There are some things in this life that have a resilience and a will to endure that seemingly outstrips seemingly all and sundry, one example it could be said is the humble cockroach. The other is none other than Dame Shirley Bassey, let’s not call this a comeback because if truth be told she never went away.
However this Shirley’s first brand new album in over twenty years and manning the production helm for this outing is none other than David Arnold. There’s also a host of contemporary artists bringing their talents to the table including The Manic Street Preachers, The Pet Shop Boys (any excuse to help out an old queen), KT Tunstall, and Rufus Wainwright.
Speaking about producing the new album, The Performance, David Arnold said:
“All these songs were just songs, until Dame Shirley Bassey sang them. Now they’re Shirley Bassey songs – hopefully classic and contemporary, like that voice. There’s something about a Bassey performance that can knock the wind out of your sails, make you laugh, make you cry, let you in on the joke or be led to a more exotic place. I tried to make a record that made the most of that voice and one that could sit alongside her other classic recordings. There isn’t a ‘next Shirley Bassey’, there never really was and I doubt if there ever will be. She’s as unique and wonderful today as she has ever been and I hope this record will reach an audience who may never have heard her before, so they can say ‘she’s got it’, and for her fans from the past who can say ‘she’s still got it’.
During a career that has included 135 million record sales, Dame Shirley Bassey has had many incredible highlights, including being the only artist to record three James Bond movie theme songs. Dame Shirley has received numerous awards including a DBE [Dame of the British Empire] in 1999.
In 2007, Dame Shirley appeared at the Glastonbury festival, where at the same event Arctic Monkeys covered ‘Diamonds Are Forever’. Kanye West also sampled the same track on his 2005 Grammy-winning song ‘Diamonds From Sierra Leone’.
