Shirley Bassey struggled as she climbed onto the shiny black-and-chrome motorcycle parked along the bank of the Rhine River in Cologne, Germany, to pose for photographers.

With her petite body wrapped in faded, tight-fitting jeans, a baby-blue turtleneck sweater and fur cape, Bassey did not look at all like the glamorous singer who, in more than 30 years in show business, has become as celebrated for the elegant gowns she wears on stage as for her magnificent voice. Nor did she look like a three-time grandmother.

.But then, age isn’t a factor for Bassey. At 54, she’s about to release a new album — her first in seven years — and she’ll be performing two shows in Germany at the end of March, followed by a lengthy tour of the United Kingdom in May.

"I’m just showing off," Bassey said of her outfit, a youthful twinkle in her eyes, as she sat before a roomful of reporters after the photo session.

Bassey certainly has no need to show off; her track record in show business speaks for itself. Since her debut in 1955 in a revue in London’s West End, she’s had 28 gold records and numerous hits, including Big Spender, Climb Every Mountain, I Who Have Nothing and — perhaps her most famous — Goldfinger, from the 1964 James Bond movie of the same name. She has sung for American presidents at the White House and for British royalty in London. And she continues to sing to packed houses around the world.

"I believe in glamour, and I think the audience loves glamour," she said. "I try to give them beautiful songs and a glamorous look, where women can say, ’Gosh, I’d love to borrow that gown.’ I think that’s the secret of Bassey."

Despite her success, Bassey has found out that you’re never too good — or too old — to learn something new or try something different. For the past three years she’s been taking lessons and doing vocal exercises, which have helped increase her range by half an octave.

"There are some songs on the new album that three years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed about doing because the voice wasn’t there and the courage to do them wasn’t there," she said.

Fans of Bassey needn’t worry that the album — scheduled for release in April and tentatively titled How Do You Keep the Music Playing — will be a departure from her usual sophisticated style. Though two of the songs on the album are by Elton John and the rock group Foreigner, she’ll be singing them her way, she said. "And then they will become my songs."

Since she began working on the album, Bassey said, she’s been keeping a close watch on the contemporary music scene. Though she enjoys such artists as Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and George Michael, she deplores much of what she sees on music television.

"I tell you, what they play today is a lot of crap. I see some of these kids who put a few words together with some music, and they make a video which is very bad. They’re surrounded by dancers coming and going and thrashing a bit. And there’s no performance.

"Whatever happened to good old-fashioned talent? I say, let’s bring it back."

Bassey herself came into show business the hard way. She was born in the Tiger Bay dock area of Cardiff, Wales, the youngest of eight children. Her mother was a Yorkshirewoman and her father a Nigerian seaman from whom, she believes, she inherited her penchant for living out of a suitcase."He was always traveling, never at home," Bassey recalled. "The only time he was at home, the neighbors knew that nine months later there’d be another baby."

Bassey always sang as a child but was so shy that she used to hide under a table to sing. At 14, she was persuaded to enter local talent contests. At 16, she left home and worked as a waitress before starting out on her singing career.

Show business has left is mark on Bassey’s life: She’s had two broken marriages, and the youngest of her three children committed suicide five years ago at age 21.

"If I’d known I would have to sacrifice my family life, I don’t think I would ever have gotten married and have children, and the suffering they went through and I went through," she said.

Bassey draws upon her experiences when choosing songs for an album or to sing in concert, she said.

"I like music that touches my soul, my gut. Those are the songs I look for. Because if they touch me, I know that when I sing them, they’re going to touch my audience. You have to feel the song in order for the audience to feel it."

Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that one of the songs ran her new album is Foreigner’s 1984 ballad I Want to Know What Love Is.

"I’d like to say to you I want to meet that special man in my life, but I don’t think there is such a thing," she said. "I just think that for a successful woman to have a one-on-one relationship with a man is pretty impossible ... because men find it very difficult to associate with a successful woman.

"A woman has to be tough to be out there in the world of show business. Sometimes, in the evening when you’re at home — even if you don’t want it to, it will creep out, and you tend to get the ’I’m the boss’ kind of thing. You don’t mean to, but it overflows from the business woman."