JK Rowling reveals how Shirley Bassey inspired 'Harry Potter' character

JK Rowling recently posted on her website Pottermore.com a short story about one of her favorite "off-stage" characters in the whole series who was inspired by singer Shirley Bassey.

The famous author, who celebrated singing witch Celestina Warbeck's birthday on August 18, said that Warbeck, was Molly Weasley's favourite singer and was mentioned in 'Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince', the Daily Express reported.

The 49-year-old author revealed that she imagined Warbeck, whose "glamorous witch" name she stole from a colleague years ago, to resemble Bassey in both looks and style.

The 'Harry Potter' author also mentioned that Warbeck, who went to Gryffindor and is nicknamed "the Singing Sorceress", had a wand made of larch and phoenix feather, which was similar to that of Harry.

Rowling added that Molly Weasley couldn't watch the magical singer perform with a backing band of performing banshees because of the cost of her tickets on the black market.