Hello Astrid,

I’ve been meaning to write you for quite sometime now about this very informative and entertaining Shirley Bassey Blog. For me it is been the most diverse information on Dame Shirley since the termination of her fan club, which was overseen by Mr. Arthur Rugg. Being that I was her only South Carolina Fan on it too.

What can I say about the woman who is definitely the worlds greatest female vocalist, in my opinion because of her vocal range and overall diversity. Incredibly I was not always a  Bassey-fan.

Growing up in Bedford Sty, one of the hardcore black ghettos of Brooklyn-New York through the 60’s and 70’s who would have thought such a thing was possible. All around you was such despair and desperation, especially back then. The music of most blacks there was classic soul, and naturally I fell right in. My first love of female vocal was in Gladys Knight and the Pips. You could not tell me anything wrong about her Gladys Knight. To this day I still love her.

But just like young love and infatuations in real life I wondered a bit to others like: Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand, etc. Shirley Bassey was not originally a favourite, in fact I found her annoying. Maybe it was because my aunt Phyllis played her constantly in contrast to the other pop sensations of the time who dominated the radio stations up there. You see she was a devout Jehovah’s Witness and very selective about her life choices even in music. What a relief it was when she had finally played someone else. However one day while visiting her and attending some chores she played the “Life Love and Feelings” LP, and for the first time a particular song made me stop sweeping and stand still in the middle of the floor. The song “Natali” completely captivated me, and I was compelled to hear everything else on the LP. Truly, for a few weeks, I debated with myself if I should be ‘disloyal’ to the ‘black soul brother cause’ and buy it. This was in 1976, I was 16 years old and obviously still very immature. But something told me, ‘who cares if the ‘brothers’ don’t like it, I do and that’s all that matters’. It’s been a love affair with this lady, musically, ever since that day.

I have listened closely over the years to all the great pop female singers since then and even before. Without a doubt there have been many, such as: Dinah Washington, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Celine Dion, Sarah Brightman, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, etc… But none of the calabar as Dame Shirley Bassey. In the early 90’s, there did arise one lady with a clear power and range, but still lacking Dame Shirley’s diversity. The soul singer Oleta Adams, faintly puts you in mind of a soulful Bassey. Dame Shirley has described her self as a “classical pop” singer. Well without a doubt she knows what she’s talking about. I move that if titles mean anything, such as “King of Pop” , “Queen of Soul”, Dame Shirley is definitely the” Queen of Vocalist!” No one can take a song to a new dimension as she can. Classic examples are even in recent numbers she has covered as: Grace Jones’ “Slave to the Rhythm”, Pinks’- “Get the Party Started”, The Polices’- “Every breath you take”, Lionel Richies’- “Still” among countless others. True Bassey fans know where I’m coming from, but I just had to repeat it.

In the later part of 1985 I had the opportunity to meet her once outside of Carnegie Hall, and get an autograph with a kiss from her, I’ll never forget it. Mainly because it almost didn’t happen, my wife at the time was pregnant with our only daughter Brandice, and insisted that I go see her, since it was a rare event for her to come to New York but ever 2 or 3 years sometimes. So she had our cousin sit with her, and I went. Needless to say the concert was wonderful despite her own personal tragedy at that time. It turned out to be a cold night and many fans tired of waiting for her to exit the rear of Carnegie Hall as she usually had done years before. But I along with another guy waited for a couple of hours and finally we heard she had gone next door to the Russian Tea Room. So he got discouraged but I hung out talking to her limo driver at the time. About an hour later, a woman brought a gift in a bag with her name on it, and about another hour Miss Bassey appeared in the company of 2 huge body guards. Despite the fact they shewed me away, Dame Shirley allowed me to come near and the rest is my own history. Could you please be so kind as to play: ” Every breath you take?” And I wouldn’t mind if you shared this long note of mine on your blog.

Thanks again, Emmit Hall.