Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV programme
Britain's Got TalentThe 2009 series of Britain's Got Talent was the third series of the programme. It began airing on ITV on 11 April. The 2009 panel of judges consisted of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan...
on 11 April 2009, singing "
I Dreamed a Dream"I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from the musical Les Misérables. It is a solo that is sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with orchestrations by John Cameron...
" from . Her first album was released in November 2009 and debuted as the number one best-selling CD on charts around the globe.
Global interest in Boyle was triggered by the contrast between her powerful
mezzo-sopranoA mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
voice and her plain appearance on stage. The juxtaposition of the audience's first impression of her, with the standing ovation she received during and after her performance, led to an international media and internet response. Within nine days of the audition, videos of Boyle—from the show, various interviews and her 1999 rendition of "Cry Me a River"—had been watched over 100 million times. Her audition video has been viewed on the internet several hundred million times. Despite the sustained media interest she later finished in second place in the final of the show behind dance troupe
DiversityDiversity are an English street dance troupe based in London. They are best known for winning the third series of Britain's Got Talent, famously beating Susan Boyle in the live final. They also won the Families United Positive Role Models at the Spirit of London Awards. The group, initially known...
.
Boyle's debut album,
I Dreamed a DreamI Dreamed a Dream is the debut album from Scottish singer Susan Boyle. It was released on 23 November 2009 by Syco Music in the United Kingdom, and by Columbia Records in the United States one day later. In the standard edition, 11 out of the 12 songs that appear on the album are cover songs, plus...
(2009) remains as the UK best-selling debut album of all time, beating previous record holder,
SpiritSpirit is the debut album by British singer Leona Lewis, released by Syco Music in November 2007 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, followed by a worldwide release during early 2008...
by
Leona LewisLeona Louise Lewis is a British singer and songwriter. Lewis first came to prominence in 2006 when she won the third series of the British television series The X Factor....
. I Dreamed a Dream is ranked fourth in its first week sales according to the Official Chart Company in the United Kingdom. In her first year of fame, Boyle made a fortune of £5 million with the release of I Dreamed a Dream and its lead off singles, "
I Dreamed a Dream"I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from the musical Les Misérables. It is a solo that is sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with orchestrations by John Cameron...
" and "Wild Horses". The success was continued with her second album,
The GiftThe Gift is the second album by Scottish singer Susan Boyle, which was released on 8 November 2010. Boyle hinted that the album has a 1960s feel "because that was [her] era".-Background:...
(2010), and was followed by Boyle's third album,
Someone to Watch Over Me*The album is also available in a Special Edition that features a bonus DVD with music videos of the songs "You Have to Be There", "Unchained Melody", "Autumn Leaves", and "Perfect Day".-Charts:-Release history:...
, released on 31 October 2011.
Early life and childhood (1961–2008)
Boyle was born in
Blackburn, West LothianBlackburn is a town in West Lothian, Scotland next to Bathgate and five miles from Livingston. It is situated about from Edinburgh along the old A8 road between Edinburgh and Glasgow.- History :...
, Scotland, to Patrick Boyle, a miner, World War II veteran and singer at the Bishop's Blaize, and Bridget, a
shorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
typist, who were both immigrants from
County DonegalCounty Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland. She was the youngest of four brothers and six sisters. Born when her mother was 47, Boyle was briefly deprived of oxygen during the difficult birth and was later diagnosed as having
learning difficultiesLearning disability is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors...
. Boyle says she was bullied as a child and was nicknamed "Susie Simple" at school.
After leaving school with few qualifications, she was employed for the only time in her life as a trainee cook in the kitchen of
West Lothian CollegeWest Lothian College is a further education institution in West Lothian, Scotland. It has been located in Livingston since July 2001, with its previous campus located in Bathgate from 1965 until 1999...
for six months, took part in government training programmes, and performed at a number of local venues. Boyle still lives in the family home, a four-bedroom
council houseA council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
in Blackburn, with her 10-year-old cat, Pebbles. Her father died in the 1990s, and her siblings had left home. Boyle never married, and she dedicated herself to care for her ageing mother until she died in 2007 at the age of 91. Boyle has a reputation for modesty and propriety, admitting during her first appearance on Britain's Got Talent that she had "never been married, never been kissed". A neighbour reported that when Bridget Boyle died, her daughter "wouldn't come out for three or four days or answer the door or phone." Boyle is a practising Roman Catholic and sang in her church choir at her church in Blackburn. Boyle remains active as a volunteer at her church, visiting elderly members of the congregation in their homes. On a 2010 episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Boyle summarised that her daily life was "mundane" and "routine" prior to stardom.
