There was a time when Persia was the greatest empire in the world. They marched upon Greece with an army of 2.5 million fighters—but, because they lost, we have only heard the story through the words of their enemies.

Most people today know it through the story of Leonidas and his 300 Spartans—but that was just a small moment in a much bigger war. The real story revolved around the Persian King Xerxes—and it was a bit different from how you might be picturing it.

10Sparta Apologized for Throwing a Messenger down a Well

That famous moment when the Spartans kicked a Persian messenger down a well really happened—but a lot of details got left out, and they will completely change the way you see it.

Xerxes’ father sent messengers to every ruler in Greece demanding a tribute of earth and water as a show of submission to Persia. It was not just the Spartans who refused—the Athenians threw their messenger down a pit, too. They had the courtesy to give him a trial first, though. The Spartans just told him to “Dig out Sparta’s earth and water yourself!” and threw him in.

By the time Xerxes became king, he did not even bother sending messengers to Athens or Sparta. He did not have to, anyway. The Spartans came to him and said they were sorry.

After throwing the Persian in the well, the Spartans became convinced that they were cursed. The gods stopped answering their prayers, and they were pretty sure it was because they had mistreated a messenger. So, to make the gods happy, they sent two human sacrifices to Xerxes. They apologized and offered to let him execute them to even the score.

Xerxes spared them. Partly, he was trying to take the high road, but mainly he just had his mind set on revenge. “The death of two men,” he told them, would not “acquit the Spartans from the guilt they have contracted.”

9The Greeks Practically Begged Xerxes to Invade Them

Xerxes, originally, wanted to leave Greece alone. His father had led a long and painful campaign against the Greeks and lost, and Xerxes was not eager to follow in his footsteps. Some of his generals pushed for him to go to war, but he was not going to listen to them—until the Greeks asked him to.

A lot of Greeks actually loved Persia. They thought they were an incredibly diverse and progressive nation. Some of them were so eager to become a part of the empire that they actually came to Persia and asked Xerxes to be their leader.

First, the Aleuadae family came over and offered to pay Xerxes to come to Greece. Then another family, the Pisistratidae, came and offered him even more. They even brought an oracle with them, who told Xerxes he was destined to build a floating bridge and conquer Greece.

By the time they had left, Xerxes was convinced he was meant to rule Greece. He called together his people and announced that they would be going to war. “I will never rest,” he declared, “until I have taken Athens and burnt it.”

8Xerxes Made His Men Whip a River for Misbehaving

Xerxes bought into the prophecy the Greeks gave him. He wanted to play out every moment they described leading to his victory, and so he set up a floating bridge across the Hellespont River. It did not work out—as soon as the bridge went up, a storm knocked it down.

Xerxes had some issues with anger. If someone made him mad, he got revenge—even if that someone was a body of water. He ordered his men to put chains on the river and whip it for its insolence. So, they tossed some chains in the water and gave the river 300 lashes, yelling, “You are a turbid and briny river!”

It gets weirder. Xerxes, apparently, felt bad about whipping the river, because, once he got his bridge to stay up, he apologized to it. He burned incense on the bridge and threw golden bottles into the water—which, according to Herodotus, was his attempt to apologize to the sea.

7Xerxes Cut a Man in Half for Draft Dodging

Before he crossed the bridge, one of Xerxes’ men, named Pythius, came to him and asked for a favor. He’d had visions that the war would fail, and he feared his sons, who were marching off to war, would die. “Take pity on me in my advanced age,” Pythius begged, “and release one of my sons, the eldest, from service.”

Xerxes’ short fuse went off. After cursing Pythius out for a full minute, he barked, “You shall be punished by the life of the one you must desire to keep.” He sent his men out to get Pythius’ son and had him cut in half.

One half of his body was put on the right side of the road and the other half on left, so that the army had to march between his severed corpse on the road to Greece.

6Xerxes Tore Down a Mountain Just Because He Could

Before he left for Greece, Xerxes ordered his men to build a massive canal. His father’s fleet had been swept away in a storm when he invaded Greece, and Xerxes did not want to make the same mistake. He ordered his men to plow through a mountain and build a massive, artificial canal that stretched over two kilometers.

It took three years of whipping workers to make it, but they did it. They made a canal so massive that the whole Persian fleet could cross it. This was such a massive feat that, until fairly recently, people thought it was a myth. Until land surveyors found proof that it really did exist, we thought it was impossible.

