Springfield was born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien on 16 April 1939 in West Hampstead, London.

She had been interested in music from an early age, as had her brother, Dionysius Patrick O’Brien, who chose the stage name Tom Springfield.t

Springfield began her solo career in 1963.

In 1962, the group released “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”, which became a top 20 hit in the US.

In 2001 the album received the Grammy Hall of Fame award and was listed among the greatest albums of all time by US music magazine Rolling Stone.

Springfield became very ill, and was later diagnosed with breast cancer

She died on 2 March 1999, a month before her 60th birthday.

She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two weeks after her death.