Shirley Bassey Bio
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (born 8 January 1937 in Cardiff, Wales) is a celebrated Welsh singer whose powerful voice, dramatic delivery, and remarkable career longevity have made her one of the most popular vocalists in British music history. She began performing professionally in 1953 and became the first Welsh artist to top the UK Singles Chart when “As I Love You” reached number one in 1959. Bassey is the only artist to have recorded more than one official James Bond theme song, lending her voice to “Goldfinger” (1964), “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971), and “Moonraker” (1979). With a career spanning more than seven decades, she has sold over 140 million records worldwide and continues to be regarded as one of the most influential female vocalists of her generation.
Shirley Bassey
Early Life and Background
Shirley Veronica Bassey was born the sixth and youngest child of Henry Bassey and Eliza Jane Start on Bute Street in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, on 8 January 1937. Her father was Nigerian and her English mother came from New Marske in North Yorkshire, and Shirley grew up in the nearby community of Splott. The household included three sisters, two half-sisters, and one brother, and the family environment exposed her early on to a mix of cultural influences that would later shape her musical style.
Teachers and classmates at Moorland Road School quickly noticed Bassey’s strong voice. A classmate recalled her singing the refrain “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” from Show Boat with such feeling that she made her teacher uncomfortable. Despite the strength of her singing, she received little encouragement, later recalling that even in the school choir she was told to back off until she ended up singing in the corridor. She left Splott Secondary Modern School at the age of 14 to work at Curran Steels, while spending her evenings and weekends singing in local pubs and clubs around Cardiff.
Her upbringing in the multiracial, working-class community of Tiger Bay gave her an early familiarity with a wide range of American popular music, jazz, and R&B, all of which would become hallmarks of her later recordings. By the time she was a teenager, she was already determined to pursue singing as a profession, and her talent soon carried her beyond the local pub circuit.
Path to Music
In 1953, Shirley Bassey signed her first professional contract and toured with the variety show Memories of Jolson, a musical based on the life of Al Jolson. Later that year she signed a contract with Columbia Productions for two performances, and in 1954 she appeared in the touring show Hot from Harlem. A review of that show in March 1954 noted that “Shirley Bassey, an attractive young singer, is an asset to the show.” That same year she gave birth to her first daughter, Sharon, while staying with her sister Ella in London.
While performing in Jersey, Bassey met her first manager, Mike Sullivan, and in 1955 she was noticed by the impresario Jack Hylton at the Astor Club. He invited her to feature in Al Read’s Such Is Life, which opened on 14 December 1955 at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End. Philips record producer Johnny Franz spotted her on television during the show’s run and offered her a recording deal. Her first single, “Burn My Candle,” was released in February 1956, and although it was banned by the BBC for its suggestive lyrics, more singles followed. In February 1957, “The Banana Boat Song” became her first UK hit, reaching No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart.
By early 1957, Bassey was performing in Las Vegas and at Ciro’s on Sunset Boulevard, and she had also recorded in New York City with American producer Mitch Miller. Her appearance on Sunday Night at the London Palladium on 28 April 1957 confirmed her status as a rising British star. In January 1959, “As I Love You” reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for four weeks, making Bassey the first Welsh artist to achieve a UK number-one single.
Shirley Bassey Career
Early Career (1953-1963)
Between 1953 and the early 1960s, Bassey built a remarkable foundation of stage and recording work. Her 1960 recording of “As Long As He Needs Me” from Lionel Bart’s Oliver! peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and had a chart run of 30 weeks. She made her American television debut on 13 November 1960 on The Ed Sullivan Show, and in 1961 the double A-side “Reach for the Stars”/”Climb Ev’ry Mountain” reached number one in the UK. Her version of “As Long as He Needs Me” also reached No. 2, and “You’ll Never Know” peaked at No. 6, establishing her as one of Britain’s biggest-selling vocalists.
Her 1962 collaboration with Nelson Riddle and his orchestra, the album Let’s Face the Music, reached No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart, and the single “What Now My Love” reached No. 5. Her cover of Ben E. King’s “I (Who Have Nothing)” reached No. 6 in 1963, and in January 1963 she performed at a gala commemorating the second anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in Washington, D.C. She also appeared on the cover of Ebony magazine in March 1963, marking her growing international profile. In February 1964, Bassey made her Carnegie Hall debut, a performance that would only be released decades later as part of the 1994 compilation The EMI/UA Years 1959-1979.
