Shirley Bassey is considered by many to be the finest female popular
vocalist that Britain has ever produced. Her dynamic vocal style, her theatrical
stage performances, her successful and regular television appearances and
the excellence of her recorded work has established her as an international
star. In a career spanning over thirty years she has undertake successful
cabaret appearances throughout the world, appeared at several Royal Command
Performances, given sell out concerts at such venues as Carnegie Hall (New
York), The Paris Olympia, London's Talk Of The Town, Hollywood's Coconut
Grove, San Juan's Hilton Hotel, The Pigalle, The Shoreham Hotel in Washington
and the Waldorf Astoria. She also has been an extremely successful small
screen attraction hosting a number of her own series of shows and guesting
on such shows as Sunday Night at the London Palladium, The Danny Kaye Show,
the Morecambe and Wise Show and This is Tom Jones.
Shirley Veronica Bassey was born January 8th 1937 in Bute Street in
Cardiff's Tiger Bay docks area, the youngest of seven children. She left
school at fifteen and went to work in an enamel factory. She developed
an interest in music as a child and taught herself to sing by practising
while listening to the radio. In her teens she gained experience by performing
in clubs and pubs with a trio. In 1953 she gained her first professional
job as a member of the chorus in a touring revue called Memories of Al
Jolson with which she remained for five months; her next job was a six
month engagement with another touring revue - Hot From Harlem. She became
homesick and returned to Cardiff to work as a waitress.
Soon afterwards she accepted an offer to sing at Jersey's Little Theatre
and then went on eleven week tour of the provinces. In 1955 she undertook
a two week engagement at the Astor Club in London's West End. Impresario
Jack Hylton saw her and engaged her to appear with a comedian, Al Read,
at the Adelphi Theatre for nearly a year. She also undertook a nine week
engagement at the Cafe de Paris and then went on to perform at the Paris
Olympia. She followed that up with Cabaret in Hollywood and Las Vegas.
By the time she returned to England, in April 1957 she had scored her first
hit and landed an appearance on ATV's Sunday Night at the London Palladium
which she followed with a nationwide tour.
Her next undertaking was a four week continental engagement and then
an ambitious and successful trip to Australia. In May 1958 she returned
to England and a six month variety tour. It was a hectic and valuable apprenticeship
which established Shirley Bassey as an international star; a status she
has retained to this day.
In 1957 she began her recording career with the Philips label, scoring
a Top Ten hit that year with "Banana Boat Song", over the next two years
she had five more chart entries reaching number one in 1959 with "As I
Love You". By 1960 she had signed with UK Columbia with whom she had nineteen
chart entries including such Top Ten hits as "As Long As He Needs Me",
"You'll Never Know", "Reach For The Stars", "What Now My Love" and "I (Who
Have Nothing)". In the mid-Sixties she switched to United Artists and,
in the UK by 1973, had chalked up ten hits with the label. In 1964 her
recording of "Goldfinger", the theme from the blockbusting James Bond film
of the same name gave her a UK top thirty hit on Columbia; in the US, on
United Artists, the record reached the Top Ten and gave her a Gold Disc
in May 1965.
Apart from her success in the singles market Shirley Bassey has proved
to be tremendously successful as an album artist; since 1961 twenty seven
of her releases have made the UK album charts and she has had ten entries
on USA best selling album lists.
On this album you can hear the full range of Shirley's exciting vocal
talent as she tackles a selection of the best known and best loved songs
in popular music. Three of the songs - "Fool On The Hill", George Harrison's
"Something", and the theme song from "Diamonds Are Forever" are closely
associated with Miss Bassey, who scored hits with her versions of them.
Her supreme self confidence and prowess have always meant that she had
been unafraid to tackle songs associated with other artists, often adding
a new dimension to the song with her reading. Witness her superb renditions
of "That's Life", a hit for Frank Sinatra in 1966, "Killing Me Softly With
His Song" and "Feel Like Making Love" with which Roberta Flack scored in
1973 and 1974 respectively, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", a number one
for Julie Covington in 1977, "Send In The Clowns", a Top Ten hit for Judy
Collins in 1975, Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again Naturally" a number
3 hit in 1972 and Elvis Presley's 1962 smash "Can't Help Falling In Love".
Her ability to handle standards is clearly shown in her highly individual
versions of the beautiful "Shadow Of Your Smile", Charles Aznavour's "Yesterday,
When I Was Young" and the legendary Irving Berlin's "Let Me Sing And I'm Happy".
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