Shirley Bassey

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

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.

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.

I’ve found happiness in my work, but not in my private life. I had to take from my private life to make my public life successful. I had to make a lot of sacrifices. I was happy in Cardiff. I had a great time. Every Thursday there was a factory club; darts, dancing. I was happy until success entered my life, and then it was all downhill. Success spoilt me. It took away my happiness. My success became a barrier with my family. They couldn’t relate to me, and I couldn’t relate to them.

Diamonds never leave you… men do!

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.

I never wanted to be like other blues singers. I might like hearing them play, but I’ve never wanted to be anyone other than myself. There are a few people that I’ve wished I could play like, but when I tried, it didn’t work.

When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people.

I feel like….Music is the – it’s the answer. It’s the reason.

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

Jazz is letting everybody do his or her thing with the music.

A wise man practices slowly; but a wiser man practices even slower.

I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that.

But I have always suspected that one could substitute the Minuet of Haydn’s 98th symphony for the Minuet in Haydn’s 99th symphony without sensing a serious lack of coherence in either work.

I think you have to leave a lot to the imagination!

You know at an early age if you have a talent for music.

Just because I’m playing Jazz I don’t forget about me. I play or write me the way I feel through Jazz.

If everyone liked what I did, I probably wouldn’t be playing anything of depth.

One of the problems of people who live with pain is that they spend the whole day thinking about it, and it’s exasperating. But even when I am having a bad moment and I can’t get myself together, I get on stage and for an hour or two the pain becomes super-small. It’s about controlling the mind, telling the pain to step aside. Music does that. It’s the most fantastic drug in the world.

We never play anything the same way once.

In order to be honest with myself, I have to reveal more of who I am. This is a part of the improv process.