1957 (Teenager Shirley Bassey recorded this song as one of the tracks on her 1956/1957 & first LP titled, 'Shirley Bassey - Born To Sing The Blues.' Shirley's first recordings were in 1955 & 56, and a few of these songs became singles, such as the song, 'Born To Sing The Blues.' Even as a teenager, anyone listening could easily see that Ms. Bassey had a huge voice waiting to happen. Over the years Ms. Bassey's voice has only gotten stronger, and in 2013, She will be celebrating 60 Years in the Music Industry. Most people will recognize Bassey for her three James Bond Theme songs, 'Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker' but it is her Huge/Powerful voice that has allowed her to crossover into many different genres of music, which as a result has kept her at the top of her game for almost 6 decades. Dame Shirley's latest POP CD, 'The Performance' was released in 2009. To this day, Bassey is still the largest selling female artist from the UK with over 140 Million records sold worldwide.ABOUT the LP, 'Shirley Bassey - Born To Sing The Blues'Born to Sing the Blues is Shirley Bassey's debut album, released on a 10" LP in 1957 by the Philips Records label. Long-playing records were newly introduced in the mid-1950s and the 10" album was briefly introduced as an album format. Within a few years the 12" album was the format offered to the record buying public, remaining so until the mid-1980s when the Compact Disc took the market by storm.Shirley Bassey had been signed, a year earlier, to Philips by Johnny Franz and had released three singles which failed to chart, including her debut recording "Burn My Candle (At Both Ends)". But 1957 would bring her first chart success with the top ten hit "The Banana Boat Song". Philips were not certain to which market Shirley Bassey should be directed. They had recorded her singing Great American Songbook standards, novelty songs and even the blues. The opening track from the album, the only one previously released, is the title song "Born to Sing the Blues". This track was one of the three singles issued in 1956, as the B-side of "The Wayward Wind". After a successful live performance of the song on British television, John Franz decided to present her in an album of traditional blues songs. Several of the compositions that appeared on the album were written by W.C. Handy, known as "Father of the Blues".ABOUT the song, 'St. Louis Blues'"St. Louis Blues" is an American popular song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style. It remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. It was also one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song. It has been performed by numerous musicians of all styles from Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith to Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. It has been called "the jazzman's Hamlet".[1] Published in September 1914 by Handy's own company, it later gained such popularity that it inspired the dance step the "Foxtrot".The version with Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong on cornet was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993. The 1929 version by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra (with Henry "Red" Allen) was inducted there in 2008.Special Thanks to Pieter and Astrid from the Shirley Bassey blog and all those who have provided wonderful pictures of Shirley!