Boyle took singing lessons from voice coach Fred O'Neil. She attended Edinburgh Acting School and took part in the
Edinburgh FringeThe Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
. Prior to Britain's Got Talent, her main experience had come from singing in her local Catholic church, Our Lady of Lourdes; in local choirs; and in
karaokeis a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
performances at pubs in and around her village. She had also auditioned several times for
My Kind of PeopleMy Kind of People is an ITV television show presented by British entertainer Michael Barrymore broadcast in 1995. Barrymore travelled around the country in his customised sports car visiting shopping centres, amateurs performed on a stage for the programme unrehearsed.Some acts were simply shown...
. She has also long participated in her parish church's pilgrimages to the
Knock ShrineKnock Shrine is a major Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and National Shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where it is claimed there was an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist and Jesus Christ in 1879.-Details of the apparition:On the...
,
County MayoCounty Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
, Ireland, and has sung there at the Marian
basilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
.
Her repertoire through the years has included songs such as "
The Way We Were"The Way We Were" is the title song to the 1973 movie The Way We Were, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. The song was written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman, scored by Marvin Hamlisch and performed by Streisand...
" and "
I Don't Know How to Love Him"I Don't Know How to Love Him" is a song from the 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice , a torch ballad sung by the character of Mary Magdalene who in Jesus Christ Superstar is presented as bearing an unrequited love for the title character...
." British tabloids claimed "exclusives" of video clips of some early performances. In 1995, her audition for
Michael BarrymoreMichael Kieron Parker , better known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is a British comedian who appeared as a presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s and 1990s. These included Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People, My Kind of Music and Kids Say...
's
My Kind of PeopleMy Kind of People is an ITV television show presented by British entertainer Michael Barrymore broadcast in 1995. Barrymore travelled around the country in his customised sports car visiting shopping centres, amateurs performed on a stage for the programme unrehearsed.Some acts were simply shown...
at the
Olympia Shopping CentreEast Kilbride Shopping Centre is Scotland's largest undercover shopping centre at 106,030 sq m and is situated in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Greater Glasgow.The centre is made up of 6 different malls...
in
East KilbrideEast Kilbride is a large suburban town in the South Lanarkshire council area, in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland. Designated as Scotland's first new town in 1947, it forms part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation...
was filmedthe amateur video shows Barrymore was more interested in mocking her than in her ability to sing.
In 1999, she recorded a track for a charity CD to commemorate the Millennium produced at a West Lothian school. Only 1,000 copies of the CD, Music for a Millennium Celebration, Sounds of West Lothian, were pressed. An early review in the
West Lothian Herald & PostThe West Lothian Herald & Post is a weekly Scottish freesheet that delivers to households in Livingston, Linlithgow, Bathgate, Broxburn and surrounding areas....
said Boyle's rendition of "Cry Me a River" was "heartbreaking" and "had been on repeat in my CD player ever since I got this CD..." The recording found its way onto the internet following her first televised appearance and the
New York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
said it showed that Boyle was "not a one trick pony."
Hello!Hello is a weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news and human-interest stories, published in the United Kingdom since 1988. Hello is sister magazine to ¡Hola!, the Spanish weekly magazine launched in Spain in 1944...
said the recording "cement[ed] her status" as a singing star.
In 1999, Boyle used all her savings to pay for a professionally cut demo, copies of which she later sent to record companies, radio talent competitions, local and national TV. The demo consisted of her versions of "Cry Me a River" and "
Killing Me Softly with His Song"Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a 1971 song composed by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. It has been covered by numerous artists, most notably by Roberta Flack whose version topped the U.S...
"; the songs were uploaded to the Internet after her BGT audition.
After Boyle won several local singing competitions, her mother urged her to enter Britain's Got Talent and take the risk of singing in front of an audience larger than her parish church. Former coach O'Neil said Boyle abandoned an audition for
The X FactorThe X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...
because she believed people were being chosen for their looks. She almost abandoned her plan to enter Britain's Got Talent believing she was too old, but O'Neil persuaded her to audition nevertheless. Boyle said that she was motivated to seek a musical career to pay tribute to her mother. Her performance on the show was the first time she had sung in public since her mother died.
Britain's Got Talent (2008–2009)
In August 2008, Boyle applied for an audition for the third series of Britain's Got Talent (as contestant number 43212) and was accepted after a preliminary audition in Glasgow. When Boyle first appeared on Britain's Got Talent at the city's
Clyde AuditoriumThe Clyde Auditorium, familiarly known as "The Armadillo", is an iconic concert venue in Glasgow, Scotland. The building sits on the site of the now infilled Queen's Dock on the River Clyde, adjacent to the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre....
