Fans last night reacted with disbelief that superstar Dame Shirley Bassey believes she will only find happiness when she retires from singing.

The world famous performer claims she was last happy when she worked in a sausage factory, and says her career has made her miserable, torn her away from her family, and left her lonely.

In a rare interview, the multimillionaire diva compared herself to a rat and complained about having too many possessions.
She said, "I have found happiness in my work but not in my private life. The one takes from the other. I had to take from my private life to make my public life successful. I had to make a lot of sacrifices."

But die-hard fans of the Cardiff diva believe Dame Shirley will never give up the career that has brought her international fame.
 
"I can't understand that. Shirley will continue singing until the day she dies," said fan and tribute performer Carolyn Rowe. She feeds from the audience, that's what keeps her alive.

"She is the last of her kind. She has Hollywood glamour and a fantastic voice, there's no one who can replace her."
Another fan added, "It's true it has spoiled her personal happiness but she lives for music and her voice."

Dame Shirley, who has released more than 60 albums and spent longer in the charts than any other female performer, started from humble beginnings.

Her father, a merchant seaman from Nigeria, abandoned the family when she was two, leaving her mother to bring up the seven children in a rough part of Cardiff Bay.

She said the family was so poor that they slept three to a bed and she was "left to run wild". As soon as she left school at 15, she went to work in the packing department of a sausage factory, supplementing her weekly wage with singing work in local workingmen's clubs. "I was happy there," said Shirley, 66, who is worth more than £15m. "I had a great time. Every Thursday there was the factory club: archery, darts, dancing. I was happy until success entered my life, then it was all downhill. Success spoilt me. It took away my happiness. There were so many demands put upon me. I will be happy again when I retire."
 
She said her fame has also caused splits with her family. Although she's still close to her first daughter Sharon - who was conceived when Shirley was just 17 - she has grown apart from her relatives in Wales.
"My success became a barrier with my family. They couldn't relate to me and I couldn't relate to them. But then I never could - I was just in the way.

"I can count my friends on one hand. I'm not very comfortable with people around. I suppose it goes back to being a loner as a child. Lonely, basically. I would go to the matinee with friends, or to the thrupenny hop, but I was basically alone," she revealed.

The star, whose hits include Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, and Hey, Big Spender, also suggested that her career had ruined her love life. When asked if she had ever found "true love", she replied, "No. Not enough to make me stop singing. Maybe I'm not meant to find love. Maybe I'm meant to be tormented.

"In my past I've had boyfriends who liked what they saw on stage. They wanted a trophy. They wanted 'Shirley Bassey'. Then they would get jealous if another man came up to talk to me, and I started behaving like 'Shirley Bassey'. I would say 'Make up your mind.' No wonder I have a split personality.

"I've heard so much of it (love) and seen so little success. All these men professing their undying love - just words, just words. "If someone can declare their love for you just because you sing a song, it devalues the words. And it was as if lovers became fans when they said that. The whole business is freaky and I've had 50 years of it. But what was the alternative? To be married at 17? I would probably have 12 kids by now. But then I had the voice."

Dame Shirley lost her voice after her daughter Samantha, 21, died in a fall from the Clifton suspension bridge in 1984.
She became reclusive and blamed herself for her daughter's possible suicide. She later sold her houses in Switzerland and Sardinia. "I didn't want property abroad again," she told a magazine. "I didn't want staff abroad again. It had lost its magic. I had become possessed by my possessions. When you are travelling and wanting to be free, your possessions start crowding in on you. "The more things you own, the more you have to look after them. I rent a place in Monte Carlo now and I have a place in London. I still like my jewellery and my shoes. I'm a serious shopper - I have a black belt in shopping. The houses and the cars in every place, that's all gone."

She added, "I am a rat. You must never corner a rat because she will go for your throat. I would punch someone out if they had a go at me. I had a reputation in the nightclubs. People learnt not to cross me."

There is hope of happiness for Dame Shirley who has recorded a new album - Thank You For The Years - to mark her half century in showbusiness.

She said there was a new man in her life but refused to reveal his identity adding only, "He has a great sense of humour. I like being with him. He makes me feel comfortable. It's early days, though, so I shouldn't really be saying this."

