(CNN) — To the wonderful array of characters and names in the “Harry Potter” universe — Ron Weasley, Dolores Umbridge, Bellatrix Lestrange, Cornelius Fudge and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named — add yet another getting a shot at the spotlight: Celestina Warbeck.
Warbeck isn’t a completely new character. In a note on Pottermore.com (sign-up required), author J.K. Rowling mentions that the “Singing Sorceress,” as she is known, has made occasional off-stage appearances in the Potter books and in a “Daily Prophet” series done for the Potter fan club.
But she gets a full profile, along with a performance of her hit “You Stole My Cauldron but You Can’t Have My Heart,” on the Potter website.
“Celestina is one of my (favorite) ‘off-stage’ characters in the whole series, and has been part of the Potter world ever since its inception,” Rowling wrote. “I always imagined her to resemble Shirley Bassey in both looks and style.”
Bassey is best known in America for singing the theme songs to the James Bond films “Goldfinger,” “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Moonraker.”
Rowling said that the first name came from an old co-worker. ” ‘Celestina’ was simply begging to be scooped up and attached to a glamorous witch,” the author wrote.
In the profile, Rowling describes Warbeck as a Welsh prodigy whose mother “bombarded” Hogwarts with letters to promote her daughter with various performing arts groups.
She became a huge star.
“Three devoted fans were involved in a nasty three-broom pile up over Liverpool while trying to reach the last night of her ‘Flighty Aphrodite’ tour, and her tickets often appear on the black market at vastly inflated prices,” Rowling wrote. Warbeck is Molly Weasley’s favorite singer.
Warbeck has eight homes, has been married three times and is capable of “drown(ing) out a chorus of banshees.” Her music can, of course, be heard at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort.
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