Oh, the Guardian thing made me cry a bit.....
"True to her survivor's reputation, she stormed back into the British charts in 1987 with What Have I Done to Deserve This? a duet recorded with the Eighties pop duo The Pet Shop Boys. The song was a worldwide hit, and was followed by a second collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, Nothing Has Been Proved, the theme to the film Scandal.
Matt Snow, editor of Mojo, said yesterday that, in bringing rhythm and blues into British pop music, Springfield had proved herself as significant as Lennon and McCartney.
'She was an unconscious stylistic revolutionary, but a revolutionary none the less. Her emergence symbolised the beginning of a new era, with white singers adopting the emotional range of black artists.
'Since the Pet Shop Boys rediscovered and re-presented her, she has been established in the pantheon of significant pop stylists and nothing can remove her from that.
'The unusual thing about her as big star was that she appeased her hunger for stardom quite quickly, and was not desperate to keep plugging away. She went into semi-retirement with barely a backward glance. Her legacy is the style in which every British singer sings.'
Adam Mattera, editor of the gay men's magazine Attitude, said Springfield's personal story had a huge resonance with gay men at the time.
'When the rumours began about her sexuality, and she actually said that she was attracted to men and women, it was very significant. Her lyrics were all about secret loves, but instead of going into the corner and weeping she stood defiant.
'After the lost years, with her Eighties comeback, there was a clever, knowing sense of camp. She was in on the joke, which separated her from traditional gay icons. She understood what made her popular in the gay community and played up to it.'
Springfield bridged the gap between old-school divas like Judy Garland and more modern artists. 'She paved the way for people like Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer, through to Debbie Harry and Madonna, who took the defiance further.
'She broke the mould with her music, her sexuality, by refusing to fit comfortably into the music industry's expectations. She was subversive.'
Lucy O'Brien, whose biography of Springfield was published in 1989, said: 'Dusty pushed back the frontiers and redefined the role of women in British pop music. She chose classic material which she invested...with a unique pathos and vulnerability. She made an enormous contribution to British pop.'
Tributes were paid by all generations of the pop business. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys said they had been proud to work with Britain's greatest female singer."