The Greeks, though, did not really understand why he was doing it. “With no trouble they could have drawn their ships across the isthmus,” Herodotus wrote about it, pointing to a natural strip of land that would have kept the ships safe.

He had another theory. “Xerxes gave the command for this digging out of pride, wishing to display his power and leave a memorial.” If he is right, it worked—the canal outlived its creators.

5The Spartans Got Ready for Battle by Making Their Hair Look Pretty

Meanwhile, the Spartans were getting ready for battle in their own way. The Spartan army kept their hair long, believing that long, wild hair would strike terror in the hearts of their enemies. Before battle, they did their exercises and combed their long hair, preparing for war—but that was not exactly how the Persians saw it.

Xerxes sent a spy ahead to scope out the Spartan forces, and he was not impressed by what he saw. He reported back that the Spartans were sitting around dancing and making sure their hair looked pretty instead of getting ready for war.

A Spartan defector, Demaratus, tried to explain to him that Spartans prepare their hair before fighting. In part, it let them die with dignity, but their thick braids also worked as a type of armor. Xerxes, though, was not impressed. He made a joke about them being sissies and marched on.

4The Persian Army Had Every Bad Omen Possible

As the Persian army approached they saw things that, according to the Greeks, were bad omens everywhere they looked. First, they walked past a mare giving birth to a hare, which, according to the Greeks, symbolized that Xerxes would flee for his life.

Then they saw the birth of a hermaphroditic mule, with both male and female genitals. Our source for this is Herodotus, who saw this as such an obvious omen that it is not even worth explaining. “The meaning of it was easy to guess,” he writes, before scoffing at Xerxes because he “took no account of either sign and journeyed onward.”

Those omens have lost a lot of their meaning—but anybody would be worried about what happened next. As they marched forward, they started getting attacked by every lion that they saw. Every night, lions would come out of their homes just to kill their camels—and some started to wonder if maybe the gods just did not like them that much.

3Xerxes Defiled Leonidas’ Body

The Battle of Thermopylae followed. Leonidas and 300 Spartans met the Persian army and held out against them to the last man. But the story does not end with Leonidas’ death.

After the 300 Spartans were defeated, the Persians marched on. They rained arrows upon the Spartans until the last one was dead, and slaughtered every person they could find. They tore down the walls of Thermopylae. Every single Spartan they could find was killed.

When Leonidas was shot down, his men-at-arms tried to protect his body and get it to a safe place where it could be put to rest with dignity. Xerxes, though, would not allow it. Once his men had crushed their way through, he had Leonidas’ head chopped off and his body crucified on a spike.

2The Greeks Nearly Lost Because of a Love Spat over a Handsome Boy

Leonidas, though, was not the real hero of the war. The man who really made it possible for the Greeks to win was Themistocles.

Before Persia had even set its sights on Greece, Themistocles was building warships to get ready. It was the Navy that really beat the Persians. Themistocles tricked Xerxes into sending his ships into a narrow canal called Salamis, where he surprised him with a stronger defense than he had expected. It was the turning point in the war; the moment that made a Greek victory possible.

It nearly did not happen, though, because of Themistocles’ penchant for young boys. He and a man named Aristides had been fighting over the love of a good-looking boy named Stesilaus. Aristides was so mad about it that he fought Themistocles at every turn.

Out of spite, he nearly stopped Themistocles from building his navy. Themistocles managed to get Aristides kicked out Athens and built his ships, if he had not, the Persians would have won—all because of a spat between the jealous lovers of a young boy.

1Themistocles Joined the Persian Army

This war changed all of Western history. Had it not been for Themistocles, Greece never would have developed into the philosophic cultural cornerstone it became. He saved Greece—and then, promptly afterward, switched sides.

After the war, Themistocles worked on building up the Athenian military to get them ready to fight the Spartans. The Spartans found out and, in retaliation, spread rumors that he was planning on betraying Athens to the Persians. It worked. The Athenians kicked him out.

Frustrated, Themistocles decided that if they thought he was helping the Persians, then maybe he should just do it anyway. He sailed off to Persia and spent the rest of his life as a Persian governor. He worked for Xerxes’ son until the very end, serving the army he had once defeated.

Mark Oliver is a regular contributor to . He writing also appears on a number of other sites, including The Onion’s StarWipe and Cracked.com. His website is regularly updated with everything he writes.

