1950s In 1953, Bassey signed her first professional contract, touring with the variety show
Memories of Jolson, a musical based on the life of
Al Jolson. On 17 December 1953, Bassey signed a contract with Columbia Productions for two performances at the salary of £10. Her next professional engagement was in the touring show
Hot from Harlem, in which she and other mixed-race Cardiff performers played
Black Americans in 1954. A review of the show in March 1954 included: "Shirley Bassey, an attractive young singer, is an asset to the show." Later that year, Bassey gave birth to her daughter Sharon, while staying with her sister Ella in London. 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. In the show, which ran until 3 November 1956, she featured the song "
Burn My Candle", leading one reviewer to say that she had nearly stopped the show with the song "which brought outraged mutters, then roars of shamefaced applause." During the show's run,
Philips record producer
Johnny Franz spotted her on television, was impressed and offered her a recording deal. Bassey recorded her first single, "Burn My Candle", the song she had featured in
Such is Life; it was released in February 1956. The cabaret-style song was banned by the
BBC because the lyrics were considered too suggestive. More singles followed and in February 1957, Bassey had her first
hit with "
The Banana Boat Song", which reached no. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. Following a successful run at the
Café de Paris, London, Bassey made her American stage début in
Las Vegas at
El Rancho Vegas in February 1957. Following on from Las Vegas, Bassey opened at
Ciro's on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood on 15 February 1957. She also recorded under the direction of American producer
Mitch Miller in New York City for the
Columbia Records label (which at the time had a distribution deal with Philips), producing the single "If I Had a Needle and Thread"
backed with "Tonight My Heart She Is Crying". On her return to the UK in April 1957, she starred in "
Sunday Night at the London Palladium" for the first time on 28 April 1957. In mid-1958, Bassey recorded two singles that would become classics in the Bassey catalogue. "As I Love You" was released as the
B-side of another ballad, "Hands Across the Sea"; it did not sell well at first but, after another appearance at the
London Palladium on 30 November, sales began to pick up. In January 1959, "As I Love You" reached
no. 1 and stayed there for four weeks; it was the first chart-topping single by a Welsh artist. Her first album for Columbia,
The Fabulous Shirley Bassey, was later released and reached no. 12 in the
UK Albums Chart.
1960s Between 1960 and 1961, Bassey had four Top 10 hits in the UK. In 1961, the double
A-side "
Reach for the Stars"/"
Climb Ev'ry Mountain" reached no. 1. The following month she began a five-week engagement at the Persian Room inside New York's
Plaza Hotel. Bassey's collaboration with
Nelson Riddle and his orchestra, the album ''
Let's Face the Music (1962), reached no. 12 in the UK album chart; and the single, "What Now My Love" made it to no. 5 in 1962. In March 1963, she appeared on the cover of Ebony magazine. Bassey made her Carnegie Hall debut on 15 February 1964. The complete concert recording was not released until it was included in the EMI compilation The EMI/UA Years 1959–1979'' in 1994. In 1965, Bassey enjoyed her only
Top 40 hit on the
Billboard Hot 100 with the
title song of the James Bond film,
Goldfinger. The single "
Goldfinger" was released in the US in January 1965, peaking at No 8. The
original soundtrack for
Goldfinger hit no. 1 in the US that year. The "Goldfinger" theme song had a lasting impact on her career. In the
sleeve notes for Bassey's
25th Anniversary Album (1978),
Peter Clayton noted that: "Acceptance in America was considerably helped by the enormous popularity of ("Goldfinger")...But she had actually established herself there as early as 1961, in
cabaret in New York. She was also a success in Las Vegas...'I suppose I should feel hurt that I've never been really big in America on record since "Goldfinger"...But, concertwise, I always sell out.'..." Her live 1965 album
Shirley Bassey at the Pigalle, recorded during a sold-out run at the Pigalle in London, peaked at no. 15 in the UK album chart. Bassey recorded a song for the next Bond film,
Thunderball (1965). "
Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was not used in the movie, although the film's score follows its melodic theme. Written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse, "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was re-recorded by American singer
Dionne Warwick. This song was rejected in favour of a new one, "Thunderball", hastily written by Barry and given to Welsh singer
Tom Jones after the film's producers decided the song over the opening credits must feature the film's title. In the aftermath of "Goldfinger" her UK sales started to falter as well: only two of her singles would enter the UK top 40 from 1966 to 1970. Her first album on United Artists, "
I've Got a Song for You" (1966), spent one week in the charts. From 1966 to 1970, only two albums would chart, one of those a compilation. One of her best-known singles, "
Big Spender" was released in 1967, charting just short of the UK top 20. In 1969, she appeared in
NBC's
The Spring Thing, a musical television special hosted by
Bobbie Gentry and
Noel Harrison. Guests included were
Goldie Hawn,
Meredith MacRae, Irwin C. Watson,
Rod McKuen and
Harpers Bizarre.
