Miss Shirley Bassey [Paperback]

"Who is Shirley Bassey?" - that is the question posed by this superb biography. Shirley Veronica came into this world, her mother's tenth child, above a brothel in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, struggled heroically through a dirt-poor, cramped and viewless youth to become an international icon. The biography discloses a profoundly unsettling truth - her natural father was deported to Nigeria after being found guilty of repeatedly raping an underage girl. Against this deprivation and darkness, John Williams shows the indomitable spirit that allowed the girl from Tiger Bay to transcend her origins. As a teenager, she performed in a sleazy world of minstrel shows and small jazz cafes (Williams brilliantly evokes this seamy side of mid-century British culture). Singing gave her a vision far above the prospects of factory work or even casual prostitution that presented themselves to girls of her colour and class in Cardiff's docklands. At 17, she made a life-defining decision. Pregnant when abortion was neither a financial nor socially acceptable option, she put her ambitions first by giving over her baby to a sister to bring up as her own. She then made the journey to London, where as a self-styled `blues singer' she was rebranded as `a sex kitten'. She lived up to both billings and with the onset of fame came a bizarre succession of paramours: Terence `Pepe' Davies who held her at gunpoint in a hotel room before shooting himself in the leg, the recently-deceased composer John Barry, the wildly eccentric actor Peter Finch, and Kenneth Hume, her homosexual first husband (Shirley briefly separated from Hume when she discovered him in bed with her chauffeur). But private chaos did not affect the public persona: initially titillating, her performances became those of an untouchable goddess. `Goldfinger' saw her voice soar into the stratosphere, along with the singer herself who effectively steps of the stage of history in the mid-1960s to become a creation no less superhuman and remote than Bond himself. Williams smartly ends when `Shirley' became the brand and the brand became `Bassey'. We know the rest and the rest is a postmodern diva myth. This is a wonderful book, adorned with deathless period photographs of Shirley at her most alluring. It is also rich in detail both charming and disturbing - Shirley had to remove her bra to hit the lung-burstingly high note on `Goldfinger': racism was so virulent in the U.S. when Shirley first toured, that a hotel swimming pool was drained and washed after, her friend, Sammy Davis, Jr had plunged into it. As the book closes, Williams acknowledges that he may not a definitive answer as to `who is Shirley Bassey?' but he has certainly taken us closer to understanding the question.

A most enjoyable book. Documents Shirley Bassey's rise from humble origins to star performer and recording artist. Initial press reports of the book emphasized a sensational revelation of the book, concerning her father, but that is unfair. The book is a well-written and well-organized biography. The early part of the book shows that the author, a native Cardiffian, is interested in the history of his (and Shirley's) hometown and provides a vivid context of the world Shirley was born into and grew up in. The book ends in 1967, with the death of her first husband (whom she had divorced, but continued to be involved with her career). Williams argues that this was the end of Shirley's aspirations for a film and theatre career. He doesn't have an interest in delving into the Shirley Bassey of "endless tours and TV specials and chat-show sofas"...that she is "curiously constant through the seventies and eighties and nineties and noughties." Perhaps he's right. As an example, Eric Clapton's autobiography was fascinating in the early years and middle years, but became just a little boring after that. Perhaps what is most interesting is the beginning and the rise--the struggle to become a star. On the other hand, Bassey made a remarkable "comeback" in the early 1970s as the popularity of traditional pop faded (Williams notes this in his book--the Beatles, The British Invasion). The early 70s has Bassey recording some of her most beloved albums, such as 'Something', 'Something Else', and 'I Capricorn'. This transition from tradtional pop star to contemporary pop star I would have found most interesting. We could learn the difference in studio recording, tour management, and artist management from mid 1950s England to early 1970s California. But 'Miss Shirley Bassey' is successful at showing us the beginning, the rise, in a most entertaining and interesting way.

Having grown up with Shirley in the Splott area of Cardiff Im finding the book very interesting. It mentions the schools we attended and, Boy! could Shirley take care of herself and had no fear of the teachers ruler! Her love of singing led her to where she is now,at the top. Im halfway through the book and loving it!