Many people believe that World War II was fought in the cities of Europe and the islands of the South Pacific. It was, but what those people forget is that for about a year from 1942 to 1943, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied the Alaskan islands of Attu and Kiska.

This occupation shocked and terrified North America, and the subsequent events in the aftermath of the occupation set the stage for many military and ceremonial actions over the course of the war. These are ten interesting facts about the Japanese invasion of Alaska.

10 It Was The Only North American Land Lost By The US In World War II

On June 6, 1942, the Japanese Northern Army took control of the island of Kiska, which is a remote volcanic island in the Aleutian chain off the coast of Alaska. The next day on June 7, exactly six months after the Pearl Harbor attacks, the Japanese seized control of the island of Attu, also in the Aleutians.^[1]

This attack was the first and only land invasion of North American territory during the entire war, and it was considered extremely significant at that time, despite the fact that today, the occupation has been largely forgotten by history.

9 Canadian Troops Were Sent In, Too

The Canadian government dispatched conscripted soldiers to liberate Attu and Kiska. Although there were several cases of desertion prior to the journey to Alaska, many Canadians proudly went to the Aleutian Islands to fight alongside their American allies.^[2] Fortunately, however, many of the Canadians dispatched to the Aleutians did not see combat, as the Japanese forces had retreated prior to their arrival.

8 One Of The Largest Banzai Charges Of The War Took Place During The Battle Of Attu

The banzai counterattack was used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II in the event of an impending defeat in order to save face. The Japanese, as opposed to surrendering, would rush their enemies using their bayonets as weapons in an attempt to cause as much damage as they possibly could. This strategy, while ineffective against large numbers of Allied soldiers, struck fear into the hearts of many, as it showed how dedicated the Japanese were to their cause and that they would sacrifice themselves in order to hurt their enemies rather than be captured.

On May 29, 1943, facing certain defeat in the Battle of Attu, Japanese commander Yasuyo Yamasaki ordered one of the largest banzai charges of the Pacific War, sending nearly all of his remaining men on a full-scale charge against the invading Americans. The Americans, having not seen this kind of charge before, were overwhelmed, and the Japanese quickly broke through the American lines. This victory was short-lived, however, as the Americans quickly rallied and were able to repel the Japanese forces.^[3] Of the roughly 2,300 Japanese soldiers who occupied Attu, fewer than 30 survived to be taken prisoner.

7 The Harsh Climate Claimed The Lives Of Many Soldiers

Kiska and Attu’s location in the far north of the Pacific Ocean results in brutal weather conditions. These conditions were felt by both the occupying Japanese and the liberating Americans. The Battle of Attu was originally expected to last a few days, so the Americans only brought gear with them to last that long.

As a result, the gear wore out quickly. Because of this, many soldiers developed frostbite, gangrene, and trench foot.^[4] In addition, there were food shortages, which added to the difficulties of the liberating soldiers.

6 It Saw The First Official Case Of Gyokusai

Gyokusai was a form of ritual mass suicide done by Japanese soldiers in the name of Emperor Hirohito. This was done to prevent capture by the enemy, which was seen as the ultimate loss of honor in Japanese society at that time. During the Battle of Attu, when it became clear the Allied forces would overtake the island, approximately 500 Japanese soldiers placed hand grenades near their stomachs and detonated them.

This was a shocking turn of events, touted by some sources as the first official case of gyokusai.^[5] This type of mass suicide, and others like it, would become common in the later years of the war as Japan lost more territory and defeat became more and more common.

5 No One Is Sure Why Kiska And Attu Were Invaded

You’d think that the only North American land battle of World War II would have a well-documented chain of events from background to battle to aftermath. While the latter two have been extensively documented, the former has little information. The most popular theory as to why the Japanese invaded Kiska and Attu was to divert American naval attention away from Japanese interests in other parts of the Pacific. But with the US Pacific Fleet in shambles and American generals focusing more on war in Europe, drawing US attention was likely something the Japanese hoped to avoid.

Another common theory is that the occupation was to prevent American forces from invading Japan by way of the Aleutian Islands.^[6] However, with the exception of a few bombing raids from Attu later in the war, the islands did not serve any strategic purpose in the American war strategy. Yet others, specifically at the time of the invasion, believed it was done to gain land to serve as a base of operations for a full-scale invasion of Alaska or even the Pacific Northwest. Nonetheless, the exact reason as to why the Japanese invaded Kiska and Attu remains a mystery to this day.

