0:00:02 > 0:00:04Out of the South Wales
0:00:04 > 0:00:08poverty-stricken docklands of Cardiff's Tiger Bay in the 1950s
0:00:08 > 0:00:11rose a star with a voice like a force of nature
0:00:11 > 0:00:14about to take the world by storm.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18MUSIC: "Big Spender" by Shirley Bassey
0:00:18 > 0:00:20# The minute you walked in the joint... #
0:00:20 > 0:00:25Shirley Bassey soon became the first Welsh artist
0:00:25 > 0:00:28to have a UK number one
0:00:28 > 0:00:33and the most successful British female chart artist ever.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35She moved rapidly from singing in pubs to
0:00:35 > 0:00:38performing for American presidents,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40from bars to Bond movies.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43But what made her records sell in their millions?
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Was it just her amazing voice? Her style?
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Her onstage drama?
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Or did toughness and determination play a role?
0:00:51 > 0:00:53Did her manager make her?
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Or was she lucky? The right girl at the right moment?
0:00:57 > 0:01:00What was Bassey's x-factor?
0:01:00 > 0:01:03The record shows Shirley Bassey quickly became
0:01:03 > 0:01:06one of the greatest divas of all time.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09A Welsh diamond, still shining
0:01:09 > 0:01:13and now celebrating her 60th year in show business.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19MUSIC: The Girl From Tiger Bay by Shirley Bassey
0:01:19 > 0:01:22# I bought the ticket of a lifetime
0:01:22 > 0:01:27# There's no denying who I am... #
0:01:27 > 0:01:29SHIRLEY BASSEY: 'I was born in Tiger Bay
0:01:29 > 0:01:31'over an Indian restaurant.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35# Forever, I will stay the girl from Tiger Bay... #
0:01:35 > 0:01:38'This seemed to be the only place in the world
0:01:38 > 0:01:40'until, of course, I left at the age of 16
0:01:40 > 0:01:43'and I discovered that there were other places.'
0:01:43 > 0:01:45# ..the girl from Tiger Bay. #
0:01:50 > 0:01:54My mother said I was singing before I could talk
0:01:54 > 0:01:56and instead of crying, I would sing.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58Uh...
0:01:58 > 0:02:00But... I mean, I didn't want to be a singer.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03It's something that happened.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Shirley was the youngest of seven.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07Her father Henry, a black West African seaman,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10her mother Eliza, white, from northern England,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12moving to Cardiff, probably
0:02:12 > 0:02:16because Tiger Bay was a more racially tolerant community.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20As a vibrant melting pot of all races and religions,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23it also had a lively nightlife of music
0:02:23 > 0:02:26and gambling in the pubs, clubs and shebeens.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28She grew up in an area where
0:02:28 > 0:02:33it was almost the New Orleans of this country, Cardiff, it was,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38you know, it was docks, it was a lot of mixed race people there then.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40Henry Bassey, Shirley's father
0:02:40 > 0:02:43used to run a shebeen over there on Bute Street.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46A shebeen was like an illegal nightclub.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48You would turn your home into a nightclub,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50make sure nobody could see from outside,
0:02:50 > 0:02:52you would have blackout curtains in there,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55and people could pay to come in your house, buy a drink and have a dance.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Her dad wanted to dance all night long down in Tiger Bay,
0:02:59 > 0:03:04you know, this was the time when pubs shut at ten o'clock, you know,
0:03:04 > 0:03:06but life never stopped in Tiger Bay.
0:03:06 > 0:03:12Tiger Bay was the part of Cardiff to be avoided.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17It was very cosmopolitan but it was troublesome.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20It was supposed to be notorious and all that.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Tiger Bay wasn't like that.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26OK, there was a gambling corner, and...
0:03:26 > 0:03:28it was just great.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35At the age of four, after her father had left home for good,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Shirley moved with her family across the docks to Splott
0:03:38 > 0:03:42where stepfather Joe helped provide stability at home.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48As a mixed race pupil at Moorland Primary School, Shirley stood out.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53'I think we were the only coloured family that lived in Splott
0:03:53 > 0:03:57'but we were accepted, you know, like anybody else.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59'I hated school, though.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03'I was a terrible tomboy when I was in school.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08'I loved playing football, climbing trees, playing cricket,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10'I was just wild.'
