Shirley Bassey consists of Shirley Veronica.
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE (born Shirley Veronica Bassey, on January 8, 1937, in Tiger Bay, Cardiff), is a Welsh biracial singer, perhaps best-known for performing the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger ( 1964), Diamonds Are Forever ( 1971), and Moonraker ( 1979). She is the only singer to have recorded more than one James Bond theme song.
Bassey was born to a Nigerian father who was a seaman, while her mother came from Yorkshire, Northern England. She grew up in the notorious working-class district of Tiger Bay, Cardiff, as the youngest of seven children. Her father left when she was just two years old.
Bassey went to Moorland Primary School, Splott, Cardiff.
Bassey first found employment packing in a local factory when she left school at the age of fifteen. She enjoyed singing while she packed enamel pots, and to supplement her wage she sang in local pubs and clubs. In 1953, she signed up for the revue Memories of Jolson, a musical based on the life of Al Jolson. She next took up a professional engagement in Hot From Harlem, which ran until 1954. By this time Bassey had become sick of show business and had become pregnant at 16 years old with her daughter Sharon, so she went back to waitressing in Cardiff. However, in 1955, a chance recommendation of her to Michael Sullivan, a Streatham-born booking agent, put her firmly on course for her destined career. He saw talent in Bassey, and decided he would make her a star. She toured various theatres until she got an offer of the show that put her firmly on the road to stardom, Al Read's Such Is Life. While she starred in this show, Philips A&R and record producer Johnny Franz spotted her on television, became impressed, and offered her a record deal.