Shirley Bassey Debuts First Studio Album in 20 Years at the Ritz!

Below is an excerpt from a press release regarding Shirley Bassey’s new record. I’ve been a fan of hers since my Dad first prohibited us from watching the beginning of every Bond movie because of the naked girls in the opening sequences. She crooned a record three times for Bond films in what are arguably still some of the best Bond Tunes ever produced: Goldfinger, Moonraker and Diamonds are Forever.

Later, I rediscovered her when she sang on Yellow’s album: One Second. I had purchased it for the track “Oh Yeah” featured in ‘The Secret of my Success’ and most notably ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.’ I was pleasantly surprised when I recognized the Bond Woman’s vocals.

Later on, I would collect some of her earlier work and most recently was caught purchasing “Let’s Get This Party Started:” a recent album of covers from the likes “Hello” from Lionel Richie to the title song originally by Pink.

Now she has a new album coming out produced by, the current Bond Composer: David Arnold with a song written specifically for her by John Barry (who was responsible for 90% of the Bond movie music before Arnold.

Press release follows:

Dame Shirley Bassey, Britain’s most successful female artist ever, is set to release her brand new album ‘The Performance’ on November 9th on Geffen Records.

The 11-track album is Dame Shirley Bassey’s first full studio album in over 20 years. David Arnold, the Grammy Award-winning producer best known for scoring five James Bond films has produced the album. ‘The Performance’ features songs written specifically for Dame Shirley Bassey, by a stellar cast of contemporary artists, including, Take That’s, Gary Barlow, the Manic Street Preachers, Pet Shop Boys, KT Tunstall and Rufus Wainwright.

The Dame is pictured below with some of the amazing collaborators as she celebrated the launch of ‘The Performance’ at The Ritz Last Monday.

Full tracklisting for ‘The Performance’:

1. Almost There [Tom Baxter]
2. Apartment [Rufus Wainwright]
3. This Time [Gary Barlow]
4. I Love You Now [Nick Hodgson]
5. Our Time Is Now [John Barry/Don Black]
6. As God Is My Witness [David Arnold/David McAlmont]
7. No Good About Goodbye [David Arnold/Don Black]
8. The Girl From Tiger Bay [Manic Street Preachers]
9. Nice Men [KT Tunstall]
10. After The Rain [Richard Hawley]
11. The Performance Of My Life [Pet Shop Boys]