various London papers also reported Wickham's positive comments on Dusty's handling of the situation: "I am amazed at her courage, but she loves life and she's not giving up yet . . . She is not in hospital but is receiving treatment and is recovering at home . . . Dusty is a real survivor but she has had to put everything on hold for now." Elton John, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, and Dusty's brother Tom, were reported to be among those supporting her during treatment at London's Royal Marsden Hospital.

Yet despite the positive and encouraging statements in the press, those closest to Dusty were aware of the truth that the cancer had been diagnosed terminal. Wickham herself had made a veiled acknowledgement of this when she shared with USA Today that Dusty's "[cancer] had crept back and spread to her bones."

Aware of this, Simon Bell, Dusty's longtime friend and backup singer, moved in with Dusty so as to help her deal with the inevitable. "I don't think she knew quite what to do when she was told that she had a limited time to live," recalls Simon. "I prayed that she would say, 'I'm going round the world; going to see the pyramids; or going to see friends in the States.' Maybe it was because she still wanted to fight the illness, but she just stayed at home. Her way of coping was to fight it. She would have the latest information sent to her by the Cancer Institute in America and go to the doctors armed with it."

At some point Dusty inevitably came to a degree of acceptance of her impending death. In gaining this acceptance it was Lee Everett Alkin who provided her with gentle and loving encouragement. Using alternative, healing touch therapies, Lee helped alleviate the crushing pain of bone cancer. Yet she also helped Dusty focus on her spirituality, teaching her to meditate and thus overcome ingrained fears of death and damnation - the legacy of her pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic upbringing.

"She called her fears the demons," Lee recalls. "She was a Catholic and believed in Hell and Purgatory. She often wondered if she had done enough good in her life. At times she was angry and frustrated, but never bitter. But she felt there was a lot of unfinished business."

Visiting almost every day, Lee witnessed the day-to-day running of Dusty's river side sanctuary. Along with Simon, Dusty had a housekeeper and at the very end, a day and night nurse. "She needed round the clock attention but she was hugely happy there," remembers Lee. "She lived in the front room so she could always see out of the window and watch the garden and the animals. She barely went into the bedroom - she wasn't the type to take to her bed. She was almost nocturnal. She stayed awake all night reading and watching television. She loved 24 hour news programmes and sport. When the football World Cup was on she used to be glued to the T.V. in her Ronaldo shirt - she was an ardent Brazil fan."

In October 1998, it was announced that Dusty was to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony was set for March 12, 1999, and an optimistic statement was issued saying that Dusty hoped to attend the event to be held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Dusty was honoured again not long after, when she was named a recipient of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's New Year Honour's list. Again, it was optmistically announced that Dusty hoped to personally attend her investiture and meet Queen Elizabeth II. Her failing health, however, made this impossible.

Instead, arrangements were made for her OBE medal to be picked up by Vicki Wickham on Dusty's behalf. "I called the Palace and they were magnificent," remembers Wickham. "I went over to St. James Palace and they gave me the OBE."

The award was presented to Dusty during one of her stays at the Royal Marsden Hospital. "We had a few people in to watch her get it - nurses, doctors and people she knew. She was in great spirits and thrilled to bits," recalls Wickham. Dusty's brother Tom was present, as was Simon Bell who recalls that the OBE arrived in a Fortnum and Mason carrier bag and that Dusty wryly remarked on the quality of the award's ribbon: "It's a nice medal, but couldn't they have got a better ribbon? It's a bit frayed."

Back home, Dusty resumed seeking solace in the company of her close friends, meditation, and the beautiful views of the river from her front room. On Tuesday evening, March 2, 1999, Dusty, in the ever-supportive and loving company of Simon Bell, her housekeeper and two nurses, slipped quietly away. "She looked incredible, right to the end," Simon recalls. "Although she lost weight she still had wonderful skin. Her hair had gone silver, but she had it coloured a month before she died. Dusty told me: 'I'm going out blonde.'"

News of Dusty's death made front page headlines throughout the United Kingdom. "Dusty Dies On Her Royal Day" ran the near half-page headline of London's Evening Standard - in reference to the fact that Dusty had passed away on the day she had originally been scheduled to receive her OBE from the Queen.

The funeral of Dusty Springfield was held on Friday, March 12, 1999, at St. Mary's Methodist Church in Henley-on-Thames. Over a thousand people clogged the streets around the church, forcing traffic to be diverted from the area. Dusty's coffin was placed in a glass carriage and drawn by two horses through the streets. At the church, loud speakers blared her hit songs to the gathered crowds and to guests making their way into church. Though much of the seating was reserved for relatives and friends, considerable space was also available for the general public. Those who could not get seating heard the service via the loud speakers outside.

Others too, share Jackson's opinion. Music reviewer Stephen Holden once noted that "no other vocalist can sustain the balance between intense vulnerability and passionate generosity that Dusty Springfield manages time and again;" New York Times writer Rob Hoerburger declared in 1995: "Let youngsters like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey sing with bravado. Dusty Springfield, with a mere vocal wink, can still go places that aren't in the repertory of their imaginations;" while critic Greil Marcus remarked in 1969 that "most female singers are searching for music they can call their own. Dusty is not searching - she just shows up, and she, and we are better for it."

RELATED ARTICLES:

Dusty's Bravest Battle by Amanda Perthen, The People, January 11, 1998.

I Just Want To Die As Mary O'Brien by Sarah Oliver, Mail On Sunday, January 24, 1999.

You Started Something by Lucy O'Brien, The Observer, February 21, 1999.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF DUSTY SPRINGFIELD'S DEATH, March 3 - 4, 1999.

The Finest Female Voice We Ever Had by Andy Gill, The Independent (London), March 4, 1999.

Did She Know How Great She Was? by Frank McGuinness, The Irish Times, March 6, 1999.

Dusty Springfield Made It By Making It Real by Randy Cordova, The Arizona Republic, March 7, 1999.

My Date With Dusty by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer (London), March 7, 1999.

Dusty Springfield: Under-Appreciated Hall of Famer by Greg Haymes, The Times Union (Albany, NY) March 11, 1999.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF DUSTY SPRINGFIELD'S FUNERAL, March 12 - 13, 1999.

MEDIA TRIBUTES TO DUSTY SPRINGFIELD, March - May 1999.

Dusty Joins The Greats Of Rock & Roll by Barbara McMahon, The Evening Standard (London), March 16, 1999.

A Voice To Stir The Windmills Of Your Mind by Karla Peterson, The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 25, 1999.

Dusty's Moggy Living In The Lap Of Luxury by Ian Markam-Smith, South China Morning Post, April 6, 1999.

Dusty Springfield's Last Days by Sarah Oliver, Mail on Sunday, April 25, 1999.

In Private by Peter Doggett , Record Collector, April 1999.

Devoted Fan Who Nursed Dusty To The Very End by David Wigg, Daily Express (London), June 14, 1999.

A Girl Called Dusty: Remembering A Soul Singer by Jami Bernard, MAMM, June 1999.

City Fans Play Tribute to Husky-Voiced Dusty by Priscilla Singh, Cape Times, (Cape Town), April 19, 2000.

Dusty's Ashes Scattered in Sea at the Cliffs of Moher by Michael Clifford, The Sunday Tribune, June 4, 2000.