Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer, known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films – the only artist to perform more than one officially. Bassey is one of the most popular vocalists in Britain.
In a career spanning more than 70 years, Bassey has sold more than 140 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling female artists of all time. She is the first woman in history to claim a Top 40 album in seven consecutive decades in the United Kingdom.
Born in Cardiff, Bassey began performing as a teenager in 1953. In 1959, she became the first Welsh singer to gain a no. 1 single on the UK singles chart. In the following decades, Bassey amassed 27 top 40 hits in the UK, including two no. 1s ("As I Love You" and the double A-side "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"/"Reach for the Stars") plus a no. 1 in the Dance Chart ("History Repeating"). She became well known for recording theme songs of the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Moonraker (1979).
Bassey has had numerous BBC television specials and hosted her own variety series, Shirley Bassey. In 2011, BBC aired the television film Shirley, based on Bassey's life and career. Since making her first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1971, she has performed at the venue 45 times. Bassey received the first award for Best British Female Solo Artist at the 1st Brit Awards in 1977.The Brits 1977, Brit Awards She was appointed a Dame in 1999 for services to the performing arts. In 2003, she was ranked among the "100 Great Black Britons". Her song "Goldfinger" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. She has influenced other singers, and was a favourite of Aretha Franklin.
Early life Shirley Veronica Bassey was born the sixth and youngest child of Henry Bassey and Eliza Jane Start on Bute Street in Tiger Bay, Cardiff. She grew up in the nearby community of Splott. Her father was Nigerian and her English mother came from New Marske, North Yorkshire.
Two of her mother's four children from previous relationships lived in the Bassey household. Bassey's mother listed her first husband, Alfred Metcalfe, as her own father in the registry of her marriage to Henry Bassey, giving rise to speculation that this marriage was bigamous in the absence of a prior divorce.Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey, 18. Eliza and Henry's second child died in infancy, so Shirley was born into a household of three sisters, two half-sisters and one brother.
Teachers and students alike at Moorland Road School noticed Bassey's strong voice but gave the pre-teen little encouragement: "everyone told me to shut up. Even in the school choir the teacher kept telling me to back off till I was singing in the corridor!" A classmate recalled her singing the refrain "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from Show Boat with such feeling that she made their teacher uncomfortable.Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey, 46. She left Splott secondary modern school at age 14 to work at Curran Steels and, in the evenings and weekends, to sing in local pubs and clubs.Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey, 44, 53, 60.
Career
1950s In 1953, Bassey signed her first professional contract, touring with the variety show Memories of Jolson, a musical based on the life of Al Jolson. On 17 December 1953, Bassey signed a contract with Columbia Productions for two performances at the salary of £10. Her next professional engagement was in the touring show Hot from Harlem, in which she and other mixed-race Cardiff performers played Black Americans in 1954. A review of the show in March 1954 included: "Shirley Bassey, an attractive young singer, is an asset to the show." Later that year, Bassey gave birth to her daughter Sharon, while staying with her sister Ella in London.
While performing in Jersey, Bassey met her first manager, Mike Sullivan. In 1955, Bassey toured various theatres until she was noticed by the impresario Jack Hylton at the Astor Club in September 1955. He invited her to feature in Al Read's Such Is Life, which opened on 14 December 1955 at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End. In the show, which ran until 3 November 1956, she featured the song "Burn My Candle", leading one reviewer to say that she had nearly stopped the show with the song "which brought outraged mutters, then roars of shamefaced applause." During the show's run, Philips record producer Johnny Franz spotted her on television, was impressed and offered her a recording deal. Bassey recorded her first single, "Burn My Candle", the song she had featured in Such is Life; it was released in February 1956. The cabaret-style song was banned by the BBC because the lyrics were considered too suggestive. More singles followed and in February 1957, Bassey had her first hit with "The Banana Boat Song", which reached no. 8 in the UK Singles Chart.
Following a successful run at the Café de Paris, London, Bassey made her American stage début in Las Vegas at El Rancho Vegas in February 1957.Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey, 154. Following on from Las Vegas, Bassey opened at Ciro's on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood on 15 February 1957. She also recorded under the direction of American producer Mitch Miller in New York City for the Columbia Records label (which at the time had a distribution deal with Philips), producing the single "If I Had a Needle and Thread" backed with "Tonight My Heart She Is Crying". On her return to the UK in April 1957, she starred in "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" for the first time on 28 April 1957.
In mid-1958, Bassey recorded two singles that would become classics in the Bassey catalogue. "As I Love You" was released as the B-side of another ballad, "Hands Across the Sea"; it did not sell well at first but, after another appearance at the London Palladium on 30 November, sales began to pick up. In January 1959, "As I Love You" reached no. 1 and stayed there for four weeks; it was the first chart-topping single by a Welsh artist. While "As I Love You" climbed the charts, so did Bassey's recording of "Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me" and both records would end up occupying the top 3 at the same time. Having been with Decca Records for four years, Bassey then signed to EMI's Columbia label on 20 April 1959. Her first album for Columbia, The Fabulous Shirley Bassey, was later released and reached no. 12 in the UK Albums Chart.
