This week, I've unintentionally, but gratefully, immersed myself in the music of
Lisa Shaw and the late
Dusty Springfield.
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Lisa Shaw
(photo: miguelmigs.com) |
I became interested in Shaw's music via producer
Jay Denes and DJ/producer
Miguel Migs. The singer, born in Canada to Jamaican parents, has a sultry voice, a reasonably wide range, and can handle a variety of material. I tend to enjoy Shaw's
deep house numbers, such as the original version of
Can You See Him, in which the lyrics reflect a fine line between an internal reverie and engaging questions that relate a sweet, joyful love story. (
A 2002 interview Shaw did with Deep House Network offers some interesting insights into her career and development.)
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Dusty Springfield
(photo: Rolling Stone) |
Dusty Springfield's songs were familiar to me from my teen years in New York. They occupied part of the popular music played by radio stations I liked. At that time, I really didn't think hard about the British singer at all. What a shame! Her fascinating, early career included her behind-the-scenes push for the first British tour of Motown acts, including
The Supremes,
The Temptations, and
Stevie Wonder. She was deported from apartheid South Africa after performing to an integrated audience. She did a segment with
Jimi Hendrix, of all people, that I would love to see. Not bad for a woman whose real last name was O'Brien, came from an Irish Catholic middle class background, and lived her pre-adult years in London's comfortable, class-conscious West End.
Her career and life had some momentary peaks and some dreadful valleys. Springfield fell out of fan favor in the 70s, although British musicians such as
Elton John and
Elvis Costello knew her work and respected it. Unfortunately, her occasionally difficult behavior marred her personal life. Rumors of "substance abuse" dogged her. She experienced, during that era, the harsh challenges lesbians faced in a business highly intolerant of sapphic activity. Upon reflection, her fall from grace seemed inevitable, yet somehow unfair.
She experienced something akin to musical vindication in her final years; her most famous tune,
Son of a Preacher Man, was used in
Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Springfield's best songs hold together today, and I wonder how she would have navigated around the musical shoals Lisa Shaw's generation faces.
One source to further explore the music of these singers is the
Internet radio station thebocx.com. Its interesting musical repertoire occasionally includes songs from Shaw's repertoire, some vault tunes such as Springfield's, and imaginative remixes of Motown classics.
If you're on a phone, use this link to access thebocx.com. If you're on a computer or tablet, thebocx.com anchors at my blog: Inner Harbor.
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