My Left Foot director Jim Sheridan has announced his next film will be about 1960’s soul singer Dusty Springfield.

Springfield, born Mary O’Brien from Irish immigrant stock in London, came out as gay in 1972, was kicked out of South Africa in 1965 for refusing to sing in front of a segregated audience, and fought for dozens of other causes while embracing the “Swinging 60s” and struggling with her own demons.

The singer spent most of her adult life in the UK and the US, died in 1999 and had her ashes cast off the dramatic Cliffs of Moher, on the West Coast of Ireland.

Dusty will follow the journey taken by O’Brien – from her shy and timid persona with a hauntingly unique singing voice – into her triumphant alter ego.

“‘I am tremendously excited to be part of the project and to take on the challenge of telling the story and revelling in the music of an extraordinary woman and singing sensation,” said Sheridan.

“She wore every cause on her sleeves and fought against racism, promoted gender equality and gay pride at great cost to her personal and professional life. Her life and her music are built for a biopic of this type and her Irish background and life among the Irish diaspora of London really appeals to me and it is a world that I know very well. She was a remarkable woman, decades ahead of her time.”

Details of casting and when the film will go into production have not been announced.