1995 studio album by Dusty Springfield
A Very Fine Love is the fifteenth studio album recorded by singer Dusty Springfield, and thirteenth released. Recorded in 1994 with producer Tom Shapiro and released in 1995, it was a Columbia Records release in both the US and UK, and Springfield's first such simultaneous release since Living Without Your Love in 1979.
Background
The album was originally tentatively called Dusty in Nashville, to tie in with the 25th anniversary of Dusty Springfield's keynote work Dusty in Memphis, but her record company "decided against it, in the belief that it would lead audiences to mistakenly expect a country album. A Very Fine Love was to be promoted by the TV documentary Full Circle, a 90-minute career retrospective featuring British comedians Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French interviewing Springfield in their inimitably irreverent way – Springfield herself was a big fan of French & Saunders' and their goonish sense of humor – as well as interviews with friends, fans and colleagues such as the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello and Martha Reeves, and footage from the recording of the upcoming Nashville album.
During the three months of recording of the album, Springfield often had bouts of laryngitis and other undiagnosed health issues. Upon returning to England, she saw a specialist and was subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer. Upon learning Springfield was to undergo radiotherapy, her manager, Vicki Wickham, was able to convince Columbia Records to delay releasing A Very Fine Love until Springfield was well enough to do promotion work.
Springfield's cancer went into remission, and in June 1995, A Very Fine Love was released. It made little impact on the US album charts, but did reach No. 43 on the British charts. The title that got the best critical reception was the blues-tinged closing track "Where Is a Woman to Go?", written by Jerry Gillespie and K. T. Oslin and originally recorded by Dottie West in 1984, featuring guest vocals by Oslin (who had recorded the song herself in 1988) and Mary Chapin Carpenter. When promoting the album in the UK on TV-show Later With Jools Holland, Springfield performed the track live, backed by Sinéad O'Connor and Alison Moyet. One track from the album, "Wherever Would I Be", a Diane Warren-penned duet with Daryl Hall was featured in the movie While You Were Sleeping, and was a minor chart hit in Britain, along with Will Jennings' gospel-flavoured "Roll Away", the last charting single of her lifetime. The album also included the Warren-penned song "Lovin' Proof", originally recorded by Celine Dion for her The Colour of My Love album two years previously.
Due to modest sales of the album, Columbia Records didn't pick up an option for renewing Springfield's contract. Springfield's cancer recurred in late 1996, and she died in 1999; A Very Fine Love represents the final studio album released during Springfield's lifetime.