4 Only Attu Needed To Be Liberated

During World War II, there are countless instances of Japanese soldiers fighting to the end and then committing suicide when they realized that defeat and capture were imminent. It was considered to be the ultimate shame to one’s family to surrender in combat. As a result of this, the Japanese would do everything possible to win and seldom surrendered, with some soldiers continuing to fight on decades after the war was over.

In the case of Kiska, however, the Japanese surrendered without a fight. After seeing the carnage and loss of life on Attu, the Japanese commanders on Kiska saw no probability of maintaining control of the island, so when weather permitted, the Japanese fled the island under the cover of fog, allowing Allied forces to swiftly recapture Kiska.^[7] This is one of the few examples of Japanese surrender during World War II.

3 Attu Lost Its Entire Population

Prior to the Japanese invasion, Attu had a population of 44, nearly all of them Alaskan natives. During the Japanese occupation, the entire population was taken prisoner and sent to Japanese prison camps. In these camps, about half of the original 44 died due to the harsh conditions. The remainder were returned to the United States after the war.

However, they were not returned to Attu due to the expensive costs of rebuilding. Most of the survivors settled in other Alaskan native communities, with the descendants of the original Attu residents returning to the island 75 years later in 2017 as part of a reconciliation effort.^[8]

2 The Battle Was Fought At Sea, Too

Few history books and records mention the Attu and Kiska campaigns, and those that do rarely mention the naval operations that preceded the American liberation.

In March 1943, after months of neglect from the US, a naval force led by Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kincaid blockaded Attu and Kiska in an attempt to stop the flow of supplies to Japanese forces. On March 26, 1943, the American fleet engaged the Japanese Navy, who were attempting to bring supplies to occupying Japanese soldiers.^[9]

In what became known as Battle of the Komandorski Islands, Japanese forces were able to inflict serious damage to the American fleet, but they ultimately retreated due to fear of American bombers and diminishing resources. The Japanese did not attempt to send supplies by ship again, only resorting to the occasional submarine run. This weakened Japanese control of Attu and Kiska and allowed the Allies to take control more effectively.

1 It Is The Last Battle Fought On American Soil

Many Americans believe that the US Civil War in the mid-19th century marked the end of conflict in the United States. However, this list and the facts presented show that that is not the case. As of this writing, there has been no further occupation of American soil by an invading force. Furthermore, there has been no conflict or attack warranting the description of “battle.”^[10]

The Aleutian Islands Campaign remains the last battle fought in US territory. Although it is not as well-remembered as other American battles such as Gettysburg or Valley Forge, the Aleutian Islands Campaign claimed thousands of lives and brought World War II to the shores of the United States.

When we think of the 1960s pop music movement known as the British Invasion, The Beatles are usually the first group that comes to mind, followed by other British male rock stars of the era like The Rolling Stones, The Who, Tom Jones, and Cliff Richard. However, there were also a number of female singers who became successful during this trend. While some of these women turned out to be one-hit wonders, others enjoyed lengthy and prominent careers. Here are the 10 most popular female singers of the British Invasion.

Related: 10 Rocking Facts About Bands From The Golden Age Of Music

10 Sandie Shaw

Sandie Shaw was one of the top girl singers to come out of the British Invasion, with hits like the frequently covered “Long Live Love” (1965) and her Eurovision Song Contest winning “Puppet on a String” (1967), reportedly “the biggest selling single by a UK-based female artist of all time”

Shaw really had the whole package, a singer/songwriter with a very attractive, stylish appearance and a lovely voice. Known as “the ultimate working-class It Girl,” she had several international hits, including the Burt Bacharach-Hal David ballad “There’s Always Something There to Remind Me” and three # 1 singles in the UK. She also started her own fashion label in 1968.^[1]

9 Lulu

Cute, perky, and infectiously energetic Lulu is still going strong, planning a UK tour nearly 60 years after the debut of her career-launching track “Shout.” The most memorable song this Scottish singer/actress has recorded is the big international hit To Sir with Love, which was the theme song to the 1967 Sidney Poitier-starring film of the same name, co-starring Lulu herself. Following the film, Lulu quickly became a TV personality with her own show in the UK, Happening for Lulu, and subsequent projects. Her other notable songs include:” Oh Me, Oh My (I’m a Fool for You, Baby)” (1970) and the theme for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun.