1960s Between 1960 and 1961, Bassey had four Top 10 hits in the UK. Her 1960 recording of "As Long As He Needs Me", from Lionel Bart's Oliver!, peaked at no. 2 and had a chart run of 30 weeks. She made her American television début on 13 November 1960, when she performed on The Ed Sullivan Show.Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey, 219. In 1961, the double A-side "Reach for the Stars"/"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" reached no. 1. Bassey's version of "As Long as He Needs Me" reached no. 2. Her single "I'll Get By" peaked at no. 10. Bassey's rendition of "You'll Never Know" was one of the UK's top hits in 1961, reaching no. 6 in the charts. She began to gain recognition in the American market and signed to United Artists Records in August 1961. The following month she began a five-week engagement at the Persian Room inside New York's Plaza Hotel.
Bassey's collaboration with Nelson Riddle and his orchestra, the album Let's Face the Music (1962), reached no. 12 in the UK album chart; and the single, "What Now My Love" made it to no. 5 in 1962. Her cover version of the Ben E. King hit "I (Who Have Nothing)" reached no. 6 in 1963. In January 1963, Bassey performed at a gala commemorating the second anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's inauguration in Washington, D.C.Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey, 247–248. In March 1963, she appeared on the cover of Ebony magazine. Bassey made her Carnegie Hall debut on 15 February 1964. The complete concert recording was not released until it was included in the EMI compilation The EMI/UA Years 1959–1979 in 1994.
In 1965, Bassey enjoyed her only Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with the title song of the James Bond film, Goldfinger. The single "Goldfinger" was released in the US in January 1965, peaking at No 8. The original soundtrack for Goldfinger hit no. 1 in the US that year. The "Goldfinger" theme song had a lasting impact on her career. In the sleeve notes for Bassey's 25th Anniversary Album (1978), Peter Clayton noted that: "Acceptance in America was considerably helped by the enormous popularity of ("Goldfinger")...But she had actually established herself there as early as 1961, in cabaret in New York. She was also a success in Las Vegas...'I suppose I should feel hurt that I've never been really big in America on record since "Goldfinger"...But, concertwise, I always sell out.'..."
Her live 1965 album Shirley Bassey at the Pigalle, recorded during a sold-out run at the Pigalle in London, peaked at no. 15 in the UK album chart. Also in 1965, she sang the title song for the James Bond spoof The Liquidator. Bassey recorded a song for the next Bond film, Thunderball (1965). "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was not used in the movie, although the film's score follows its melodic theme. Written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse, "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was re-recorded by American singer Dionne Warwick. This song was rejected in favour of a new one, "Thunderball", hastily written by Barry and given to Welsh singer Tom Jones after the film's producers decided the song over the opening credits must feature the film's title.Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey, 274–275.
In the aftermath of "Goldfinger" her UK sales started to falter as well: only two of her singles would enter the UK top 40 from 1966 to 1970. Her first album on United Artists, "I've Got a Song for You" (1966), spent one week in the charts. From 1966 to 1970, only two albums would chart, one of those a compilation. One of her best-known singles, "Big Spender" was released in 1967, charting just short of the UK top 20.
Bassey began to live as a tax exile in 1968, during a period of very high income tax, and was unable to work in Britain for almost two years. In 1969, she appeared in NBC's The Spring Thing, a musical television special hosted by Bobbie Gentry and Noel Harrison. Guests included were Goldie Hawn, Meredith MacRae, Irwin C. Watson, Rod McKuen and Harpers Bizarre.
1970s
Bassey's UK comeback came in 1970 leading to one of the most successful periods of her career. Starting the year with a BBC Television 'Special', The Young Generation Meet Shirley Bassey, recorded in Sweden and shown on BBC1 on 18 March. She returned to the UK with a record-breaking run of performances at the Talk of the Town nightclub. Also in 1970, she released the album Something, which marked a stylistic shift for her, as producer/arranger Johnny Harris built on her traditional pop roots by incorporating more contemporary material and arrangements. The title single became one of her biggest UK hits, reaching no. 4 (the same peak as the Beatles’ version) and staying in the charts for 22 weeks – one of her longest chart runs.Dame Shirley Bassey Blog However, Bassey continued to record standards, show tunes and torch songs throughout her career.
Her song "Something" was also a top-10 US hit in the Adult Contemporary chart. Other singles of this period included the hit "Never Never Never", an English version of the Italian "Grande grande grande", reaching the top 10 in the US Adult Contemporary Chart, the UK top 10 and no. 1 in Australia and South Africa. In 1972, "For All We Know" won The Best Female Performance Of The Year at The Radio Luxembourg Awards.
Returning to the James Bond franchise, she recorded the theme song for Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Bassey appeared on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, broadcast on Christmas Day in 1971.