The Springfields – comprising Londoners Mike Hurst and siblings Tom and Dusty Springfield – were voted top British vocal group for the third time in the New Musical Express readers poll, and had peaked at #5 with their latest single, Say I Won’t Be There, based on a traditional Gallic chanson.
This typified the trio’s strategy of adapting well-known folk ditties, established with their very first single, 1961’s Dear John on which the melody of the US Civil War song Marching Through Georgia was readily discernible.
Nevertheless, their most enduring hit, Island Of Dreams broke the formula, being a Tom Springfield original.
Signs of commercial danger were, however, soon to be perceptible when Come On Home, the follow-up to Say I Won’t Be There’ struggled in the lower reaches of the Top 30.
Within weeks, the Springfields disbanded, and Dusty announced that her first solo 45, I Only Want To Be With You, was to be released in the autumn. A star was born.
Tom Springfield
Vocals
Dusty Springfield
Vocals, guitar
Tim Field
Vocals
Mike Hurst
Vocals