Lulu has also been in the headlines for her personal life, with marriages to Bee Gees member Maurice Gibb (1969–1973) and celebrity hairstylist John Frieda (1977–1991). She also had a brief romance with David Bowie, who produced her popular 1974 cover of his song “The Man Who Sold the World.”^[2]

8 Kiki Dee

Although British singer/songwriter Kiki Dee is clearly more than a one-hit wonder, she is probably best remembered for the 1976 pop duet “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart,” which she sang with Elton John. While this song and its memorable video may have been more closely associated with Dee than any of her other recordings, she has had a long and fruitful career which began in the 1960s when she did session work for big stars of the era. Dee’s talent was obvious early on, especially to her peers, but major fame was a long time coming. However, the versatile and soulful sounding Dee was actually the first British artist to sign with Motown’s Tamla Records, joining the label in 1970.

Dee has released many albums and dozens of singles. Her first big hits were “Amoureuse” (1973) and “I Got the Music in Me” (1974). She later re-teamed with Elton John for a popular 1993 cover of Cole Porter’s song “True Love” and has performed in musical theater, even giving an acclaimed performance in the lead role of the West End show Blood Brothers in 1988.^[3]

7 The Breakaways

Initially, as members of a girls’ choir in Liverpool, the female vocal group The Breakaways formed in 1962 and featured Vicki Haseman (later Brown), Margot Quantrell, Barbara Moore, and Betty Prescott (replaced by Jean Ryder). They provided backing for a number of Brit Invasion artists, in addition to recording songs of their own. The group did session work for such stars as Lulu, Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, and Cliff Richard. They also toured with American rock stars like Sam Cooke and Little Richard.

The group received ample TV exposure as regulars on the British music show Ready Steady Go and were backing singers for Cilla Black’s series Cilla.

According to Nostalgia Central, “The Breakaways became Britain’s premiere session vocalists throughout the 1960s, also recording a handful of little-known girl group singles.” Their first single on the label Pye Records, titled “That Boy of Mine,” became a minor hit. They continued to do session work for several years but were sometimes uncredited.

Although usually in the shadows, The Breakaways made a significant contribution to the British pop sound of the 1960s and ’70s.^[4]

6 Mary Hopkin

After being recommended to Paul McCartney by the fashion model Twiggy, who spotted her winning a televised talent competition, Welsh singer Mary Hopkin became one of the first artists to record material on The Beatles’ own record label, Apple. Although she was still in her teens, the petite ethereal blonde already had experience playing local clubs and had released an album of Welsh-language songs by the time she signed with Apple.

Her debut English language album Postcard (1969) was personally produced by McCartney, and Hopkin became his protégé. Despite some artistic differences, their collaboration was a success. The first single, “Those Were the Days” (1968), not only became a gold record but is Hopkin’s most memorable song. “Goodbye” was also a hit, as were her singles “Que Sera, Sera” (1969) and “Temma Harbour” (1970).

Hopkin went on to represent the UK in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, coming in second with the song “Knock Knock, Who’s There’s?” The following year, Apple released her second album, Earth Song, Ocean Song (1971), produced by Hopkin’s husband, Tony Visconti. At this point, she left the music scene in order to focus on raising a family but has continued to record over the years.^[5]

5 Cilla Black

A Liverpool native, born Priscilla Maria Veronica White, the singer/TV star known professionally as Cilla Black after a newspaper got her last name wrong, was one of the most prolific British entertainers of the 1960s and beyond. Black, who passed away in 2015, had 19 UK “Top 40” singles (including two #1 hits), released 15 studio albums, and performed in sold-out shows at some of the most impressive venues in the world. Black’s biggest international hits include “You’re My World,” as well as the Lennon-McCartney penned song “It’s For You,” and her cover of Dionne Warwick’s “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

The cheerful, spunky redhead got her start working in local night spots, sometimes as a waitress or coat check girl, other times singing alongside future global stars like The Beatles. It was, in fact, The Beatles’ legendary manager, Brian Epstein, who recognized Black’s potential and took her under his wing, resulting in a rise to stardom.

While most of the top women of the British Invasion hosted TV shows at one time or another, Black really made a career as a TV personality, hosting several series over the years.

