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This week’s heroine is: Dusty Springfield (1939-1999)

Also known as: Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien OBE (no wonder she ditched it for something snappier)

Our heroine’s social scene: Swinging sixties in London and Memphis

Famous for: Bringing Motown to Britain; hits including I Only Want to Be With You (the first record ever played on Top of the Pops). And of course, the inclusion of Son of a Preacher Man on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack in 1994, selling more than 3million.

Infamous for: Admitting that her trademark stage look of blonde beehive, sequined evening gowns and heavy make-up was inspired by drag queens; little-known manic depressive episodes including alcohol and drug dependency, and being hospitalised several times for self-harming.

Reason she’s a heroine: Casually admitting being bisexual in a 1970 interview with the Evening Standard, saying: “I know I’m perfectly as capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy.” She made no attempt to hide her same-sex relationships, which were well-known to gay communities and those in the music biz. Also championed several animal-protection charities and adored food fights.

Any famous friends/lovers? Anecdotes about Dusty’s personal life frequently reference her female love affairs, including a relationship with Carole Pope, famed for her onstage bondage attire as frontwoman of Canadian new-wave rockers Rough Trade. Famous friends included Elton John, who inducted her into the Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame just days after her death.

If she were alive today she’d be: Continuing to collaborate with the Pet Shop Boys, a la Lady Gaga at the last Brit Awards. (An intriguing comparison since the conflict between Dusty’s strict Catholic childhood and her showbiz career is thought by many to have had a profound impact on her, whilst Gaga claims her convent education provoked rebellion to the provocative costumes she’s quickly become so infamous for.)

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