West fans of superstar Shirley Bassey, whose daughter died in Bristol 18 years ago, last night welcomed the singer opening her heart about the tragedy for the first time. The Welsh diva yesterday told of the devastating death of 21-year-old Samantha Bassey, who was found at the bottom of Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1985.

And she admitted the loss of her daughter still haunts her. Bassey said: "They make out she committed suicide, but every time someone writes that, it's like a stab of pain in my heart.

"Samantha would never have done that. She enjoyed having a go at me too much.

"She had my resolve and was strong like me. We clashed, yes. But then we were so similar."

The incident has always been surrounded in mystery. The body of Samantha was found in Avon Gorge after she had spent an evening at a pub in Bristol.

The 66-year-old singing sensation admitted it was the lowest point in a roller-coaster private life.

She said: "I tortured myself. Samantha's death had been my fault. If I'd been a better mother... so many thoughts run through your head."

Now enjoying her 50th year in showbiz, Bassey's incredible singing success has been in contrast to a chequered life off-stage.

Born in the Tiger Bay (Splott) area of Cardiff in 1937, she was the youngest of six sisters and one brother.

Her mother was Welsh and her father Nigerian. He disappeared when she was two.

Samantha's father, the openly homosexual B-movie director Kenneth Hume, killed himself at 40.

Shirley also divorced her second husband and manager Sergio Novak after 10 years of marriage.

But the shock of losing her daughter hit her hardest, and even led to Bassey temporarily losing her famous voice.

"It was a combination of the guilt and the grief and the nervous strain," she said.

"It didn't send me round the bend. It could have done, but it didn't. That battling instinct came out again and told me to get up and get out on stage.

"I couldn't sit around for ever feeling sorry for myself. Samantha wouldn't have wanted that."

Two weeks later, Bassey walked on to the stage of New York's Carnegie Hall, dressed in a simple black gown - and the audience greeted her with a five-minute standing ovation.

"Their response was incredible," she said, "so uplifting." Meanwhile, the legendary singer has spent the rest of her life putting some of the wave of personal emotions into her performances.

"I've always been rather dramatic," she said.

"I noticed that audiences responded to that. It makes them feel I'm telling them a bit about my life."

© Western Daily Press 2003

Superstar Shirley Bassey has spoken for the first time about the heartache surrounding her daughter's death in Bristol 18 years ago. The Welsh diva has told of the devastating death of Samantha Bassey who was found in the River Avon below the Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1985.

The loss of her 21-year-old daughter, who lived in Totterdown and had spent the evening at the Pump House, in Hotwells, still haunts the singer.

Shirley, aged 66, said: "They make out she committed suicide, but every time someone writes that, it's like a stab of pain in my heart.

"Samantha would never have done that. She enjoyed having a go at me too much.

"She had my resolve and was strong like me. We clashed, yes, but then we were so similar."

Samantha's death has remained a mystery. The inquest was told that she died after her heart stopped beating, probably due to the shock of being suddenly immersed in cold water and the coroner, Donal Hawkins, recorded an open verdict.

For the star it was the lowest point of her life. She said: "I tortured myself.

Samantha's death had been my fault.

"If I'd been a better mother - so many thoughts run through your head. Your children are supposed to bury you, not the other way round."

Now enjoying her 50th year in showbiz, Bassey's incredible singing success has been in contrast to a chequered life off-stage.

Born in the Tiger Bay area of Cardiff in 1937, she was the youngest of six sisters and one brother.

Her mother was Welsh and her father Nigerian but he disappeared when she was two.

Samantha's father, the openly homosexual B-movie director Kenneth Hume, killed himself at 40.

Shirley also divorced her second husband and manager Sergio Novak after 10 years of marriage.

But the shock of losing her daughter hit her hardest, and led to Bassey temporarily losing her voice.

"It was a combination of the guilt and the grief and the nervous strain, " she said. "It didn't send me round the bend. It could have done, but it didn't.

Two weeks later, Bassey walked on to the stage of New York's Carnegie Hall, dressed in a simple black gown to a five-minute standing ovation.

Fans have welcomed the singer opening her heart.

© Bristol Evening Post
 

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