Born:
January 08, 1937
in
Cardiff
Best Known For:
Belting out Bond themes Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker.
Early-life:
Born January 8, 1937, to a Nigerian seaman and his Yorkshire wife. Shirley was raised in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, the youngest of seven children. Her father disappeared when she was two and she left school at 14 for a job in a factory. She performed on the local nightclub circuit, and when her big break as a singer came she took it, making her chart debut in 1957 with The Banana Boat Song.
Career:
Had a stratospheric rise as a cabaret singer, engineered by her first manager Michael Sullivan. She has gone on to be one of Britain's best-loved divas, spending over 300 weeks on the UK chart with hits such as As I Love You, Reach for the Stars and the classic Big Spender. After a 24-year break from the charts, she returned in 1997 by appearing on the Propellerheads' single History Repeating, later to become to the theme to Channel 4 series So Graham Norton. She was made a Dame on New Year's Eve, 1999. In 2007, complete with diamante wellies, she stole the show at Glastonbury. Her last studio album to date, The Performance, was released in 2009. Shirley, a TV biopic of her life, debuted in 2011 with Agents of SHIELD star Ruth Negga playing Ms Bassey.
Quote:
Her views on men: 'They're all supportive in the beginning, then, after a while, they can't take it any more.'
Trivia:
At the 2013 Academy Awards, Bassey sang Goldfinger to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the James Bond movie franchise.