1959 (Shirley Bassey recorded two wonderful songs about two great cities in this world, London and Paris, on her 1959 LP titled, 'The Fabulous Shirley Bassey.' This is 'Early Shirley's work at her finest. When Shirley first started in the business, her vocal pitch was full soprano, as you can hear on these two songs. Over the next 10-15 years in the business after she started back in 1953, her pitch began to settle somewhere between Alto and Mezzo-Soprano. Ms. Bassey's huge range in full belting voice allows her to comfortably sing the entire span of each pitch range, depending upon the song. In 2020, Dame Shirley is now in her 80's and has still retained her wonderful voice; it has aged like fine wine

ABOUT the LP, The Fabulous Shirley Bassey:
The Fabulous Shirley Bassey was Shirley Bassey's third studio album, her debut for Columbia, and was recorded with Geoff Love and his orchestra. The album peaked at #12 in the UK album chart in early 1961.

Released in 1959, this was the first studio album from Shirley Bassey with completely new material. Her two previous albums issued on the Philips label were collections of new recordings and previously released material, recorded between 1956 and 1958.

The album was issued in mono and stereo. In 1997 the Dutch company Disky Records issued a 2CD set entitled Original Gold, four tracks from the album "A Foggy Day in London Town", "April In Paris", "The Man That Got Away" and "They Can't Take that Away from Me" were included, all were previously unavailable on CD at this time. EMI at Abbey Road, London provided the mono masters, instead of stereo, for this release. Unlike other artists, such as Cliff Richard and the Beatles, EMI has not re-issued any complete Shirley Bassey album in mono on CD. The stereo version of this album was issued on CD in 1999 by EMI.

ABOUT the song, April In Paris:
"April in Paris" is a song composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg in 1932 for the Broadway musical, Walk A Little Faster. The original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin, and the 1952 remake (inspired by the movie of the same name) was by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, whose version made the Cashbox Top 50.

Composer Alec Wilder writes, "There are no two ways about it: this is a perfect theater song. If that sounds too reverent, then I'll reduce the praise to 'perfectly wonderful,' or else say that if it's not perfect, show me why it isn't."

It has been performed by many artists, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Bill Evans, Charlie Parker, Shirley Bassey, Coleman Hawkins, Frank Sinatra, Mary Kaye Trio, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Dinah Shore, Glenn Miller, Doris Day, Alex Chilton, Tommy Dorsey, Blossom Dearie, Wynton Marsalis, Sal Viviano, and Dawn Upshaw.

LYRICS - April In Paris:
April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom
Holiday tables under the trees
April in Paris, this is a feeling
No one can ever reprise

I never knew the charm of spring
Never met it face to face
I never new my heart could sing
Never missed a warm embrace

Till April in Paris
Whom can I run to
What have you done to my heart
What have you done to my heart

ABOUT the song, A Foggy Day (In London Town):
A Foggy Day" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress. It was originally titled "A Foggy Day (In London Town)", and is often still referred to as such.

LYRICS - A Foggy Day:
I was a stranger in the city
Out of town were the people I knew
I had that feeling of self-pity
What to do? What to do? What to do?
The outlook was decidedly blue
But as I walked through the foggy streets alone
It turned out to be the luckiest day I've known

A foggy day in London Town
Had me low and had me down
I viewed the morning with alarm
The British Museum had lost its charm
How long, I wondered, could this thing last?
But the age of miracles hadn't passed,
For, suddenly, I saw you there
And through foggy London Town
The sun was shining everywhere.

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