0:04:11 > 0:04:15I was always singing and always being told to shut up.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20I had no encouragement, so I don't know how I became a singer.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23You know, even when I was in the school choir, the teacher...
0:04:23 > 0:04:26I was in the front row, then in the middle, then I was in the back,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30and then in the end, I found myself in the hall singing all to myself.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34But Shirley was still friends with the Tiger Bay girls
0:04:34 > 0:04:39and, in fact, I think she also went to Mr French's dance classes.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42All the girls would go and do tap dancing
0:04:42 > 0:04:46and Mr French, an old African from West Africa, he used to say,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48"I'm going to turn you into film stars."
0:04:48 > 0:04:53Her mother Eliza always knew Shirley had a special talent.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55As a child, Shirley would sing from under the table,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57too shy to come out
0:04:57 > 0:05:00but as a teenager, she blossomed and began to
0:05:00 > 0:05:06belt it out, soon singing around tables in pubs, clubs and parties.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11Weekends, I found there was somebody looking for a singer
0:05:11 > 0:05:15to sing at working men's clubs, you know, because...
0:05:15 > 0:05:16And I was only 14.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20It was just for extra money to buy my mother a birthday present
0:05:20 > 0:05:22and that's how it all started.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Tiger Bay was this unique place on earth,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27unbeknownst to me at the time how unique it was.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30And Shirley was really an expression of it.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35It's the talent of having a little essence of everything in you.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40And Shirley had it in her. She was a natural show woman.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43A bit of a show-off, if you will.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46People would go to parties in Loudoun Square
0:05:46 > 0:05:48and it was common, everybody sang in chorus,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50everybody sang the latest songs together,
0:05:50 > 0:05:54but Shirley would then belt it out, and they would go, "Oh, listen to her."
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Ladies and gentlemen, we present Welsh Rarebit.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07Wyn Calvin was a young Welsh comic working on a BBC radio talent series
0:06:07 > 0:06:11called Welsh Rarebit when he heard of a young singer in Tiger Bay.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18I had been down in the docks and heard about a kid who was singing
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and I heard her singing in...
0:06:21 > 0:06:26I think it was called the Ship and Pilot pub in the docks.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28I thought, "She's tremendous."
0:06:28 > 0:06:33I told Mai Jones, who was the producer of Welsh Rarebit,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37I told her about this wonderful kid.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39She was 15.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45And I arranged a audition at the BBC in Park Place in Cardiff.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Afterwards, I was told not to waste their time
0:06:51 > 0:06:53with rubbish like that again.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59So, not professional enough or Welsh enough for the BBC.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03But there was another way out of Tiger Bay and into show business.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09In that era, lots of shows used to come to London from America
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and some of these shows were all-black revues.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16They used to say to these groups, you have to have a certain number
0:07:16 > 0:07:20of British actors or dancers and singers or whatever within the show.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25Somehow, it was discovered there were these beautiful girls in Tiger Bay
0:07:25 > 0:07:28and so they came from London deliberately
0:07:28 > 0:07:32to look for girls to just be the background in Show Boat
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and all those kinds of shows that they had needing black people.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38So, our girls went en masse. They couldn't wait.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43So, in 1953, a very young Shirley joined the touring revue
0:07:43 > 0:07:47of Memories Of Jolson, followed by Hot From Harlem.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53One of the Tiger Bay girls was dancer Louise "Lulu" Freeman,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56who became a close friend and room-mate of Shirley while on tour.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02I first heard her voice when she came into Paris After Dark
0:08:02 > 0:08:07and she used to sing Ebb Tide. And I thought, "God, she is fantas..."
0:08:07 > 0:08:09You could tell, it was star quality,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13it was fabulous, she had a fabulous voice from then.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18It was... I mean, it was untrained, she had an untrained voice.
