Manics, Barlow, pen Bassey tracks

Dame Shirley Bassey has collaborated with a number of artists on her upcoming album.

Writers for the record include Manic Street Preachers, Gary Barlow, Pet Shop Boys, KT Tunstall, Richard Hawley, John Barry and Don Black, the BBC reports.

Titled The Performance, the follow-up to 2007's covers album Get The Party Started will be produced by James Bond movie composer David Arnold.

Arnold said: "All these songs were just songs, until Dame Shirley Bassey sang them.

"There's something about a Bassey performance that can knock the wind out of your sails, make you laugh, make you cry, let you in on the joke or be led to a more exotic place."

The track 'Our Time Is Now' is the first song written by Barry and Black for Bassey since the 1971 Bond theme 'Diamonds Are Forever'.

Black said in a statement: "It's been quite a few years since 'Diamonds Are Forever', but that lyric still applies to Dame Shirley. She lustres on.

"Whenever the great Terry Wogan plays a Dame Shirley Bassey record, he says, 'She doesn't just sing songs, she bites lumps out of them'.

"I thought of Terry's words as I sat down to write these new songs for her. In other words, you have to give her some meaty emotions to sing about."

The Performance will be released in November.