THE LIVING TREE

Well, how many of you have listened to The Living Tree on the Surprise album and thought "That is a great song - and ssssoooooo Shirley Bassey - She would be fantastic singing that.???? " We have, many times. And so it was after a weekend in Monte Carlo, that Been and Nikki were about to hop into a cab for the heliport, when they remembered being told that The Dame herself lived in the hotel they were just leaving. It turned out that she didn't live there, but in fact worked out in the hotel gym four days a week. WHAT A DAME!! After a brief discussion, Nikki and Been rushed back to the hotel reception who told them to leave a copy of the album "Surprise" with the concierge. They did this, and added a note saying 'Dear Dame Bassey we think you would be fantastic doing track Three, The Living Tree,' scribbled upon it. Thinking nothing more of it, they left - bound for the grey skies of Heathrow.

In the meantime the concierge had indeed managed to get the note and the album through to The Dame. We owe that concierge big time and hope to treat him to dinner when we can afford to go back to Monte Carlo!

A couple of weeks passed and the workload of writing, gigging and the same old routine consumed Never The Bride once again. Until one grey Tuesday morning, Been opened up her emails expecting the usual invoices, bills, facts and figures, when the words "The Bassey Office" beamed out of the screen!!! Shirley Bassey had fallen head over heals in love with the song, playing it in her room continuously and was demanding to know who were the writers and who owned the rights to The Living Tree?!!

A month or so later Been and Nikki met The Dame herself!!! At a swanky London hotel the girl's were like old buddies as the scheduled twenty-minute meeting turned into forty minutes, one hour, an hour and a half, two hours!!!! The Dame loved The Living Tree, and not only was she going to record it, and perform it on Another Audience with Dame Shirley Bassey, it was going to be on her new album!!! The Queen of England herself was introduced to the music of NTB at The Royal Variety Performance on November 21st 2005, where The Dame performed The Living Tree as only the dame can!!!!

Last year Nikki and Been were invited to the recording of 'Another Audience with Shirley Bassey' at The London Television Centre, where The Dame sang with effortless power, elegance and all the other qualities that come with being the world's favourite Diva. Gold Finger, Big Spender were to name but a few of the anthems that graced our eyes and ears - but without a doubt, the best reception was for The Living Tree, which X-Factor's Louis Walsh even commented on at the after-party! The programme is aired Saturday 11th March 2006 on ITV1 at 9PM An accompanying DVD should be on sale soon afterwards. so please keep your eyes peeled for its scheduling - YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!!!!

The Living Tree (The Never the Bride version) can be downloaded from the NTB download shop (with free preview)