Shirley Bassey – Goldfinger

Shirley Bassey's life story reads like the American Dream - albeit lived in Cardiff - with a rise from a packer in a crockery factory to acclaimed star.

Thirteen years later, in 1964, she had long since achieved star status and sang the first of her three James Bond songs. Goldfinger. The film stars Sean Connery, Gerd Fröbe and Honor Blackmen and an Austin Martin DB5 and the scene in which Jill Masterson, played by Shirley Eaton, lies dead on the bed, completely gilded, is certainly one of the most famous film scenes in James Bond history. The film itself is considered one of the best James Bond films ever made and multiplied its shooting costs of 3 million US dollars. John Barry composed the music and the duo Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse contributed the lyrics, which at the time were not quite adult-friendly. Shirley Bassey then sang the song with her own powerful voice. The song almost didn’t make it past producer Harry Saltzmann, but as time was too short for another song, he finally accepted. The song made it into the top 10 in many countries and is still an iconic James Bond song today. The following version is a remix that was created during Shirley Bassey’s collaboration with Propellerhead. There are still tons of cover versions and recordings of the song. I like to use these to test speakers, as the dynamics and recording quality of this remix are sensationally good. The following recording from 1974 from the Royal Albert Hall can still be found on YouTube, for example.