0:08:20 > 0:08:25But Shirley had to leave. She was shocked to find herself pregnant.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Suddenly, back in Cardiff as a single mum,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33her career seemingly over before it had begun.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36She was working as a waitress in a local factory
0:08:36 > 0:08:40when she was asked to join a new show, Caribbean Heatwave.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Urged on by her mother, who looked after baby Sharon,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Shirley went to London to audition.
0:08:53 > 0:09:00This girl was unkempt, um, and although she had a voice,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02she had no style then.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05She had impact.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09But there was nothing smooth about her approach.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14The show's agent, Mike Sullivan, who died in 1995,
0:09:14 > 0:09:15said in his autobiography
0:09:15 > 0:09:18that Shirley made a poor first impression.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22He said she was wearing crumpled jeans, a dirty yellow sweater,
0:09:22 > 0:09:26had a short crop fuzz of black hair and didn't know what key to sing in.
0:09:26 > 0:09:27He nearly sent her away,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30but he had hired the rehearsal room and paid her fare.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Then, she sang.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37# Don't know why... #
0:09:37 > 0:09:41"I shivered, an uncanny spine-tingling sensation.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43"This had never happened to me before
0:09:43 > 0:09:46"and I was hardened to singers in auditions," said Sullivan.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49He had discovered gold.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51So, Shirley passed the audition
0:09:51 > 0:09:53and was off to Jersey to join the show led by her friend,
0:09:53 > 0:09:58choreographer Ben Johnson, who had a lasting influence on her.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02I liked this choreographer, I think, in fact, that's where I got all my movements from.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04I used to stand in the wings and watch him
0:10:04 > 0:10:06and God, he was so graceful.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Finally, it all started to come into play,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15so one day, I found out my hand had moved, but at the right...
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Not just moving like a windmill
0:10:18 > 0:10:21but moving to make a point of what
0:10:21 > 0:10:25I was actually singing about at that moment.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28He was all...this. He was all...
0:10:28 > 0:10:30# When they begin the Beguine... #
0:10:30 > 0:10:33And all that was Ben.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36He would have said to her, "I want more movement,"
0:10:36 > 0:10:39or, you know, "Give it a bit more," you know, when she was singing.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43And then she sort of went further with it.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46The show's agent, Mike Sullivan,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49then came to Jersey to sign up Shirley as a solo act.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51He had plenty of average acts in his books
0:10:51 > 0:10:54but here was a diamond, rough around the edges
0:10:54 > 0:10:57but unmistakably a gem, and Sullivan needed a break.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01He was heavily in debt, desperate for the big time.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04She said, "Oh, I'm going to join his agency
0:11:04 > 0:11:07"and he's going to look after me and he's going to spend...
0:11:07 > 0:11:10"they're going to spend £100 on gowns."
0:11:10 > 0:11:13And we were like... "£100 on gowns!"
0:11:13 > 0:11:17We were like, "Oh, that's fabulous!"
0:11:17 > 0:11:20You know... £100!
0:11:20 > 0:11:23And after Jersey, she went...
0:11:23 > 0:11:27I don't know whether she went to live with Mike and his wife
0:11:27 > 0:11:29but they took her over then
0:11:29 > 0:11:32and then, that was the start of Shirley Bassey.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36# I'll get by... #
0:11:36 > 0:11:40Sullivan promised stardom, but not with a baby in tow.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42Shirley made the heartbreaking decision to
0:11:42 > 0:11:46leave baby Sharon in the care of her mother and sister Iris.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49In the following months of 1955,
0:11:49 > 0:11:50Sullivan then claims
0:11:50 > 0:11:54he and his wife trained Shirley into being a star,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58taught her stagecraft, gave her a style and selected her songs.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03At the time, many British artists covered the hits of American stars
0:12:03 > 0:12:06like Eartha Kitt and Lena Horne.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Now, Sullivan believed he had a British version.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13She was dubbed the Tigress of Tiger Bay.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18They always give this sexual image of black singers. I don't know why.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21But they always identify certain black singers
0:12:21 > 0:12:27like a sexual animal thing what they're supposed to have, etc.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29So, that's where they coined it for Shirley.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32They were looking for a black British Eartha Kitt
0:12:32 > 0:12:34and she came at the right time.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Shirley's solo career was launched softly
0:12:38 > 0:12:41here at the out-of-the-way Hippodrome in Keighley, Yorkshire.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45About to go on, Sullivan said she was near to panic
0:12:45 > 0:12:48but she went down well, especially with the older audience.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Next stop, the toughest place in Britain to perform -
0:12:52 > 0:12:54the Glasgow Empire,
0:12:54 > 0:12:56notorious for its raucous audience.
