The Lana Sisters: Dusty Springfield’s curious first chapter
An age of innovation, creativity, and post-war artistic expression, the 1950s were a revolutionary period for music and culture, particularly in the United Kingdom. With wartime rationing continuing until 1954 and piles of rubble still lining the city streets, the people of the UK were searching for something to signify the arrival of a new age. For many, that new age came with the arrival of new music. Back in 1958, two British vocalists set out to form a new group, which eventually became known as The Lana Sisters.
Those hopeful young singers were Iris Long and Lynne Abrams, who, despite their obvious lack of relation, rebranded themselves as sisters in an attempt to court the pop charts. Female vocal groups had already proved to be a hit during the 1950s, with The Chordettes and their endlessly successful recording of ‘Mr Sandman’ leading the charge. However, to be a true vocal group, rather than simply a duo, Long and Abrams would have to recruit another vocalist into the mix. Enter Dusty Springfield.
Well, not quite yet. During the 1950s, Dusty Springfield was still going by her birth name, Mary O’Brien, and that was the name which responded to The Lana Sisters’ ad for a new vocalist, which they had published in The Stage magazine. Quickly, the powerful voice of the 19-year-old O’Brien cemented her spot within The Lana Sisters, and she was rechristened with the bizarre name Shann Lana – to go along with Riss Lana (Iris Long), and Lynne Lana (Lynne Abrams, who was inexplicably the only one allowed to keep her actual name).
The Lana Sisters gave Mary O’Brien/Shann Lana/Dusty Springfield invaluable experience at the heart of Britain’s blossoming music scene, performing at prestigious venues like The Royal Albert Hall, honoing their clear vocal talent, and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Cliff Richard, John Barry, Adam Faith, and even Morecambe and Wise. In 1960, the vocal trio even scored a hit single in Ireland with their recording of Marv Johnson’s ‘You Got What It Takes’.
Between 1958 and 1960, The Lana Sisters released seven singles, all through Fontana Records, adopting a vast range of different styles, from the R&B mastery of Marv Johnson to their rendition of Italian pop hit ‘Tintarella Di Luna’. However, the group failed to command much mainstream attention in the UK, where none of their releases charted. What’s more, O’Brien was clearly the stand-out star of the group, with her voice hugely overshadowing that of Long or Abrams.
So, when O’Brien was offered the chance to start up another group, this time with brother Dionysius O’Brien alongside friend Tim Feild, the decision was a no-brainer. O’Brien left the Lana Sisters and joined The Springfields, which soon led her to abandon her birth name and adopt the moniker of Dusty Springfield.
The folk-pop of The Springfields certainly had an edge over the vocal harmonies of The Lana Sisters, which were already becoming somewhat archaic by the time the 1960s rolled around. Plus, at least two of the Springfields’ members were actually related.
The rest of the Dusty Springfield story is vast and well-documented, with the vocalist breaking free from The Springfields in 1963 and embarking upon a subsequent solo career which would see her become one of the UK’s most beloved performers, and a cultural icon of the swinging sixties. Still, without that fateful ad in The Stage or the early experiences gained with her fictional sisters, the world might never have known the name Dusty Springfield.
