Made in Wales - Volume 3

This is Volume 3, of several, intended to provide information for Welsh people around the world - or for those around the world who are interested in Wales and 'things Welsh'.  The contents first appeared in, and I have now extracted them from, a website that I created a few years ago. 

Once the other Volumes have been posted, you should be able to jump from one Volume to another by clicking on the links included below.  Links throughout theses Volumes are appear thus:italicized, underlined, in purple

Volume 1 - Welsh Authors and Books
Volume 2 - Welsh Actors
Volume 3 - Welsh Singers
Volume 4 - Welsh Names
Volume 5 - Welsh Stuff to download
Volume 6 - Welsh and Wales - vial internet links
Volume 7 - Welsh Images

Volume 3 - Welsh Singers 

Q: Who is that?   A: Formerly known as 'The Girl From Tiger Bay', she has been elevated with the more honorable name: 'Dame Shirley Bassey'. 

That photo almost causes you hear that word 'Goldfinger' being belted out in her own powerful way. But, she is just one of many. It is why people call Wales: 

Cymru - Gwlad y Gan    -   Wales - Land of Song 

These are just some of Wales' renowned singers

Bonnie Tyler:     

         - born Gaynor Hopkins in 1951 in Skewen, near Swansea.

         - most famous song: 'Total eclipse of the Heart'

         - web-site: Bonnie Tyler

Mary Hopkin:   

        - born in Pontardawe, near Swansea in 1950

        - most famous song: 'Those were the days'  - by Paul Mccartney

Shirley Bassey: 

   

        - born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff in 1937

        - most famous song: 'Goldfinger' in 1964

        - web-site: Dame Shirley Bassey

Charlotte Church:  

       - born Charlotte Reed in Cardiff in 1986

       - most famous song: Pie Iesu (at age 11)

Tom Jones: 

      - born Thomas Jones Woodward in Pontypridd in 1940

      - if not his most famous song, certainly the most ordinary: 'It's not unusual'

      -  web-site: Tom Jones

Ricky Valance: ance: 

       - born David Spencer in 1939 in Wattsville, Mommouth.

       - most famous song: 'Tell Laura I love her' in 1960

Spencer Davis: 

         - born in Swansea in 1938 (my brother's school mate)

         - most famous record: 'Gimme Some Lovin'"

         - web-site: Spencer Davis        

    *************

Here's a Welsh-winner, from BGT (Britain's Got Talent) a few years ago. 

Aside from the incredible rendering of Nessun Dorma, by Paul Potts, you must watch the reaction of the audience and the judges - Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell: 

No segment about Welsh singing would be complete without referencing its National Anthem. You will find its words below, but to hear it sung, by a 45,000 or more passionate people - as here - at a rugby match in Cardiff - is the dream of all native-born Welsh people.

Talk about 'passion': From the same venue, in 1993, came this - from a choir of more than 8,000 male voices.

Let's hear YOU now!