Dame Shirley Bassey withdraws from Mandela concert

Washington, Jun 24 : Welsh singer Dame Shirley Bassey has been forced to withdraw from Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert due to health reasons.

Bassey had been admitted to hospital last month in Monaco, where she is living now, after her doctor was called in the middle of the night. She had to have an emergency operation to relieve stomach complications.

She is expected to recover from it, but she has been advised by her doctors to avoid travelling and has been forced to pull out of the show in London's Hyde Park.

"The dame is hugely disappointed and was looking forward to the show immensely," Contactmusic quoted her spokesman Paul Carey as saying.

"On the advice of her surgeon, Dame Shirley Bassey will now not be able to perform as scheduled at the Nelson Mandela 46664 concert.

"Dame Shirley has been advised not to travel at the present time, so as to aid her continued full recovery following surgery last month," Carey added.

Bassey, who is a native of Tiger Bay, Cardiff, had performed at last year's Glastonbury festival wearing diamond-encrusted Wellington boots.

The 71-year-old singer had made her chart debut in 1956, and the recording of the theme tunes Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker, has made her the only singer to have recorded more than one theme song for James Bond films.

After recording a remix of History Repeating with the dance duo Propellerheads in 1997, Dame Shirley won a new generation of fans.

ANI