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In 1988 as Best Now: EMI Japan: CP32-9028
In 1991 as Best Now: EMI Japan: TOCP-9117
In 1995 as Masterpieces: EMI South Africa CDMASTER(WB)1
In 2003 as The Essential: EMI UK: 5825072 and 5832452
In 2003 as Les Indispensables 2003 : Shirley Bassey: EMI France 5832452

01. Diamonds Are Forever
02. Something
03. Big Spender
04. I (Who Have Nothing)
05. For All We Know
06. (Where Do I Begin?) Love Story 
07. Who Can I Turn To
08. Far Away
09. Reach For The Stars
10. Climb Ev'ry Mountain
11. Goldfinger
12. Never, Never, Never (Grande Grande Grande)
13. If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas)
14. As Long As He Needs Me
15. With These Hands
16. What Now My Love?
17. What Kind Of Fool Am I?
18. I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)
19. You'll Never Know
20. This Is My Life

It doesn't seem possible that Shirley Bassey can have been making hit records for more than 30 years now when one considers that her first best-selling record Banana Boat Song was just after the Suez Canal Crisis (1956) and when Harold McMillan was about to succeed Anthony Eden as Prime Minister.

Now into her fourth decade as an international recording artist Shirley Bassey is still winning new fans all the time, and it is hardly surprising. She has that certain star quality which puts her head and shoulders above most of her peers. Her live shows are a magnet for fans around the world, and her electrifying performances never fail to amaze, she really is in a class of her own.

Shirley Bassey was born and brought up in Tiger Bay, a notoriously tough area of Cardiff. After leaving school she became a waitress but it wasn't long before her formidable singing talents began to be noticed. Following in the footsteps of many of her fellow Welsh people/she travelled up to London and was soon singing in cabaret. The late impressario Jack Hylton was one of the first to spot the fledgling Bassey talent, and put her into one of his West End stage revues after the leading lady had to drop out through ill health. The critics were unanimous: a star had been born virtually overnight.

Soon afterwards Shirley Bassey started making her first records, and the hits weren't long in coming. In 1959 she signed to EMI Records' Columbia label under the production auspices of Norman Newell (whose long list of credits includes Judy Garland, Gracie Fields, Marlene Dietrich and Vera Lynn) and it was the start of a long and successful relationship. She topped the charts with Reach For The Stars/ Climb Ev'ry Mountain, and her version of Lionel Bart's As Long As He Needs Me (from Oliver!) spent more than six months on the top 30 while the James Bond theme Goldfinger (produced by George Martin) also gave her a top 30 hit in the United States.

The legendary American musical conductor/arranger Nelson Riddle who had done so much work with Frank Sinatra during 'Ol' Blue Eyes' Capitol years also worked with Shirley, and the result was a magnificent album Let's Face The Music And Dance which spawned the hit single What Now My Love, her reading of the classic Gilbert Becaud song which has since gone on to become a standard.

In 1965 Shirley left Columbia after more than a dozen hits to sign with United Artists Records which gave her the freedom to record more in the United States, where she was by now a major concert and cabaret artist. In 1967 her version of the Sweet Charity number Big Spender gave her a big hit — and it has since become an essential inclusion in her live act — and then in the summer of 1970 her superb reading of George Harrison's Something restored her to the upper echelons of the top 10.

Other hits followed including the film themes Where Do I Begin (Love Story), For All We Know and of course Diamonds Are Forever, while the Italian song Never Never Never (for which Norman Newell penned English lyrics) gave her a top 30 hit both sides of the Atlantic.

This new collection features what is truly the best of Shirley Bassey's long and comprehensive recording career Apart from the obvious hits like I (Who Have Nothing), With These Hands, I'll Get By, You'll Never Know, Far Away and What Kind Of Fool Am I, there are also some of the songs which have become great performance favourites among Bassey fans, among them her dramatic reading of Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen's If You Go Away, and of course This Is My Life (again with English lyrics by Norman Newell) which has virtually become her personal anthem and is normally the closing number of her live performances.

Shirley Bassey has had more hit records (singles and albums) than any other female performer in the history of the British pop charts. Listening to this collection, it's not difficult to understand why.
 

Shirley Bassey was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1937. Her parents divorced before was three, but they managed to keep the family mostly together, and she sang duets with her brother. When Bassey left school, she took a job in a local factory, supplemented her income by singing in working men's clubs. She travelled round UK in various shows during the 1950's, and appeared in comedian Al Read's Christmas show in London in 1955. Soon after that, Bassey appeared in Read's revue Such Is Life. The show ran for a year, and led to Bassey signing a recording contract. Her first single, Banana Boat Song, was released in 1957 and was a top 10 hit. For the rest of the 50's and early 60's, Bassey enjoyed considerable success.

In 1962 she started working with Nelson Riddle, and performed headline shows in New York and Las Vegas. In 1965 she recorded the title song for the James Bond film Goldfinger, which became a Top 10 hit in the USA.

In the UK, Bassey's career flourished, and she had several more Top 10 hits including Something, For All We Know, and Never Never Never. In 1977 she won a Britannia Award for the Best Female Solo Singer for the last 50 years, and had her own show on the BBC in the late 70's.

In 1981, Bassey semi-retired to Switzerland, but did re-emerge to record a few TV specials, and recorded with the group Yello in 1987. During the 1990's, Bassey toured the world and opened her own nightclub in Cardiff.