Any Shirley Bassey Fans out there?

[john]

The Living Tree is placed at no. 37 in the official charts.

[Lena & Harry Smith]

They don't hang about do they, There is already Seven or Eight of Shirley's "The Living Tree." on e-bay.
Michael Buble will be on Parky's show next Sunday morning, no doubt will be talking about his new album "Call Me Irresponsible" and you can see him on You Tube with "Everything"

[mariana44]

I just checked out Youtube---it is just a recording , with pics of Michael---but I really like that song.

But on Youtube I also spotted my favourite song "The way you look tonight" sung as a duet by Michael Buble and Sharon-a Philipeno singer--I just loved it!!

[Marian]

Just to confirm John's post earlier, and to show I got the official up to date chart this week "The Living Tree" is placed at 37.
Marian.

[mariana44]

Well done to Dame Shirley Bassey--in the charts again !

[ROBERT M.]

Marian, what is "oics" of Michael

[mariana44]

My posting has been duly corrected, Robert.

Thanks for spotting the error .

[Marian]

Robert has to increase his postings score in some way Marian!!!!!
He's on the brink of 2300

Marian

[mariana44]

Aha--I had not spotted that

[jon]

I'm not really a Shirley Bassey fan as I think I may have indicated before on this forum, but on Saturday "The Times" gave away a free CD of live tracks by various artists, one of which was Shirley singing "Where is the Love", the old Donny Hathaway hit, and I quite liked it. Johnny Mathis did a fine version of this song in 1972.

[Terence Lee]

Hi Jon

That version of "Where Is The Love" is the remixed one from her forthcoming cd "Get The Party Started" which will be released in June.

I was quite disappointed that The Living Tree only managed to get to no. 37 but I see from the charts that she beat Jamie T, Laura, The Wurzels featuring Tony Blackburn, Dada featuring Sandy Rivera & Trix and Arctic Monkeys all of whom have first week chart success like Bassey.

Michael Buble's Everything jumped from no.68 to 42 this week and Bassey still outperformed him. But she is an acquired taste and her niche of the market is limited. I don't expect the single to last long in the Top 40.

With the success of this single, Dame Shirley Bassey is the only artiste to enjoy hits in a 50 year span from 15 Feb 1957's Banana Boat Song to 29 April 2007's The Living Tree.

Congratulations to the Dame!

[paul jh]

Here is the commentary from "chart analyst" James Masterson:

"Finally for this week, it may not have wound up a massive hit, but the return of a legend is always to be appreciated. Dame Shirley Bassey arrives on the chart at Number 37 with new single 'The Living Tree', her first Top 40 hit since she hit Number 35 with 'World In Union' back in October 1999. The new single is classic Shirley, a John Barry-esque epic ballad which allows her still powerful voice to shine through above the intense string backing. 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of her first hit singles and whilst this chart placing will go down as a disappointment it is still good to see that the living legend can still make pop records that rank as good as anything she has done before. If only her rendition of Pink's 'Get The Party Started' from the Marks and Spencer adverts had been released, it was a smash hit waiting to happen."

Here is the sales report from Musicweek:

"Dame Shirley Bassey scores her 28th Top 40 hit, and becomes the first solo female septuagenarian to chart, debuting at number 37 this week with The Living Tree, on sales of 3,500. Ms. Bassey turned 70 in January but is three years younger than Hylda Baker was when she and 64 year old partner Arthur Mullard charted an abominable remake of You're The One That I Want in 1978. John Lee Hooker, the oldest male soloist to make the Top 40, was 75 when Boom Boom charted in 1992.

The success of The Living Tree extends Bassey's span of new hits - which started with The Banana Boat Song in February 1957 to more than 50 years, the longest of any artist."

[paul jh]

I'm pleased to report that Shirley Bassey reached #20 on the Official Physical Singles Chart. She did even better on the HMV Singles Chart where she is #13.

Here is the official physical singles chart:

1(2): Beyoncé/Shakira - Beautiful Liar
2(3): Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
3(5): Timbaland/Nelly Furtado/Justin Timberlake - Give It To Me
4(4): Ne-Yo - Because Of You
5(NE): Travis - Closer
6(NE): Mika - Love Today
7(1): Arctic Monkeys - Brianstorm
8(NE): Sunblock/Sandy - Baby Baby
9(7): The Proclaimers/Brian Potter/Andy Pipkin - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
10(8 ): Natasha Bedingfield - I Wanna Have Your Babies
11(11): Gwen Stefani/Akon - The Sweet Escape
12(10): Mark Ronson/Daniel Merriweather - Stop Me
13(NE): The View - The Don/Skag Trendy
14(12): Alex Gaudino/Crystal Waters - Destination Calabria
15(NE): Lostprophets - 4am Forever
16(6): The Enemy - Away From Here
17(16): Fergie/Ludacris - Glamorous
18(NE): The Wurzels/Tony Blackburn - I Am A Cider Drinker 2007
19(17): Ciara - Like A Boy
20(NE): Shirley Bassey - The Living Tree
21(20): P Diddy/Keyshia Cole - Last Night
22(15): Matt Willis - Crash
23(24): The Fray - How To Save A Life
24(9): Ash - You Can't Have It All
25(22): Fall Out Boy - Thnks Fr Th Mmrs
26(33): Take That - Shine
27(14): Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Weapon Of Choice
28(25): Meck/Dino - Feels Like Home
29(NE): Michael Bublé - Everything
30(18 ): Gareth Gates - Changes

[mariana44]

Oh dear--I would only have recognised half of those if I heard them on the radio !!

But I like Lily Allen's new one--and I liked her last one. that is about as "pop" as I go these days

[Marian]

I'd know very few of them too. I see you've cut Michael Buble down to size Paul
Marian