Dame Shirley Bassey
Dubbed the ‘Tigress of Tiger Bay’, Dame Shirley Bassey (1937-) was born in a poor, cosmopolitan part of docklands Cardiff and was singing, loudly, before she could talk. As a teenager she began performing in working men’s clubs and she joined two touring revues before getting a lucky break for a show in London, followed by engagements in the USA. An appearance on Bruce Forsyth‘s ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’ in 1957 shot her to fame.
The hit singles began to accumulate and as she gained more experience her professionalism grew until she became quite the perfectionist. She was one of the first modern-day divas and sang power ballads with a voice that was intense, exciting and sultry. Her glamorous, sequinned outfits added to her showmanship and she immersed herself in each song’s drama. An emotional lyric such as ‘Excuse Me’ (1971), for instance, could easily be part of a film with Bassey as the star.
She is the only artiste to have sung three James Bond themes ~ ‘Goldfinger’ (1964), ‘Diamonds are Forever’ (1971) and ‘Moonraker’ (1979). Her output includes 98 singles and 66 albums (25 of which are compilations). This award-winning superstar is also the first female to have a Top-40 album in seven consecutive decades.
(Top image: Johan Oomen at Flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0)