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Welsh Diva's Jubilee Year From Manchester Metro, By Rachel Broady, 6 Jun 2003

With her OTT glamour, glitzy stage presence and legendary singer status, you could be forgiven for thinking Shirley Bassey is an American and not someone who hails from Cardiff's docklands.

But Dame Shirley was the youngest of seven born to a Yorkshire mother and Nigerian seaman father and started her first job in the packing department of a factory long before diamonds became available forever.

She did have an ambition to earn extra cash singing in working men's clubs, but no clue as to the staggering success she was to enjoy. Who would believe the social club songbird would become both a dame and the official queen of camp?

The biggest selling female singer of all time - a must to be played loudly by both the loved up - she has recorded more than 60 albums.

She's had 29 top 40 hits and two number ones, proving her popularity as an international phenomenon and not just for her home country.

Bassey was headlined many times in New York and Las Vegas, played to sell out concerts across the globe including Australia, Egypt (at the foot of the pyramids, no less) and Canada, and has recently received France's top honour the Legion d'Honneur.

Dame Shirley may have forgotten her humble beginnings in Tiger Bay but she never forgot her roots, something else respected by her loyal following.

She returned to Cardiff in 1999 to help celebrate the opening of the new Welsh Parliament and for the Rugby World Cup (wearing a Welsh flag, of course.)

Now, after 40 years on stage and screen, the diva is heading to Manchester MEN Arena for her Thank You For The Years tour celebrating her 50 years in showbiz.

And, as well as the loyal housewives, excited queens, and the occasional James Bond fan, Bassey will welcome a new, younger audience, thanks to the soundtrack of 1997 film There's Something About Mary using her single History Repeating, performed with the Propellerheads.

So get along there and welcome Dame Shirley in Manchester. Take part in a real jubilee celebration.

© Manchester Metro 2003

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