Classical
007 songwriter Don Black backs Dame Shirley Bassey to perform one last James Bond theme
English songwriter Don Black is backing Dame Shirley Bassey to perform one last James Bond theme.
Don Black believes Dame Shirley Bassey should sing the next James Bond theme as a farewell to the franchise.
The Oscar-winning lyricist is responsible for co-writing the theme song to the fourth 007 film, Thunderball, with John Barry.
His association with the Bond film series continued over several decades, with him writing the lyrics to the theme songs for the 1971 movie Diamonds Are Forever and 1974 release The Man With The Golden Gun, as well as penning the lyrics to the end-title song Surrender for 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and the theme song for 1999's The World Is Not Enough with David Arnold, which was performed by Garbage.
Sean Connery as 007 in Thunderball / Credit: AVALON
Bassey, 89, holds the distinction of singing three Bond themes for the films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker (1979), and Black thinks it would be incredible if she were to lend her voice to the franchise one last time.
Speaking to Contact Music, Black said: "I've always said I think Shirley Bassey should sing them all because she’s so great at getting into that world, that world being provocative and luring you into the temptation of Bond."
Sharing his secret to a great Bond theme, he added: "The song at the beginning has to lure you in, so you want to know what happens next. And I always think it should be seductive and have a width of the boudoir about it."
Shirley Bassey performed three Bond themes / Credit: FAMOUS
Despite his proven track record, Black, 88, isn't throwing his hat into the ring to write the theme song to the next film, which will be the first made by Amazon MGM Studios.
And the songwriter doesn't think any artist should even contemplate penning a song until they know the title of the movie and have read the script.
He said: "The main thing is getting the script right. What’s the story? Then you worry about songs.
"There’s no title for the film yet, and no actor, no nothing."
Black also reminisced about working with Sir Tom Jones on the Thunderball song, and he revealed that as soon as he was informed that the Welsh crooner would be recording the theme, it changed his entire approach to the lyrics and the song.
He said: "As soon as I knew Tom Jones was going to sing it then I knew it had to be a muscular, manly song."
Don has returned to London's West End with the most ambitious incarnation of his show From The Heart - a musical revue of new songs and much-loved favourites which stars Frances Mayli McCann, former EastEnders actress Shona McGarty, internationally celebrated star Caroline O’Connor, Clive Rowe and West End and Broadway star Michael D. Xavier.
The show is Don's personal tribute to the New York cabaret scene that has inspired his remarkable career and acts as an extraordinary journey through his life.
Don admits he has been trying to get From The Heart on stage for the past 30 years, with 2025's run acting as a "sort of warm-up".
Black is considered to be one of Britain’s greatest ever lyricists, and he and late composer John Barry won the Best Song Oscar for Born Free for the 1966 film of the same name about real-life couple Joy and George Adamson, who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood and released her into the wilderness of Kenya.
Black's From The Heart: A Love Letter to Songs That Shaped A Lifetime runs at the Garrick Theatre in London until Sunday, October 18, with a surprise guest at every performance.
Tickets and information are available HERE