0:12:56 > 0:13:02I was singing... # I've got you under my skin... #
0:13:02 > 0:13:04And, then, they started.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06They let me have it!
0:13:06 > 0:13:09"Yes, take it off!" And whatever...
0:13:09 > 0:13:11SHE GASPS
0:13:11 > 0:13:14And this went on throughout the song and I kept going.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17And, then, when I finished that song,
0:13:17 > 0:13:22before I went on, I stopped, and I said in my broad Welsh accent,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24"Now, listen here,
0:13:24 > 0:13:29"I've come here tonight to entertain you
0:13:29 > 0:13:33"and if you don't want to listen, I'll go home.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35"But, first, give me a chance."
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Silence. I thought, "God, what have I done?"
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Silence.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47I peeped out because it was very dark, and they were still there.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51And at the end, a round of applause. It was great.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54So, it went through the grapevine that I passed
0:13:54 > 0:13:58and I got a contract for all the Moss Empires.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02The incident demonstrated Shirley's determination to succeed
0:14:02 > 0:14:06and her toughness forged in her Tiger Bay upbringing
0:14:06 > 0:14:09and in the sacrifices she had already made -
0:14:09 > 0:14:12personal qualities she acknowledged at the time.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15'Because of that time,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19'I can cope with all the toughness of show business.'
0:14:19 > 0:14:24And... But that was a good background
0:14:24 > 0:14:30for my...way up the ladder to success.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35She saw that there was a chance of Shirley Bassey being
0:14:35 > 0:14:40something bigger than the kid from Tiger Bay.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43And her determination became so obvious
0:14:43 > 0:14:49when she was performing because before going on stage,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53she would be quite quiet and quite reserved and then,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56when she got on there in the lights,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00she lit up like a huge bulb.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02From Glasgow on, Shirley was up and running
0:15:02 > 0:15:07and growing by performance around the British variety circuit.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10But Sullivan needed to break through, so switched track,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13moving Shirley into the London cabaret and club scene.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17I remember seeing her at a club, I am sure it was the Astor Club
0:15:17 > 0:15:20in Berkeley Square, and she was singing
0:15:20 > 0:15:24all very sexy stuff, quite innocent but suggestive stuff,
0:15:24 > 0:15:29and to be honest with you, she had some rough edges then.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32She was just starting.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34She didn't look quite right, she didn't sound quite right
0:15:34 > 0:15:38but there was something about her that made her different.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Watching her at the Astor was Jack Hylton,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46one of the biggest impresarios of the time, who asked Shirley to
0:15:46 > 0:15:49appear the next night at the famous Adelphi Theatre
0:15:49 > 0:15:53and then on Hylton's fledgling TV shows.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55This was Shirley's big break.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00She was now armed with her own signature song and first record.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03# Who's got a match for striking?
0:16:03 > 0:16:06# Don't say it all depends
0:16:06 > 0:16:09# Who wants to help me burn my candle
0:16:09 > 0:16:11# At both ends? #
0:16:11 > 0:16:15Burn My candle was deliberately full of sex and innuendo.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20Sullivan wanted an impact, wanted her noticed.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22# After he's sown wild oats
0:16:22 > 0:16:25# Who wants to take a chance and help me
0:16:25 > 0:16:27# Burn my boats? #
0:16:27 > 0:16:30This saucy single was duly banned by the BBC
0:16:30 > 0:16:32but while it stirred things up,
0:16:32 > 0:16:37her apparent innocence balancing the lewd lyrics, it didn't sell.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42# ..at both ends! #
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Commercially, it remained a safer bet to cover American hits
0:16:50 > 0:16:53so, with Calypso fever gripping the UK,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56she covered Harry Belafonte's huge chart topper,
0:16:56 > 0:17:01the Banana Boat Song, then left for New York and Las Vegas.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Shirley Bassey!
