Monday, January 04, 2010

Music Monday ~ Diva....Diva !

Featured today, a pair of "divas" (or is it divae?) born within days of each other -4 January and 8 January 1937: Grace Bumbry, American opera singer, Kennedy Center honoree for 2009; and the UK's famous Welsh vocalist, Dame Shirley Bassey.

A similar natal chart isn't all these two ladies have in common. Both have African roots, Dame Shirley's from her Nigerian father; Ms Bumbry's background is African-American. Both have risen from modest circumstances to wealth, international fame and national honor.

Both charts are set for 12 noon as times of birth are unknown:

Grace Bumbry born 4 January 1937 in St. Louis, Missouri






















Dame Shirley Bassey born on 8 January in Cardiff, Wales, UK.



















What can I detect from their charts which might have set these ladies on a dizzying route to fame and fortune?

Both have Sun and Jupiter in Capricorn, close enough to be termed conjoined. Jupiter adds a lot of ooomph to staid and business-like Capricorn, with Mercury in Aquarius in both cases a lot of that "old-fashioned gal" Capricorn might reflect is wiped out and replaced by a forward thinking, somewhat rebellious side. Venus planet of music and the arts is in Aquarius too in Ms Bumbry's chart, but in Pisces for Dame Shirley, giving her a rather softer, less intellectual musical nature.

In both charts Saturn (ruler of their natal Sun) in Pisces sextiles Sun, a harmonious link which reflects good business sense, but with a compassionate edge. Planet of creativity, Neptune trines their natal Suns from meticulous Virgo - Capricorn and Virgo linked signify dedication to work and perfection.

There are several square and opposition aspects in both charts, representing the challenges these ladies faced in their early days.

The main differences in their natal charts will be Moon position and rising sign, neither of which we can be sure of without a time of birth. Dame Shirley's Moon at 12noon was in the first degree of Sagittarius - if born earlier than noon it would be in Scorpio, which I think is likely - she was always a very sexy singer!
Ms Bumbry's Moon will be somewhere in Libra - ruled by Venus, planet of music, very appropriate for her.

Grace Bumbry's natal Sun is, according to my software, conjunct Fixed Star Vega.
Vega is said to give artistic talents, especially in music and acting. That's the cherry on top for Ms Bumbry then!



For Shirley, made Dame Shirley by Queen Elizabeth in 1999, perhaps her cherry on top is Royal Star Fomalhaut conjunct her natal Venus.



A diva-worthy performance from each of the ladies:





4 comments:

anthonynorth said...

Dame Shirley is a British gem, and still going strong. She even headlined at Glastonbury a couple of years ago. She arrived in sequinned wellies.

Twilight said...

anthonynorth ~ LOL! Sequinned wellies? How very Diva!
Love it!

Anonymous said...

Watching these divaliscious videos totally made my day! Thanks.

Twilight said...

Anonymous ~~~ Good - I'm glad you liked them. I think I'll watch them again myself now, over a 2nd cup of coffee. :-)