1970s in 1973 Bassey's UK comeback came in 1970 leading to one of the most successful periods of her career. Starting the year with a BBC Television 'Special',
The Young Generation Meet Shirley Bassey, recorded in Sweden and shown on
BBC1 on 18 March. She returned to the UK with a record-breaking run of performances at the
Talk of the Town nightclub. Also in 1970, she released the album
Something, which marked a stylistic shift for her, as producer/arranger Johnny Harris built on her traditional pop roots by incorporating more contemporary material and arrangements. The title single became one of her biggest UK hits, reaching no. 4 (the same peak as the Beatles’ version) and staying in the charts for 22 weeks – one of her longest chart runs. However, Bassey continued to record standards,
show tunes and
torch songs throughout her career. Bassey was the subject of
This Is Your Life on two occasions: firstly, in November 1972 when
Eamonn Andrews surprised her at
Heathrow Airport, and then in January 1993, when
Michael Aspel surprised her at the curtain call of a sell-out concert at the
Royal Albert Hall. Between 1970 and 1979, Bassey had 18 hit albums in the UK Albums Chart. Bassey provided vocals for Swiss artists
Yello on "
The Rhythm Divine" (1987), a song co-written by Scottish singer
Billy Mackenzie. The
liner notes of the Propellerheads' album
Decksandrumsandrockandroll included the lines: "We would like to extend our maximum respect to Shirley Bassey for honouring us with her performance. We are still in shock...." Bassey celebrated her 60th birthday in 1997 with two open-air concerts, at
Castle Howard and
Althorp Park, and another TV special. The resulting live album
The Birthday Concert received a
Grammy Award nomination for
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. On 7 October 1998 in Egypt, Bassey performed at an open-air concert close to the
Sphinx ofr charity and the
Great Pyramid. Bassey played the Friday night at
Henley Festival in 1984.
2000s Bassey continued to perform at various high-profile events. In 2001, she was the principal artist at the
Duke of Edinburgh's 80th birthday celebration. On 3 June 2002, she was one of a line-up of artists including
Elton John,
Paul McCartney and
Tom Jones who performed at the
Queen's 50th Jubilee Party at Buckingham Palace. Bassey celebrated 50 years in show business in 2003 with the release of the CD
Thank You for the Years, which was another top 20 album. A gala charity auction of her stage costumes at
Christie's, "Dame Shirley Bassey: 50 Years of Glittering Gowns", raised £250,000 (US$500,000) for the Dame Shirley Bassey Scholarship at the
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Noah's Ark Children's Hospital Appeal. Bassey topped the bill at the 2005
Royal Variety Performance, introducing her new song "
The Living Tree". in 2006 Two popular
Audiences with Shirley Bassey have aired on British television: one in 1995, which attracted more than 10 million viewers in the UK, and a second, broadcast in 2006. Bassey returned to perform in five arenas around the UK in June the same year, culminating at
Wembley. She also performed a concert in front of 10,000 people at the
Bryn Terfel Faenol Festival in
North Wales broadcast by
BBC Wales.
