Congratulations, Shirley!

In the United Kingdom, Dame Shirley Bassey has become the first female artist to claim a Top 40 album in seven consecutive decades. Congratulations, Shirley!

Notes Rob Copsey of Official UK Chart:

Dame Shirley Bassey goes out in style on this week’s Official Albums Chart as her new – and final – album I Owe It All To You sets an Official UK Chart record.

The [83-year-old] music icon’s new collection debuts at Number 5 on this week’s chart, marking her 35th Top 40 entry and highest charting album in 42 years, since 1978’s 25th Anniversary Album. (See Shirley Bassey’s chart history in full here.)

The entry gives Shirley the record as the first female artist to claim a Top 40 album in seven consecutive decades.

Shirley scored her first Official Albums Chart entry in 1961 with Fabulous Shirley Bassey. Unbelievably, of her 35 Top 40 albums, none have reached Number 1, but eight have landed in the Top 10.

The news comes a week after fellow chart icon Cliff Richard set a record as the first artist ever to score a Top 5 album in eight consecutive decades.

I Owe It All To You contains a mix of new songs and cover versions “handpicked to reflect [Shirley’s] incredible life and career.”

“My new album is a celebration of seventy years in showbiz,” the Dame said. “Seventy years of support from my fans and seventy years of music! I’ve trodden the boards of many stages and kicked up many a diamante heel! The songs I have chosen all feel very personal and connected to my life. I hope they will do the same for my fans.”

The title track and trailer single “Look But Don’t Touch” are the album’s original compositions, with the latter written by acclaimed songwriter Eliot Kennedy, whose credits include Spice Girls, Bryan Adams and Gary Barlow.

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Following is Shirley performing “You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet,” a track from her new album, I Owe It All to You.





Related Off-site Links:
It’s Brassy, It’s Classy, It’s Sassy: Dame Shirley Bassey’s New Album Proves She’s a One Woman Genre – Tim De Lisle (Daily Mail, October 31, 2020).
Review: Dame Shirley Bassey I Owe It All to You – Emily Severn (Celemix.com, November 13, 2020).
Dame Shirley Bassey Thanks Her Fans With Emotional “I Owe It All To You” – Paul Sexton (UDiscoverMusic.com, October 11, 2020).
At 83, Dame Shirley Bassey Is As Fabulous As Ever – Christian Allaire (Vogue, October 19, 2020).

For more of Shirley Bassey at The Wild Reed, see:
• Time of the Tigress
• The Living Tree: Shirley Bassey and Me
• The Rhythm Divine
• History Repeating
• Oscar Highlights 2013
• Quote of the Day – February 26, 2013
• Shirley, Shirley, Shirley!
• Happy Birthday, Shirley!
• The Sweetness and the Sorrow

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