In the early 1990s, Cilla Black recorded a duet with fellow British songstress Dusty Springfield. The up-tempo “Heart and Soul,” which was both nostalgic and age-defying, gave a nod to their heyday in the music scene of the 1960s.^[6]

4 Christine MacVie

As a lead singer, songwriter, and pianist, Christine MacVie has been a major part of Fleetwood Mac’s success, “becoming a superstar in 1975 as part of the Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks version of the band,” according to All Music.

The daughter of a concert violinist, MacVie—born Christine Perfect—was preparing herself for a career in visual art, studying sculpture, when she became a bassist in the band Sounds of Blue. After her stint as a member of Chicken Shack in the late 1960s, the smoky alto-voiced singer released her first solo album, married Fleetwood Mac bassist John MacVie, and joined the band herself.

During her first 25 years with Fleetwood Mac, she wrote such popular songs as “Say You Love Me,” “Songbird,” and “You Make Loving Fun.” She also released several solo albums. MacVie left the band in the late 1990s but returned more than 15 years later, recording the 2017 album Lindsey Buckingham, Christine Macvie.^[7]

3 Marianne Faithfull

In many ways, the folk/rock icon Marianne Faithfull embodied the spirit of the late 1960s with the combination of her wild, bohemian, rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and her vulnerable, almost childlike image. She was actually little more than a child when, as a cherubic-faced 16-year-old, she was “discovered” by The Rolling Stones’ manager at a party.

Her background—being the daughter of a British spy and Austrian baroness, granddaughter of a sexologist, and enrolled in a convent school at age seven—sounds like it could inspire an amazing song. However, “Faithfull’s career as the crown princess of swinging London was launched with ‘As Tears Go By,’ the first song ever written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards,” according to her website.

For several years Marianne Faithfull was a combination of muse for then-boyfriend Mick Jagger and recording artist in her own right. In 1965 there was a double release of Faithfull’s first two solo albums. Her self-titled debut album is made up of pop songs, while Come My Way is a folk album. It seems appropriate that two such different works were released simultaneously since it’s impossible to stamp one particular genre on her. She has also recorded alternative, blues, and jazz.

In addition to her more than 55 years as a recording artist, Faithfull has also enjoyed a long, notable acting career on both stage and screen.^[8]

2 Petula Clark

Of all the female vocalists who thrived during the British Invasion, Petula Clark is one of the most internationally famous. Her long, multi-dimensional career began well before the Swinging Sixties. Clark got her start at the age of 10 during WWII, singing on BBC radio, and quickly became a sensation. Her concert appearances exceeded 500 before she was 12 years old.

Ironically, this child star, who was often referred to as “Britain’s Shirley Temple,” would end up with possibly the most sophisticated sound and image of British Invasion’s female singers. This was partly achieved by recording so many French songs at the urging of her future husband, Frenchman Claude Wolff.

After more than 20 years as a popular entertainer, it turned out the best was yet to come for Petula Clark, who distinguished herself as one of the leading artists of the phenomenal Brit movement, even beating out The Beatles for a Grammy with her 1964 song “Downtown.” Clark’s other big hits of this period include “Don’t Sleep in the Subway,” “I Know a Place,” and “A Sign of the Times.”

In addition to her career as a singer/songwriter, which has spanned decades, Clark is also an accomplished actress with roles in such films as Finian’s Rainbow and the 1968 remake of Goodbye, Mr. Chips as well as staring in numerous stage shows. like the musical Sunset Boulevard.^[9]

1 Dusty Springfield

The incomparable Dusty Springfield is remembered as one of the brightest stars to come out of the British Invasion. In the decades following her death in 1999, Springfield’s music is as cherished as ever. Her iconic album Dusty in Memphis was recently ranked #83 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. With her exaggerated beehive and trademark panda eyes, she was visually striking and has been proclaimed one of the all-time greatest British female singers. Her often breathy voice—wistful one moment and sultry the next—was truly distinctive, and she was dubbed the “Queen of Blue-Eyed Soul.”

After performing with her brother Tom in the folk trio The Springfields, she went solo in her mid-twenties, recording many hits, including “I Only Wanna Be with You,” “Son of a Preacher Man,” “The Look of Love,” and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.” According to Writing on Music, Springfield was also “effectively the uncredited producer of many of her records.”

Following her relocation to America in the early 1970s, Springfield struggled in both her personal and professional life but made an impressive comeback in the 1980s when she teamed up with The Pet Shop Boys. She is now widely considered a pop and soul music legend.^[10]