Breakthrough (1964-1979)
Bassey’s international breakthrough came in 1964 when she recorded the theme song for the James Bond film Goldfinger. Released in the United States in January 1965, the single peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her only Top 40 hit on that chart. The original soundtrack for Goldfinger hit number one in the United States that year, and the song’s lasting impact defined much of her subsequent career. In 1965, she also recorded the title song for the James Bond spoof The Liquidator and enjoyed a sold-out run at the Pigalle in London, captured on the live album Shirley Bassey at the Pigalle, which peaked at No. 15 on the UK Albums Chart.
The early 1970s brought one of the most successful periods of Bassey’s career. Her 1970 album Something marked a stylistic shift, with producer and arranger Johnny Harris incorporating more contemporary material; the title single reached No. 4 in the UK and stayed on the charts for 22 weeks. Her version of “Never Never Never” reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US Adult Contemporary Chart, number one in Australia, and number one in South Africa. In 1971, she returned to the Bond franchise with “Diamonds Are Forever,” and in 1972 “For All We Know” won The Best Female Performance Of The Year at The Radio Luxembourg Awards.
Between 1970 and 1979, Bassey had 18 hit albums on the UK Albums Chart, and her 1973 live album Shirley Bassey: Live at Carnegie Hall reached No. 20 on the Billboard R&B album chart. In 1976 and 1979 she starred in two BBC television series titled Shirley Bassey, with the final show of the first series nominated for the Golden Rose of Montreux in 1977. She received the first award for Best British Female Solo Artist at the 1st Brit Awards in 1977, and in 1979 she recorded the title theme for the Bond film Moonraker, cementing her place as the defining voice of the franchise.
Notable Works and Milestones
Bassey’s signature works are her three James Bond theme songs, “Goldfinger” (1964), “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971), and “Moonraker” (1979), each of which became cultural touchstones and helped define the sound of the Bond franchise. “Goldfinger” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008, and her 2014 album Hello Like Before included a 50th-anniversary re-recording of “Goldfinger” recreating the original orchestration. Her recording of “Big Spender” (1967) and her performance of “I Am What I Am” also became signature moments in her catalogue, reinforcing her reputation for dramatic, emotionally charged performances.
Shirley Bassey Award Nominations
Throughout her career, Shirley Bassey has received a number of notable award nominations that reflect her international reach and the respect she has earned across the music industry. Her 1997 live album The Birthday Concert, recorded at Castle Howard and Althorp Park to celebrate her 60th birthday, earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. The final show of the 1976 BBC television series Shirley Bassey was nominated for the Golden Rose of Montreux in 1977, and she has received additional nominations from British and international award bodies over the course of her career.
Shirley Bassey Awards Won
Shirley Bassey has been honoured with a wide range of major awards in recognition of her contributions to music and the performing arts. She received the first Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist at the 1st Brit Awards ceremony in 1977, “The Best Female Performance Of The Year” at The Radio Luxembourg Awards in 1972, and her recording of “Goldfinger” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. She has also been recognised by numerous institutions in Wales and the United Kingdom, as well as internationally.
Shirley Bassey Family
Shirley Bassey was born to Henry Bassey, a Nigerian, and Eliza Jane Start, an Englishwoman from New Marske, North Yorkshire. She was the sixth and youngest child in a blended household that included three sisters, two half-sisters, and one brother. Two of her mother’s four children from previous relationships also lived with the Bassey family, and the home on Bute Street in Tiger Bay remained an important part of her personal history even as her career took her around the world.
Bassey is the mother of three children. Her first daughter, Sharon Bassey (also known as Sharon Novak), was born in 1954 and was raised for a time by Bassey’s sister Ella. Her second daughter, Samantha Bassey (also known as Samantha Novak), was born in 1963, and Bassey also has a son named Mark, who is her grand-nephew, adopted during her marriage to Sergio Novak. Bassey has four grandsons through her surviving daughter Sharon Novak, and in 2018 she reported that she had a great-granddaughter.
Personal Life
Bassey’s first marriage was to Kenneth Hume in 1961; the couple separated in 1964 and divorced in 1965 following Bassey’s affair with the actor Peter Finch. She then announced that she and Finch would not be marrying, telling the press: “It simply wouldn’t work out. Just know I am not ready for marriage to anyone. I feel I have to be free.” From 1968 until their divorce in 1979, she was married to Sergio Novak, the assistant manager of the Excelsior Hotel in Venice, who also served as her manager for much of that period.
In 1985, Bassey’s daughter Samantha, then 21, was found dead in the River Avon in Bristol. Bassey has always maintained that her daughter’s death was not a suicide, and although police inquiries were reopened in 2010, the investigation eventually concluded that there was “no evidence of any criminal act involved” in Samantha’s death. The ordeal caused Bassey to temporarily lose her voice. In a 2009 interview, Bassey stated that she and her son Mark had reconciled, and as of that year she resided in Monaco.