0:17:09 > 0:17:12There, Shirley enjoyed the Rat Pack company of Frank Sinatra
0:17:12 > 0:17:17and Sammy Davis Junior, but also experienced racial segregation,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21not even allowed to walk down a Vegas street with her white manager.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27Returning from Vegas, the Banana Boat Song was climbing the charts,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30reaching number eight in the spring of 1957.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35Shirley's first hit. Sullivan wanted to capitalise on the success.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37Shirley had been out of the country,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39out of the British press for a while,
0:17:39 > 0:17:43so a triumphant homecoming to Cardiff was planned.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48Coming off the train was so staged by Mike Sullivan,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50magnificently,
0:17:50 > 0:17:57with a huge open car and the children from the Rainbow Club.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01He got it all set up wonderfully,
0:18:01 > 0:18:07and had me there, helping to make sure of this big welcome for her.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12Shirley was upstairs and my mother was there, and they were waiting for her to come down and all
0:18:12 > 0:18:15the kids from Tiger Bay and the docks
0:18:15 > 0:18:17were waiting for her to come on stage.
0:18:17 > 0:18:23And my mother said she walked to the top of the stairs and stopped
0:18:23 > 0:18:29and my mother had the foresight to think, oh,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31she was in the presence of something regal
0:18:31 > 0:18:35and that she was waiting for a lady-in-waiting or something like that
0:18:35 > 0:18:38and so my mother went to the stairs before her
0:18:38 > 0:18:42to walk down, so Shirley immediately walked behind Mrs Sinclair
0:18:42 > 0:18:45and of course, my mother was the first to arrive on the stage
0:18:45 > 0:18:48and as she came out, everybody was screaming, "Shirley, Shirley!"
0:18:48 > 0:18:51And then along comes Shirley behind my mother, you know,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53the real star!
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Back in London, Shirley topped the bill in the Hippodrome.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02But sales of her new single flopped
0:19:02 > 0:19:06while her private life, always turbulent, turned violent.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08A boyfriend held her hostage at gunpoint.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16She fled to tour Australia, but the British press hounded her there
0:19:16 > 0:19:19about her so-called "secret" daughter Sharon.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26Returning to the UK in the summer of 1958, agent Sullivan
0:19:26 > 0:19:31once again conjures up publicity, even pretending Shirley was missing.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34With this and other devious tactics,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Shirley was soon back on stage in the limelight
0:19:36 > 0:19:39and then recording in quick succession
0:19:39 > 0:19:43the ballad As I Love You and the up-tempo Kiss Me Honey Honey.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47# Kiss me, honey, honey, kiss me
0:19:47 > 0:19:50# Thrill me, honey, honey, thrill me... #
0:19:50 > 0:19:54The single sells slowly, but then, Shirley appears on TV
0:19:54 > 0:19:57in Sunday Night At The London Palladium
0:19:57 > 0:19:59hosted by a young Bruce Forsyth.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03# Welcome to Sunday Night At The London Palladium... #
0:20:04 > 0:20:07And record sales take off,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11reaching number one and three in February 1959,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14the first Welsh artist to top the charts.
