She sang to live

The late, great "Shirley Bassey of Spain", our Patron Saint of Big Hair Señora Rocío Jurado would have celebrated her 80th birthday today. If you listen carefully, you will probably hear the sound of hundreds of thousands of Spanish queens across the world wailing, rustling their mantillas and knitting their rosaries as we speak - such is the adulation that the lady they called La más grande ("The Greatest") commanded.

After her death, her body was laid "in state" in her home village of Chipiona in Andalucía:

"...More than 10,000 people paid their respects at the local church, La Regla, where her body lay overnight. At the service, the Bishop of Jerez, Juan del Rio, described her as “a woman who enjoyed life, who sang to live.” Jurado was later buried at a private family ceremony.

In Madrid, 22,000 people are estimated to have paid their respects at a wake in the space of eight hours, amongst them film director Pedro Almodovar and musician Emilio Estefan. The Spanish film-maker said she had the “biggest voice in Spain” and described her as, “a generous, sincere and affectionate” woman. Estefan called her “a great singer and a great person”, while President Zapatero expressed condolences to the family of a “great artist”."

We can but hope to receive a send-off like that...

I have, of course, featured this magnificent lady regularly, but here are two of her emotionally-draining (and camp-as-tits) numbers, for your delectation:

Rocío Jurado - Señora

[Why she's singing to a stole is beyond me.]

Rocío Jurado - Ese Hombre

[Which could easily be mistaken for a Jennifer Saunders parody.]

María del Rocío Trinidad Mohedano Jurado (18th September 1944 - 1st June 2006)