Dame Shirley Bassey is recovering from emergency surgery after being rushed to hospital with abdominal pains, it emerged today.

The iconic singer, 71, was admitted to a hospital in Monaco, where she lives, last week after calling a doctor when she fell ill in the middle of the night.

Her spokesperson, Paul Carey, declined to reveal further details of her condition but said the star remained in hospital after an operation for “stomach complications”.

"Doctors performed an emergency procedure and the Dame is making a good recovery and doctors are happy with her progress."

Her illness comes a year after she walked unscathed from an emergency helicopter landing. Stormy weather forced the singer’s pilot to make a sudden landing on college playing fields in Surrey, only narrowly clearing trees and power cables.

Made a Dame in 1999, she has been a music industry heavyweight since the late 1950s, when she made the Top Ten with Banana Boat Song before scoring two No. 1s hits with As I Love You and Reach For The Stars/Climb Ev’ry Mountain. She went on to become a James Bond star of sorts, after recording the theme tunes for Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker.

The Welsh-born singer found a new generation of fans in 1997 after recording an album, History Repeating, with the Bath band Propellerheads.

She wowed Glastonbury last year when she turned up to the rain-soaked festival clad in diamond-encrusted wellies and belted out two of her signature songs – The Lady Is A Tramp and Hey Big Spender.

She is expected to recover in time to perform at next month's Nelson Mandela 90th birthday concert in Hyde Park.

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