0:20:14 > 0:20:21And, now, I would like to sing for you the song that introduced me
0:20:21 > 0:20:24to number one position in the Hit Parade.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31# I will love you
0:20:31 > 0:20:40# As I love you all my life
0:20:40 > 0:20:43It was a number one out of nowhere,
0:20:43 > 0:20:44and rarely gets played these days.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47You will still hear Climb Every Mountain,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49or Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss me,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53there are some that will still get played, but As I Love You just came
0:20:53 > 0:20:54out of nowhere, was a number one.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Who bought it? I don't know. I guess the older people bought it.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01And there weren't as many shop windows then, of course.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05There were two or three TV shows that she might have been on,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08there weren't the big chat shows then, it was probably
0:21:08 > 0:21:13Sunday Night At The London Palladium watched by 20 million people
0:21:13 > 0:21:16and if one million bought it, you've got a number one.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19# As I love you... #
0:21:19 > 0:21:21With the stardom came confidence.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Shirley always felt overworked,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27bullied and exploited by Mike Sullivan
0:21:27 > 0:21:30and shortly after opening a new West End show called Blue Magic
0:21:30 > 0:21:32with Caerphilly's comedian Tommy Cooper,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36she sacked her ruthless but ingenious agent.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Her new husband Ken Hume
0:21:41 > 0:21:42took over managerial role
0:21:42 > 0:21:46as Shirley now enjoyed being part of a set of rising stars.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51Her new friends included Anthony Newley, who had his own TV show
0:21:51 > 0:21:53and co-wrote Goldfinger.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Then of course, I did an all-time winner, of course,
0:21:56 > 0:21:57which went something like this.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00# I'll never let you go
0:22:00 > 0:22:04# Why? Because I love you
0:22:04 > 0:22:11# I'll always love you so Why? Because you love me. #
0:22:11 > 0:22:13How about that, then?
0:22:14 > 0:22:18# I will love you
0:22:18 > 0:22:25# As I love you all my life... #
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Bond theme composer John Barry
0:22:27 > 0:22:30also had a close relationship with Shirley,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32asking her to sing Goldfinger
0:22:32 > 0:22:35even before their friend had written the lyrics.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39So, we go to John's apartment at 11 o'clock in the morning
0:22:39 > 0:22:40and we sit there, and John goes...
0:22:40 > 0:22:43# Dun! Dun-dun! #
0:22:43 > 0:22:47And we both went... # Wider than a mile... #
0:22:47 > 0:22:49which was not a good way to start a collaboration
0:22:49 > 0:22:51with a film composer.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56But Mancini had just won for Moon River the year before
0:22:56 > 0:22:57so it was also that era.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02Um... And then, we wrote this very weird lyric, but of course,
0:23:02 > 0:23:04we were hearing someone playing the piano,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08we did not hear that orchestration that was yet in the future.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11So, we took the tape, and the next day,
0:23:11 > 0:23:16we did it at my little apartment and gave it back to John.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20The next thing we ever heard was, "When are you going to come
0:23:20 > 0:23:22"and pick up your gold record?"
0:23:22 > 0:23:26MUSIC: Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey
0:23:29 > 0:23:34And I tell you, I just heard those opening bars and I got goose pimples.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43# Goldfinger
0:23:44 > 0:23:48# He's the man, the man with the Midas touch
0:23:51 > 0:23:53# A spider's touch. #
0:23:54 > 0:23:56It was an experience to do that,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59we were in the studio with 60 musicians.
0:23:59 > 0:24:06And I had to sing Goldfinger to what was happening on the credits,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08but we got to the end
0:24:08 > 0:24:12and the credits didn't seem to end and I had to hold this note.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14And it was like forever.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16And I was looking at John, I was going blue in the face...
0:24:16 > 0:24:18# ..finger... #
0:24:18 > 0:24:24No, he loves... # Go-o-o-o-o-old... #
0:24:24 > 0:24:28The credits are going, the credits are going and he's going... SHE MOUTHS
0:24:28 > 0:24:31At the end, I just... I nearly passed out.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33She liked John's simplicity.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35There was something about that
0:24:35 > 0:24:38because John was a very blunt Yorkshireman.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41He would say... When she said, "I don't how to do Goldfinger,"
0:24:41 > 0:24:45he said, "Just do the bloody thing and stop thinking about it."
