Dame Shirley Bassey doesn’t spend Christmas with her extended family as there’s not enough room and she won’t sleep on the sofa.
The 78-year-old singer has a son and daughter, as well as grandchildren, and the family makes sure to find time for each other around the festive period. While they might not actually be together on December 25, they will have a celebration beforehand.
“Before Christmas I always take my family out for dinner at The Ritz,” she explained to Britain’s Hello! magazine. “I have grandsons who have girlfriends so there’s no room at the inn for me and I’m not sleeping on the sofa.”
Shirley is based in Monte Carlo these days, and that’s where she’ll spend Christmas. “I’m having Christmas lunch with my friends at the Hermitage in Monte Carlo and we’ll drink a lot of pink champagne,” she explained. “Then I go off to bed for the rest of the day, which is wonderful. I have very quiet Christmases now for my age. But to have a Christmas number 1 would be a present for all of us.”
2015 marks an extra special holiday season for the star as she’s already released a festive single, a version of The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) with proceeds going to charity. She hopes it does well, even if she finds it hard to listen to herself.
“I was signing it to myself and I did get emotional,” she admitted. “But you can’t do that when you’re singing because your tear ducts close up and nothing comes out. I remember my daughter made me cry one opening night years ago. I was so nervous, I thought I’d play with her to take my mind off it and she was so independent and busy doing her own things I felt left out and I went down to my bathroom and just cried, which was deadly. I got to the nightclub and my voice was gone.”
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