“You must never corner a rat because she’ll go for your throat. I’d punch someone out if they had a go at me. I had a reputation in the nightclubs. People learnt not to cross me”.
"I'm too busy putting my energies into my performance to be a diva."
From a article by Carolyn Hitt in the national news outlet of the Great Dame's native country Wales Online:
She is complex, paradoxical and perhaps ultimately unknowable."When I started singing, I couldn't be shut up."
For every off-the-record anecdote about her worst diva moments, there are hilarious instances of her sending this image up – from putting a stiletto through Morecambe and Wise’s polystyrene steps to camping it up on a golden mobility scooter with David Walliams this Christmas Eve.
Like diamonds, her imperious Bond anthems with their power-packed crescendos will last forever yet we sometimes forget her vocal gifts are equally attuned to poignant and tender ballads. Not to mention chart-topping dance music.
She is an artist who embodies the glamour of a bygone showbiz age yet she has remained relevant to each new generation – from thrilling the mud-splattered masses of Glastonbury by strutting her stuff in bejewelled wellies to reinventing herself through collaborations with contemporary artists like the Manics and Rufus Wainwright who have been honoured to pay her musical homage.
She has an instrument that seems effortless and spontaneous ... and she prefers us to concentrate on the remarkable voice rather than the equally compelling life story behind it.
"I learned by standing in the wings and watching established acts on stage."
"I decided to retire from show business at the age of 17, because I didn't like it a bit... but my singing was like this burning thing inside me and I had to go on with it.”
"For a little girl from Cardiff's Tiger Bay, I've come a long way."
"You don't get older, you get better."
Many happy returns to one of our favourites, the Number 1 Patron Saint here at Dolores Delargo Towers, the one-and-only Dame Shirley Bassey - who is 80 years old today!!
Right on cue I fell in love with you
You caused many a tear
But I had applause, I had a career
Until the final day
I'll play this part the only way I can
For to live I have to give
The performance of my life
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, DBE (born 8th January 1937)
I haven't been able to find a full version of it yet, but the Williams tribute looks to have been marvelous. His absolute adoration of DSB has long been one of the most charming facets of his at ties more trying persona, no?
ReplyDeleteAnd no question at all that she deserves every sop of adulation that comes her way. Long may she wave!
Damn! Just noted the idiotic autocorrect wreaked its usual chaos. Walliams, of course.
DeleteWe haven't seen it yet either - the chaos of Xmas telly schedules meant we neglected to record it, so will have to see if it is "on demand". However, it will be interesting to see how (or indeed whether) he manages to do a proper tribute to The Dame (especially, as one wry critic observed, it was his name first in the credits, not hers...) Jx
Deleteoh my! (starts humming "goldfinger")
ReplyDeletedudley moore is in the pix with shirley and the queen.
pix #3 - so 60s! best pix - the leopard and purple ensemble.
Little Dud "beckons you to enter his web of sin"..? Nah, that's not quite right. Anyhow, long, long before he suddenly became a movie star/unlikely sex symbol in the US, he had a long comedy partnership with Peter Cook (the tall fella between him and Shirl).
DeleteAnd yes, that leopard-print pic is practically a definition of the word "camp" - is it any wonder drag queens love her so? Jx
I saw PC and DM on broadway in "good evening" in the early 70s. "frog and peach" and "one-legged tarzan" STILL crack me up! and I always wanted to have a fling with DM!
DeleteI was never sure how successful Pete'n'Dud were in the States. At their best, they were very funny! Jx
DeleteLong live this Patron Saint. I ADORE HER!!!! If she goes, I may as well fling myself from a balcony.
ReplyDelete