The minute she walked in the joint...
Poised on the brink of fame, Shirley Bassey, just 19, already oozed star quality
ABSENT are the diamonds and sequins that would become her trademark look, but the nascent flamboyance and dedication to her art are already plain to see. Now one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain, with a career spanning eight decades, Dame Shirley Bassey appears in these extraordinary photographs at the tender age of 19 already showing a woman on the brink of mega-stardom, confident and selfdoubting in equal measure.
The monochrome pictures, taken by photographer Alan Vines, show Shirley trying on a furtrimmed gown, sharing a cup of tea with her late mother Eliza and in intense conversation with her agent Michael Sullivan.
Another eye-catching shot shows her putting on her earrings as Sullivan fastens her necklace.
A candid snap of an exhausted Bassey slumped asleep on her dressing table also reveals a message written in lipstick on a mirror – festooned with cards from wellwishers – reading, ‘I am only as good as my last performance.’
BUT it’s on stage at London’s Adelphi Theatre that the singer comes alive, striking the animated wide-armed pose that would define later public appearances.
She was on the verge of international stardom and it was during her appearances for impresario Jack Hylton in Such Is Life at the Adelphi in 1955 that she was first spotted by a record producer and offered a recording deal. She had her first single, Burn My Candle, the next year and in 1957, came her first hit,The Banana Boat Song.
By the mid-1960s Shirley, now 83, had five albums in the Top 15 and in 1965 sang the title song of the James Bond film, Goldfinger, which catapulted her to international stardom, just a decade after these pictures were taken.
In 1977 she got the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist in the previous 25 years and in 2000 Shirley was made a Dame for services to the performing arts.