The iconic singer Dame Shirley Bassey has announced the release of her first studio album in five years. To be entitled Hello Like Before, the new record will be released on November 17th.

Shirley Bassey new album
Dame Shirley Bassey will release her first album in five years next month

Hello Like Before will consist entirely of versions of old songs from the twentieth century, most of which were originally performed by other artists but in some cases re-recordings of some of Bassey’s own tracks. For instance ‘Goldfinger’, unquestionably her signature song, makes an appearance on the tracklisting in a new form.

Elsewhere, she tackles Sting’s ‘Englishman In New York’, The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’ and Frank Sinatra’s ‘It Was A Very Good Year’, in addition to covers of ‘MacArthur Park’, ‘Wild Is The Wind’ and ‘Fever’. There’s also a duet with Paloma Faith on ‘Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend’.

According to the press release circulated, the album’s scope is to analyse and showcase some of the influences that moulded Bassey’s style throughout her career. It’s also an entertaining opportunity to hear some classics given the Bassey storm und drang treatment.

It will be the first record that Bassey has released since 2009’s The Performance, produced by English film composer David Arnold, which was itself her first record of entirely new material in over thirty years. Bassey has experienced a resurgence of interest ever since she performed at Glastonbury in 2007 in the high profile ‘legends spot’ on the Sunday afternoon of the festival.

More: Dame Shirley Bassey snapped at the Oscars with Adele and Barbra Streisand

Concepts such as this, of taking a look back at a star’s career and tracking their influences through covers and duets with other musicians, have done well for established stars in recent times. Smokey Robinson recently released a successful album where he revisited some of his old songs with the help of twenty-first century performers, and Barbra Streisand’s Partners, consisting of duets with male stars, reached the top the Billboard charts last month.