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Shirley Bassey - Diamond Dame From My Weekly, by Michael Duncan, Jun 2005

When Mr. Right comes along... From the backstreets of Tiger Bay Shirley Bassey superstar singer has come a long way - but her childhood still affects her profoundly today...

Do you think you will ever get married again then?
"I do sometimes get that funny feeling that I'm going to wake up one day and it's all over the papers that I'm married again. But it's not going to happen unless my Mr Right comes along. At the moment I'm not all that comfortable with really intimate liaisons. I'm probably frightened of being let down again so it seems easier to end it before it even starts. I'm not worried about being on my own as I get old. At least I have the choice to do what I feel like doing and not what somebody else wants me to do."

Why do you think that your relationships with men have been so traumatic?
"I think it's probably because they burn out so quickly. The first few months of a relationship are just amazing. But after a while that intense passion subsides and the feeling that you just can't live without them passes too. They get fed up with the idea of nights at home in front of the television. They want to go out and about and start trying to put me down. I'm not the sort of person who takes any of that kind of stuff. That's the point where it all starts to go wrong."

Do you think that diamonds really are forever?
"I love diamonds. But the first diamonds I wore I nearly lost for good. It was a beautiful necklace, earrings and a bracelet on loan for a special occasion. They were worth a fortune! Somehow I had gone off with the diamonds still on me, so when the diamond company came back to collect them the empty boxes were still lying there. When I got home I just hid them in the bed! The next day my agent came round desperately trying to find them. I pulled up the pillow and said: 'Look after your own diamonds from now on!'"

Why do you always wear such glamorous attire?
"It's because I love clothes that make me look good. But it's also because I love having loads of really nice clothes. I always buy too much. Not because I need them but because I promised myself that I would never ever wear other people's cast-offs again. I was brought up in Tiger Bay and I remember getting told off at school because I didn't have the right clothes so now I have to buy the best. It made me feel sad when I auctioned off some of my favourite gowns for charity at Christie's. Parting with those beautiful gowns was an emotional experience. These gowns have brought me great success in my career and have been loved and admired by so many. I hope their new owners get as much pleasure as I have had from them in the last fifty years."

You're famous for your inspiring stage performances. But has there ever been a time when your voice has just dried up and you couldn't sing?
"The most difficult performance I ever had to do was after my daughter Samantha died. I had to go up and sing at the Carnegie Hall. It was a real effort to keep control. I just kept telling myself that if I cried my eyelashes would fall off and my mascara would run all over my face. But when the orchestra started to play When You're Smiling it just all came together."

What does it feel like being a dame?
"It feels great. And it feels great to have lasted so long in the business. It's been over fifty years. But it's still hitting me, to tell the truth. It's hard to believe that I have lasted so long. It's so hard to believe at times."

© My Weekly 2005

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