The “Golden Hits Of The 60s” 

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SHIRLEY BASSEY

GOLDFINGER

(Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, JOHN BARRY)

United Artists 790

No. 8    March 27,1965

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Life was not easy for young Shirley Bassey.   She was born the youngest of seven on January 8, 1937, in

Tiger’s Bay, a working-class section of  Cardiff, Wales.   When Shirley was two, her dad died.   Listening

to the tunes on the radio, she taught herself how to sing and dreamed of being a star on the stage.   In

her teens, to help her family get by, Shirley worked  in an enamel factory; all the while, friends  would

coax  her into singing at parties and push her to audition for showbiz parts.

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Shirley’s first professional gig came with her assignment to a chorus line in a touring  British show,

Memories of Al Jolson.   After her appearance in the 1956 revue of Such is Life, Bassey was signed to

a Philips  recording contract.   Early the following year, “Banana Boat Song,” a cover of   the stateside

TARRIERS’ hit, became the first of  more than two dozen British Isle hits.   While

“Goldfinger,” the stirring theme  from the third James Bond thriller, was Shirley’s lone top 40 hit on

these  shores,  a  few follow-up 45s did make the Hot 100, including a full-bodied  version of  the Beatles’

“Something” (#55, 1970) and yet another Bond theme,  “Diamonds Are Forever” (#57, 1972).

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Voted the “Best Female Entertainer” of 1976, by the American Guild Of  Variety Artists; the following

year she received the Britanica Award as “Best Female Solo Singer In The Last 50 Years.”  In 1981,

Shirley announced her retirement, but “Bassey The Belter,” the “Tigress Of Tiger Bay” has yet to stop.

Most odd among her recent musical adventures–the pairing with Yello in 1987 for “The Rhythm Divine.”

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A bountiful bunch of Bassey LPs  are still in print, and Shirley is still a top-draw attraction in the

theaters and nightclubs of Europe.

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