0:24:45 > 0:24:49Goldfinger, if you read the lyric, it's a bit daft.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55It's a very unlikely lyric, but there it is. She made you believe it.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58She believed it when she was singing. She believed what she was saying.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01She was saying beware of this heart of gold.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03And she sang it with all the drama
0:25:03 > 0:25:08and she was a great actress in her conveying a lyric to people.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12She has a way of seducing you into the lyric.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15It is that come-hither,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18and you feel that lure of the forbidden about her, there is
0:25:18 > 0:25:22something about Shirley Bassey and Bond that is irresistible.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Goldfinger, the album, sold in its millions, reaching
0:25:26 > 0:25:31the top of the charts in America at the height of Beatlemania.
0:25:31 > 0:25:38# I like the free, fresh, wind... #
0:25:38 > 0:25:42Shirley had now reached superstardom both sides of the Atlantic.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Her return to the States was attended by Hollywood's finest.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49She sang for President John F Kennedy and back home for the Queen,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51beginning her record-breaking sequence
0:25:51 > 0:25:54of Royal Variety performances
0:25:54 > 0:25:57and a friendship with her Royal admirers.
0:25:59 > 0:26:00# Funny how I often seem... #
0:26:00 > 0:26:03In the '70s, Shirley Bassey flourished.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Now, with her family around her, two daughters and a second husband,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10she became one of the biggest stars on the planet,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13with more Bond movies, her own prime-time TV show
0:26:13 > 0:26:16and more record-breaking album sales...
0:26:18 > 0:26:23..as well as playing her part to perfection in a comedy classic.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29AUDIENCE LAUGHTER DROWNS OUT SONG
0:26:31 > 0:26:35The thing about Shirley's career which I have always loved,
0:26:35 > 0:26:40she has never been diminished, you never see her on one of those
0:26:40 > 0:26:44third-rate quiz programmes like so many people did.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48She was always remote. Great stars should be untouchable.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50Like Streisand. Those sort of people.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54And Shirley Bassey is very fussy about what she does.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57She doesn't just do anything and when she does perform,
0:26:57 > 0:27:01the orchestra has to be right, the rehearsals have to be right,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03she is a perfectionist and it shows
0:27:03 > 0:27:07and that's why her career is as strong now as it has ever been.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13In the '80s and '90s, she moved from being a star to being an icon.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Honoured as a dame, she was now a legend.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21# Aside set the little bits of history repeating... #
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Celebrated by a new generation of musicians and fans,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28culminating in a memorable appearance at Glastonbury.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31CROWD CHANT: Shirley, Shirley!
0:27:31 > 0:27:33CROWD CHEER
0:27:33 > 0:27:36'This strange thing took hold,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39'this electricity in the air, you know,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43'and I was away with it, I got caught up in it.'
0:27:43 > 0:27:46MUSIC: Big Spender
0:27:51 > 0:27:54# The minute you walked in the joint
0:27:54 > 0:27:58# I could see you were a man of distinction
0:27:58 > 0:27:59# A real big spender
0:27:59 > 0:28:04# Good-looking, so refined
0:28:04 > 0:28:08# Say, wouldn't you like to know what's going on in my mind?
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Shirley Bassey is the most successful British female
0:28:12 > 0:28:14chart artist of all time.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20She is also the oldest female person to chart.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24She charted with Get The Party Started in 2007
0:28:24 > 0:28:27when she was over 70, so she's the oldest one to chart.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29She's the most successful,
0:28:29 > 0:28:33she was voted in the Top 100 Greatest Black Britons,
0:28:33 > 0:28:35in the top ten, and of course,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Shirley then later got the Legion d'Honneur,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40she became a CBE, she became a dame,
0:28:40 > 0:28:44um, she got so many awards, she got the UNESCO Peace Prize.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47I mean, this for a girl dragged up,
0:28:47 > 0:28:49really dragged up on the back streets of Cardiff.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Born a diamond in the rough of Tiger Bay,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56over her 60 years in show business,
0:28:56 > 0:28:58Dame Shirley Bassey
0:28:58 > 0:29:01became a diamond the world will cherish for ever.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06# Diamonds are forever, forever, forever
0:29:06 > 0:29:10# Diamonds are forever, forever, forever
0:29:10 > 0:29:13# Forever
0:29:15 > 0:29:22# And ever. #
0:29:22 > 0:29:24Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd