Shirley Bassey (Dame)

1937

Cardiff, Wales

Mother was English and Father was Nigerian.

1957- Her debut single The Banana Boat Song reached the top 10
1964: Goldfinger was released and it stormed the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
1970 – 1979: Bassey had 18 hit albums in the UK Albums Chart
1972- Diamonds Are Forever released
1977- Nominated for the Golden Rose of Montreux
1977- First person to receive the Best British Female Solo Artist award at the 1st Brit Awards
1979- Moonraker released
1993- Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama1998- Longest run by a solo artist – Royal Festival Hall, London
1999- Madam Tussaud’s waxwork unveiled in London
1999 – Appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the performing arts
2000- Most Successful British Female Singer – Guinness Book of Records
2003 – Ranked among the 100 Great Black Britons
2004- Ranked Number 8 on the list of 100 Great Black Britons
2005- Avenue of Stars – plaque unveiled in London
2008 -Her song Goldfinger was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
2018- She unveiled a carriage on the Snowdon Mountain Railway, named in her honour
2019 – Freedom of the City of Cardiff
2019- Square of Fame – plaque of Bassey’s handprints unveiled at the SSE Arena, Wembley Park, London
2020 – Official UK Chart Record – First female artist to claim a top 40 album in seven consecutive decades
2020 – Became the first female artist to chart an album in the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart in seven consecutive decades with her album I Owe It All To You

Shirley Veronica Bassey was born in the Tiger Bay section of Cardiff, Wales and was the youngest of seven children. Bassey’s father was sent to prison for the repeated sexual abuse of a child which saw Bassey’s mother relocate her family to Splott in Cardiff. Bassey faced the hardship of her family’s poverty alongside her experience as a mixedrace child in the community.
In 1952 Bassey left school to work in an enamelware factory. Alongside this she sang in pubs and was cast in a musical revue at 16. Her performances were interrupted when she fell pregnant. But after giving birth and leaving her daughter Sharon in the care of a sister, Bassey soon started to perform again.

On 17 December 1953 Bassey signed a contract with Columbia Productions for two performances at the salary of £10. Bassey made her professional debut at 16 appearing in a touring revue Memories of Al Jolson. Her next professional engagement was in the touring show Hot from Harlem, in which she and other mixed-race Cardiff performers were passed off as Black Americans in 1954. Shirley fell pregnant and soon dropped out of touring. However, six months later, Bassey was invited to perform in Jersey. It was here she grabbed the attention of manager Mike Sullivan, who was impressed enough with her powerfully expressive voice to begin managing her career. It was at this time that Bassey started to adopt the plunging tops and gowns that would become her signature look.

In early 1957 her debut single The Banana Boat Song reached the top 10. It was followed by Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me, and the number one As I Love You. In 1959 she released As Long As He Needs Me, the showstopper from the Lionel Bart musical Oliver!, another smash which established Shirley Bassey as a household name. In America, she was building a name for herself live as a top draw cabaret star, but chart success was harder to find.

Bassey’s worldwide popularity took off when she sang Goldfinger for the 1964 James Bond movie. It stormed the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. From there she continued to create successful hits; for example, her hits in the in the 1960s included I (Who Have Nothing), Big Spender and No Regrets. Her popularity continued right through the 1970s. Bassey performed material penned by some of the industry’s biggest names, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Janis Ian and Stephen Sondheim. She also enjoyed further hits including a cover version of The Beatles’ Something. Further great successes for Bassey were more Bond theme collaborations like 1972’s Diamonds Are Forever and 1979’s Moonraker.
She also sang the theme songs for two other Bond films, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker. These Bond songs, along with her interpretations of numbers like Big Spender and I Am What I Am, made Bassey’s career an unmitigated success.

Between 1970 and 1979, Bassey had 18 hit albums in the UK Albums Chart. Some of her successful albums in this period included: Something Else (1971, And I Love You So (1972), I Capricorn (1972), Never Never Never (1973), Good, Bad but Beautiful (1975), Love, Life and Feelings (1976), You Take My Heart Away (1977) and Yesterdays (1978). Two compilations The Shirley Bassey Singles Album (1975) and 25th Anniversary Album (1978) both made the top three of the UK charts. The Shirley Bassey Singles Album, her highestcharting album, reached number two and earned a gold disc, and the 25th Anniversary Album eventually went platinum.

In 1976 the six episode Shirley Bassey show was released, the first of her television programmes for the BBC which was followed by a second series of six episodes in 1979. The series had notable guests including Neil Diamond, Michel Legrand, The Three Degrees and Dusty Springfield and was nominated for the Golden Rose of Montreux in 1977. In the same year Bassey was also the first person to receive the Best British Female Solo Artist award at the first Brit Awards.

Bassey focused on a number of charitable works and began her semi-retirement by ending her contract with United Artists. However, she continued to record a number of successful works. These included an album entitled All by Myself (1982), a duet with the French film actor Alain Delon, Thought I’d Ring You (1983) and an album of her most famous songs I Am What I Am (1984).

Bassey’s honours and awards continued. In 1999 she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the performing arts. In 2003, she was ranked among the 100 Great Black Britons. Furthermore in 2008 her song Goldfinger was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2020, Bassey became the first female artist to chart an album in the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart in seven consecutive decades with her album I Owe It All To You.

Bassey still returns to Wales for occasional performances, she topped the bill at the opening of the Welsh Assembly in 1999, and performed the anthem World In Union with Bryn Terfel for the Rugby World Cup in 2000. In 2007, her single The Living Tree gave Dame Shirley Bassey the longest chart career in history when it entered the singles chart at 37. The 70 year old singer had had her first single in the chart 50 years, two months and 18 days before. In 2008 she appeared at the Glastonbury festival in Somerset, and in 2009 it was announced that she would take part in the BBC Electric Proms event.

Bassey married twice, to Kenneth Hume and Sergio Novak. Both marriages ended in divorce.
Bassey has three children Sharon, Mark, and the late Samantha. It wasn’t until Sharon, who was Bassey’s first child, was nine years old that she learned who her mother was. In 1963, Bassey gave birth to another daughter, Samantha. Just as with her first child, she wouldn’t name Samantha’s father. She was also estranged from her adopted son, Mark, for several years. In 1985, Samantha died and her death was considered an accidental drowning, but, in a 2009 interview, Bassey admitted she had doubts about that conclusion. After receiving information that a convicted killer had stated he was involved with Bassey’s daughter, the police reinvestigated Samantha’s death in 2010, but found no evidence of criminal involvement.

Bassey has four grandsons through her surviving daughter, Sharon Novak and in 2018, Bassey reported that she had a great-granddaughter. Bassey now resides in Monaco.

Wales Music, ‘Shirley Bassey biography’, BBC, (BBC, revised 2009) [accessed 24 February]

Shirley Bassey, Shirley Bassey: My Life on Record and in Concert (London: Bloomsbury, 1998)

John L. Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey (New York: Hachette Book Group, 2013)

Biography, ‘Shirley Bassey Biography’, Biography.com (Biography.com, revised 2022) [accessed 24 February]