On This Day 11/05/1963 The Springfields

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On this day, 11 May 1963, The Springfields (featuring Dusty Springfield) played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens. Also on the bill were, headliner Del Shannon, The Eagles, Peppi, Kenny Lynch, Johnny Tillotson and Ret Anton.

The trio formed in 1960, when Mary "Dusty" O'Brien, who had been a member of all-girl singing trio the Lana Sisters, joined her brother Dion O'Brien and Tim Feild, who had been working as a duo, the Kensington Squares. Dion became Tom Springfield, and Mary became Dusty Springfield.

Tom Springfield was a songwriter and arranger with a wide knowledge of folk music and the group had strong vocal harmonies as well as Dusty's powerful lead. Occupying a musical sphere comparable with that of the contemporary Peter, Paul and Mary, they were signed to Philips Records in London by producer Johnny Franz. In 1961, they released their first single, "Dear John" which failed to chart. They achieved UK success with the two follow-up releases, "Breakaway" (No. 31) and their Christmas hit "Bambino" (No. 16), also produced by Franz.

In December 1962, Tom's composition "Island of Dreams", his first recording made with Mike Hurst, debuted on the UK Singles Chart, where it remained for 26 weeks. It peaked at No. 5 in its 16th week on the chart, in early April 1963, five weeks before the Springfields' follow-up hit "Say I Won't Be There" would also peak at No. 5.

By this time, the Springfields were one of the most popular groups in the UK. The group had several chart hits and had recorded several foreign language records. However, Dusty Springfield felt limited by the group's folk act and Tom's lead role within the trio, and she decided to leave for a solo career. She and Tom announced that the group was to be disbanded on the TV variety show Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963.

Tom Springfield subsequently wrote a number of songs for Australian pop-folk band the Seekers, including the two UK number-one hits "I'll Never Find Another You" and "The Carnival Is Over", as well as the Oscar-nominated "Georgy Girl", which he wrote with actor-singer Jim Dale and which hit big on both sides of the Atlantic.

On This Day 11/05/1963 Del Shannon

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On this day, 11 May 1963 American rock and roll country musician, singer and songwriter Del Shannon played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.

Also on the bill were, The Eagles, Peppi, Kenny Lynch, Johnny Tillotson, The Springfields (featuring Dusty Springfield) and Ret Anton.

Shannon was born Charles Weedon Westover on December 30, 1934, in Grand Rapids, Michigan

He came up with the name "Del Shannon", combining Mark Shannon—a wrestling pseudonym used by a regular at the Hi-Lo Club—with Del, derived from the Cadillac Coupe de Ville, his favorite car.

Shannon's career slowed down greatly in the 1970s, owing in part to his alcoholism. The Welsh rock singer Dave Edmunds produced the single "And the Music Plays On" in 1974.

In 1978 Shannon stopped drinking and began work on "Sea of Love", released in 1982 on his album Drop Down and Get Me, produced by Tom Petty.

The album took two years to record and featured Petty's band, the Heartbreakers, backing Shannon. However, RSO Records, to which Shannon was signed, folded.

On this day 19/11/1964 Dusty Springfield

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On this day, 19 November 1964, British singing legend Dusty Springfield played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre. Also included in the package was, Brian Poole & The Tremeloes, Herman's Hermits, Dave Berry & The Cruisers, The Primitives, The Gobbledegooks, The Echoes with Johnny Ball (compere),

The highest-charting of Springfield's 1964 releases were both Burt Bacharach-Hal David songs: "Wishin' and Hopin'" – a US no. 6 hit which featured on A Girl Called Dusty – and "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", which in July peaked at no. 3 on the UK singles chart (behind the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night and the Rolling Stones' "It's All Over Now").

The dramatic and emotive "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" set the standard for much of her later material. In the autumn of 1964 Springfield peaked at no. 41 in the States with "All Cried Out", but in her native Britain she hit big with "Losing You", which reached no. 9 in December – the same month in which the singer's tour of South Africa, with her group The Echoes, was terminated following a controversial performance before an integrated audience at a theatre near Cape Town, in defiance of the government's segregation policy. Springfield was deported. Her contract specifically excluded segregated performances, making her one of the first British artists to do so.

In the same year she was voted the year's top British Female Singer in the New Musical Express readers' poll, ahead of Lulu, Sandie Shaw, and Cilla Black. Springfield received the award again for the next three years.