Dusty and the Shades of the 60s’ is a brand new musical stage show that celebrates the life and music of the great Dusty Springfield. Starring singer and actress Emily Clark and Leanne Kyte, Rebecca Lauren, and Jazmin Patey-Ford as vocal trio the Shades, this pop-tastic show celebrates Dusty’s career, her hits, and many of the hits of the time by artists like Tina Turner, Lulu, the Beatles and more.
Dusty Springfield’s string of smash hits began on January 1st, 1964 when she performed I Only Want to be with You on the B.B.C’s new television programme Top of the Pops. It was closely followed by You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, Son of a Preacher Man, I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself and You Don’t Own Me, all of which are performed in the show. Dusty and the Shades will take the audience down memory lane with more songs written by Burt Bacharach, Carole King and more. Dusty was a powerhouse singer and a style beacon; her blonde beehive up-do and black eyeliner inspired millions of teenage girls, while her soulful voice and clever choice of material gained her legions of followers here and in the U.S.A.
Dusty and the Shades of the 60s is produced by Red Entertainment, the fast-rising company who produced one of 2017’s most successful tours, ‘Cilla and the Shades of the 60s’.
Says Red Entertainment Executive Producer Matt Brinkler: “I’m a huge fan of Dusty Springfield and have created this show around her catalogue of smash hits and those by many of the great singers and songwriters of the day. At Red Entertainment we’re extremely proud of the ‘Shades’ brand which we launched with ’Cilla and the Shades of the 60s’ in 2017. ‘Cilla’ went down well with audiences across the U.K. so we’re touring it again; ‘Dusty’ is going really well and I think it’s leading audiences to re-discover Dusty and the music of her fellow artists. There will be people who remember the hits from the first time around and those who will know many of the songs from the radio or movie soundtracks.”
Says Emily Clark, “Ever since I could speak I’ve wanted to sing professionally and, being a huge fan of the music of the 60s, this is a wonderful opportunity for me to pay homage to Dusty Springfield, one of my all-time favourite singers and some of the great songwriters of that time. The Shades and I are having an absolute ball on tour and we hope we’re doing the fabulous Dusty justice with our show.”
Dusty Springfield, her brother Tom and their friend Tim Field performed as The Springfields in the late 1950s when Dusty was still in her teens. The trio quickly became Britain’s top pop act so when Dusty decided to leave the group to go solo, she already had a following. From 1964 to the late 1970s Dusty enjoyed chart toppers in the U.K. and U.S. and won numerous Top Female Vocalist awards. In the 1980s she had another run of success via her work with the Pet Shop Boys with the smash hit single What Have I Done To Deserve This? and Nothing Has Been Proved for the film Scandal. Dusty’s final live performance was on Michael Ball’s Christmas show in 1995.
Dusty and the Shades of the 60s comes to the Epstein Theatre on May 16th.