Marks & Spencer signed her for their Christmas 2006 James Bond–style television advertising campaign. Bassey was seen in a glamorous ice palace singing a
cover version of
Pink's song "
Get the Party Started", wearing an
M&S gown. "
The Living Tree", written, produced and originally recorded by the group
Never the Bride, was released as a single on 23 April 2007. It marked Bassey's 50th anniversary in the UK Singles Chart and earned the record for the longest span of top-40 hits in UK chart history. A new album,
Get the Party Started, was subsequently released on 25 June 2007 and entered the
UK Albums Chart at no. 6. The same year, Bassey performed "Big Spender" with
Elton John at his annual White Tie and Tiara Ball to raise money for
The Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2007, Bassey performed in
Fashion Rocks in aid of The
Prince's Trust at the
Royal Albert Hall. Bassey was rushed to the hospital in Monaco on 23 May 2008 to have an emergency operation on her stomach after complaining of abdominal pains. She was forced to pull out of the
Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute concert because of her illness. A biography of Bassey,
Diamond Diva, was published in 2008. Bassey recorded the album
The Performance (2009), with James Bond composer
David Arnold as producer. A number of artists wrote songs expressly for her, including
Manic Street Preachers,
Gary Barlow,
Tom Baxter,
KT Tunstall,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nick Hodgson of the
Kaiser Chiefs,
John Barry and
Don Black. Bassey headlined at the
BBC Electric Proms on 23 October 2009, in her only complete live set of 2009. She sang several of the new songs from the album in November 2009 on several TV shows:
The Graham Norton Show, ''
The Paul O'Grady Show and as the guest singer on Strictly Come Dancing''. She also performed at the
Classical Brit Awards in 2011, singing "Goldfinger" in tribute to
John Barry. The BBC broadcast a 70-minute drama entitled
Shirley on 29 September 2011, depicting Bassey's early life and career.
Ruth Negga played the title role. Bassey was one of the line-up of artists on 4 June 2012 who performed at the
Queen's 60th Jubilee Party at
Buckingham Palace, singing "Diamonds Are Forever". She performed at the
2013 Academy Awards on 24 February 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the James Bond movie franchise. It was her first appearance at an Oscars ceremony as a performer. She sang "Goldfinger" to a standing ovation. Bassey performed "I'm Still Here" and "The Lady Is A Tramp" on 13 November 2014 at the Royal Variety Performance in the presence of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Bassey released another album,
Hello Like Before, on 17 November 2014. It included a 50th-anniversary re-recording of "Goldfinger" (recreating the original orchestration) and a duet of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" with
Paloma Faith, produced and conducted by Stuart Barr. In December 2016, Bassey starred in a 60-minute BBC broadcast hosted by
David Walliams. On 11 March 2018, Bassey performed "Almost Like Being In Love" in a tribute to
Bruce Forsyth at the London Palladium. At a gala for
AmfAR (The Foundation for Aids Research) in Los Angeles on 18 October 2018, Bassey sang "Goldfinger", "Diamonds Are Forever", "Almost Like Being In Love" and "I Am What I Am". On 9 August 2019, Bassey performed at UNICEF's Summer Gala in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, singing "Goldfinger", "Diamonds Are Forever" and "S'Wonderful". Bassey appeared on the Ball & Boe TV Christmas Special on Friday 20 December 2019, singing "
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" with Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.
2020s In 2020, with the release of her most recent album,
I Owe It All To You, Bassey became the first female artist to have an album in the top 40 of the
UK Albums Chart in seven consecutive decades. On 13 March 2022 Bassey opened the BAFTA Film Awards at London's Royal Albert Hall with a performance of "Diamonds Are Forever". She performed again at the same venue on 4 October 2022 in
The Sound of 007: Live from the Royal Albert Hall; both performances celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the James Bond films. In the latter she sang the two opening songs, "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Goldfinger". In 2023, Bassey was awarded The Order of Saint Charles by Prince Albert II of Monaco. In May, 2024, Bassey announced a
charity auction of some of her "meaningful" jewels, including a diamond ring she was gifted by
Elton John. In December 2025 Bassey recorded a vocal performance as Celestina Warbeck in
Harry Potter: The Full Cast Audio Editions, published by
Audible and
Pottermore Publishing. The recording included three new songs: ''You Stole My Cauldron But You Can't Have My Heart
and A Cauldron Full Of Hot, Strong Love
(both written by Ashley Griffin) and You Charmed The Heart Right Out Of Me'' (written by Kezia Tomsett).
JK Rowling has previously suggested Shirley Bassey was an inspiration when creating the character. ==Personal life==