Book Club: Sunday 26 June

About the book
In 1954, Shirley Bassey was seventeen years old. She had just returned from a cheesy revue tour called Hot From Harlem. Depressed, disillusioned and four months pregnant, she decided that her dream of being a professional singer was over. A mere ten years later, she had sold more records than any other British singer of the day, and was poised to conquer America. Her latest hit Goldfinger, was the theme to the year's blockbuster James Bond film. No longer the two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff, she was by now an international sex siren, as glamourous and unreal as Bond himself. Today she is Dame Shirley Bassey, has sold millions and millions of records, her music is sampled in contemporary tracks and for many decades now she's lived in a European tax haven.

Book details on Amazon    Profile of Shirley Bassey

From the vibrant, multicultural oasis of Tiger Bay in the Cardiff docklands through the clublands of (London's) Soho and Las Vegas to New York's Carnegie Hall, it is a journey from mere mortal to international icon. Along the way she would encounter predatory managers, newspaper scandals, a homosexual husband, and a range of friends and acquaintances from Sammy Davis, Jr to Reggie Kray.

This is the story of a woman who set out to be extraordinary and - against all the odds - succeeded.

About the author
John L Williams lives and works in his hometown of Cardiff. He's the author of five works of fiction including The Cardiff Trilogy, (Bloomsbury) and assorted non-fiction, including his recent biography of the British Black Power elder, Michael X. He's a regular reviewer for The Independent and The Mail on Sunday, and the co-organiser of the Laugharne Weekend literary festival in west Wales.

On TV this week
Look out for Shirley Bassey on imagine on BBC 4 on Tuesday at 9pm it is a selection of her most famous songs, and followed immediately after, at 10pm by Electric Proms, which is the 2009 performance that she did to celebrate her 50 year career in showbusiness.

The reviews of the book
The Observer      The Guardian

Babylon Wales - Cardiff based blogger's review

Interview with Shirley Bassey - from autumn 2009

Initial thoughts
I am surprised to note that I actually bought this book not long after it came out, - but so far only flicked through it. I was fascinated by the debate that raged in the reviews of the content, the regular stance of the reviewer being askance at what the author/biographer has included, while repeating that particular juicy bit of previously unknown to a wider audience information.  Anyway it got me thinking about Shirley Bassey. Well-established before I was born, she's been very much a feature of my whole life. Not in a an upfront kind of way, but as a performer who other people - meaning the grown-ups of my youth - particularly admired. In the 70s and 80s she was one of the few black women on TV, and she even had her own TV series.

On the night before the royal wedding I was intrigued to hear in the background to a radio interview of some of the people sleeping out so that they had a good spot for the royal procession, a group of young girls singing Hey Big Spender. I reckoned that they had no idea who Shirley Bassey is, yet one of her most famous songs is part of their repertoire of group sing-a-longs. (Not enough room here to analyse the song and its selling of a good time from its 'available' black chanteuse. And young girls singing it on the eve of the first university educated princess about to never ever do a proper job in her whole life. Be assured we'll analysing this in depth at book club though.)

This is my second biography of this year, the book club has already read Colin Grant's book on Bob Marley and the Wailers, but as a rule I  don't buy biographies. I much prefer fiction or history. Surely you have to be pretty much a solid and serious fan to want to buy a music biography? In the past few days I have read profiles and interviews of/about a range of people - Dominique Strauss Kahn - not possible to avoid news about him this week; the former Friends star, Lisa Kudrow - her TV/film production company has produced the US version of the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are? that includes Spike Lee and Lionel Ritchie; the former editor of French Vogue Carine Roitfield; and about film director Lars Von Trier - no doubt that these are all people who'll have books written about them because they are of particular interest. But in these days of constant celebrity coverage, and instant information at the end of a search on the internet, who buys biographies? Why would you wait until a book came out?

Towards the end of last year a book club member asked me about Decoded, the memoir by Jay Z (I know I am muddling up genres biographies, autobiographies, memoirs - but bear with me.)  We'd both heard him interviewed on the Radio 4's TV programme and he was impressive, even though the interview was carried out in a tone mixed with awe and surprise that he was so focussed and eloquent.  I was pleased to have heard it, but I feel that I already know much about him because his achievements have been celebrated and discussed in a much more media/celebrity dominated time. Even having also read his interviews to promote the book, it would not make me want to buy it; and I note that a biography about him is scheduled for publication this summer.  It seems to me that a biography of someone like Dame Shirley, will be a far more rewarding read, since the context of her rise has not been considered to the same degree as someone younger like Jay Z - he has a bigger, wealthier and much more acquisitive following. I note also that the author, of Miss Shirley Bassey, has very generously thanked and credited the foremost historian of the black British presence Val Wilmer.  (She is also a very important Jazz photographer - Google her photographs.) This tells me that there will be a richness to this biography for readers of the book club, that the national press reviewers have overlooked.

Finally, this book totally intrigues me because a black woman on mainstream British TV singling out Diamonds are Forever - better than the love of a man -  in 1971! Isn't that actually quite radical? Definitely an opportunity to reconsider the early years and rise of Dame Shirley Bassey.

Meeting details: Sunday 26 June, 3pm Waterstone's Piccadilly branch on the 5th Floor.