Dame Shirley Bassey honoured with lifetime achievement award

23-Nov-2003 • Bond News

Welsh diva Dame Shirley Bassey has been honoured at the Welsh Woman of the Year Awards. The BBC have reported that the singer - known to Bond fans for recording three themes ("Goldfinger", "Diamonds Are Forever", "Moonraker") - was given the lifetime achievement award at the ceremony in Cardiff. She is the first person to ever receive the prize.

She said she was thinking of "packing it all in" but had now been made to change her mind.

"This year has been the most exciting of my career and to have this award to come at the end of the year is the icing on the cake," she said.

"There won`t be another award that will top this," she added.

The Western Mail Welsh Woman of the Year Awards were launched in 1994. Their aim is to reflect and reinforce the changing roles of women by celebrating their achievements and the value of their contributions to the stability of Wales.

Dame Shirley said she was so proud to return to Wales for the award.

She said: "I`m Welsh and to be nominated speaks for itself. I`m being honoured by my country, my home, Cardiff."

She was born on 8 January 1937 in Cardiff`s Tiger Bay. She said that becoming a well-known singer had been tough.

"I think it`s easier for girl singers now because of all the pop shows on television. They don`t have the chance to learn the art that I had to develop. They are instantly famous but it`s taken me 50 years and I don`t know if they`d last 50 days."