Here's a look at Bassey's early career — from the mid-'50s to the '70s — and her unbelievably glamorous moments.
Bassey was born in 1937, and grew up in Cardiff Bay, Wales.
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She is of Welsh, English, and Nigerian descent. Here she is in 1955, the year her career began to take off.
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Bassey's first hit, "The Banana Boat Song" (1957)
Shirley in 1959, "preparing" a meal in her fancy new London home. She had her first child, Sharon, at age 17 in 1954
Image by Hulton Archive / Getty Images
