Shirl the girl still gives it a whirl!
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER AS STAR HITS 83
Shirley Veronica Bassey was 1 born in Tiger Bay, then a rough dockside area of Cardiff – the last of seven children born to a white mother Eliza and Nigerian father Henry.
There were rumours that 2 their marriage was bigamous – as Eliza’s first husband Alfred Metcalfe was listed as her father on their documents.
Before becoming a singer, 3 Dame Shirley worked in a factory packing chamber pots. She released her first single 4 Burn My Candle (At Both Ends) in 1956 aged 19, but it was banned by the BBC for being too saucy. Lyrics included: “There’s ‘S’ for Scotch that’s so direct/and for straight and simple sex.”
In January 1959, she became 5 the first Welsh person to score a No1 single, with As I Love You, which topped the charts for four weeks.
But she is best known for her 6 hit Big Spender and the theme tunes to three James Bond films – Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker.
Her career was 7 rocked by scandal in the 60s when it emerged that she had given birth as an unmarried teenager to a secret daughter, called Sharon, in 1954.
In 1978, she pleaded guilty to 8 being drunk and disorderly after shouting abuse in the street and pushing a policeman. She blamed it on too much pink champagne.
Dame Shirley has been 9 married and divorced twice.
Her first husband was a gay film director and during their threeyear marriage, the singer had an affair with Oscar-winning actor Peter Finch. She once quipped: “Diamonds never leave you… men do!” Second husband Sergio Novak, left, was also her manager.
10 The Welsh legend has also suffered tragedy. In 1985, her second daughter, Samantha, was found dead in the River Avon in Bristol, aged just 21. The shock left Dame Shirley unable to sing for six months.
11 She isn’t afraid to speak her mind when it comes to today’s stars, saying: “I don’t know why singers these days feel the need to wear so little. It’s like they’re all in competition with each other, who can wear the skimpiest outfit.”
12 The glamorous star performed at Glastonbury in 2007 – wearing a pink designer dress by Julien Macdonald and £3,000 Wellington boots. Her assistants also rolled out a 12ft red carpet for her to walk on.
A whole new generation got 13 to know Dame Shirley in 1997 when she scored a No1 on the UK dance chart with History Repeating, recorded with big beat duo Propellerheads.
14 She has also collaborated with Kanye West and Paloma Faith, while the Pet Shop Boys and Manic Street Preachers have written songs for her. Dame Shirley began 15 living as a tax exile in 1968 and still lives in Monaco today.