Shirley Bassey

I think men are afraid to be with a successful woman, because we are terribly strong, we know what we want and we are not fragile enough.

I don’t pop my cork for every man I see.

Diamonds never leave you… men do!

Who can wear the skimpiest outfit? I mean come on. These young girls are talented singers, they don’t need that, but they feel they have to be in competition to have the least covering. That’s the saddest thing.

It’s hard for a man to live with a successful woman – they seem to resent you so much. Very few men are generous enough to accept success in their women.

No wedding bells for me anymore. I’ve been happily married to my profession for years.

Just give a drum roll, announce my name and I come out and sing. I have a contract that says I’m a singer. So I sing.

What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?

The weird thing about bass is the simplest stuff to do is the hardest.

Jazz singing is like pornography. You can’t say what it is, but you know it when you see it.

It bugs me when people try to analyze Jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not, it’s feeling.

Music has to be accessible.

Jazz is an art that makes a person completely naked.

I can count on one hand the number of instrumental hits there have been over the last 10 years.

Jazz fans love Miles and I love him for a myriad of reasons, but the overviews are always too simplistic.

Jazz is restless. It won’t stay put and it never will.

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.

Those who were seen dancing were thought insane by those who could not hear the music.

Kinship doesn’t come from skin color. It’s in your soul and your mind.

My role in society, or any artist or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.