, she said that she aspired to become a professional singer "as successful as
Elaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
". Boyle sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables in the first round of the
third series of Britain's Got TalentThe 2009 series of Britain's Got Talent was the third series of the programme. It began airing on ITV on 11 April. The 2009 panel of judges consisted of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan...
, which was watched by over 10 million viewers when it aired on 11 April 2009. Programme judge
Amanda HoldenAmanda Louise Holden is an English actress and presenter. Among her roles are Mia Bevan in Cutting It, Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart, and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award...
remarked upon the audience's initially cynical attitude, and the subsequent "biggest wake-up call ever" upon hearing her performance.
This performance was widely reported and tens of millions of people viewed the video on YouTube. Boyle was "absolutely gobsmacked" by the strength of this reaction. Boyle is aware that the audience on Britain's Got Talent was initially hostile to her because of her appearance, but she has refused to change her image. Since the appearance, Paige has expressed interest in singing a duet with Boyle, and has called her "a role model for everyone who has a dream". Boyle's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" has been credited with causing a surge in ticket sales in the Vancouver production of Les Misérables.
Cameron MackintoshSir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
, the producer of the Les Misérables musical, also praised the performance, as thrilling and uplifting".
She was one of 40 acts that were put through to the semi-finals. She appeared last on the first semi-final on 24 May 2009, performing "Memory" from the musical
CatsCats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
. In the public vote she was the act to receive the highest number of votes and go through to the final. She was the clear favourite to win the final, but ended up in second place to
DiversityDiversity are an English street dance troupe based in London. They are best known for winning the third series of Britain's Got Talent, famously beating Susan Boyle in the live final. They also won the Families United Positive Role Models at the Spirit of London Awards. The group, initially known...
; the UK TV audience was a record of 17.3 million viewers.
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) became concerned by press reports about Boyle's erratic behaviour and speculation about her mental condition and wrote to remind editors about clause 3 (privacy) of their code of press conduct. The day after the final, Boyle was admitted to
The PrioryThe Priory Group is an independent provider of mental health care facilities in the United Kingdom. They also manage schools, some for students with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism...
, a private psychiatric clinic in London, TalkbackThames explained "Following Saturday night's show, Susan is exhausted and emotionally drained." Her stay in hospital attracted widespread attention, with Prime Minister
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
wishing her well. Cowell offered to waive Boyle's contractual obligation to take part in the BGT tour. Her family said "she's been battered non-stop for the last seven weeks and it has taken its toll [...but...] her dream is very much alive," as she had been invited to the
Independence DayIndependence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
celebrations at the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
.
Boyle left the clinic five days after her admission and said she would participate in the BGT tour. Despite health worries, she appeared in 20 of the 24 dates of the tour, and was well received in cities such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dublin, Sheffield, Coventry, Birmingham and London. The Belfast Telegraph said "Despite reports of crumbling under the pressure..., she exuded a confidence resembling that of a veteran who has been performing for years".
I Dreamed a Dream and tour (2009–2010)
Boyle's first album,
I Dreamed a DreamI Dreamed a Dream is the debut album from Scottish singer Susan Boyle. It was released on 23 November 2009 by Syco Music in the United Kingdom, and by Columbia Records in the United States one day later. In the standard edition, 11 out of the 12 songs that appear on the album are cover songs, plus...
, was released on 23 November 2009. The album includes covers of "Wild Horses" and "
You'll See"You'll See" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her ballads compilation Something to Remember . The album was released with the intention of tone down the image of Madonna, who was being heavily criticized at the time. The singer decided to work with producer David Foster, who...
" as well as "I Dreamed a Dream", and "Cry Me a River". I Dreamed a Dream became Amazon.com's best-selling album in pre-sales on 4 September 2009, three months before the scheduled release.
In Britain, Boyle's debut album was recognised as the fastest selling UK debut album of all time selling 411,820 copies, beating the previous fastest selling debut of all time,
SpiritSpirit is the debut album by British singer Leona Lewis, released by Syco Music in November 2007 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, followed by a worldwide release during early 2008...
by
Leona LewisLeona Louise Lewis is a British singer and songwriter. Lewis first came to prominence in 2006 when she won the third series of the British television series The X Factor....
. I Dreamed a Dream also outsold the rest of the top 5 albums combined in its first week.
In the U.S., the album sold 701,000 copies in its first week, the best opening week for a debut artist in over a decade. It topped the Billboard chart for six straight weeks and although it narrowly failed to become the best-selling album of 2009, with sales of 3,104,000 compared to 3,217,000 for
Taylor SwiftTaylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...
's
FearlessFearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...
, it was one of only two albums to sell over 3 million copies in the U.S., and was also the top selling "physical" album of 2009, with only 86,000 of its sales coming from
digital downloadA music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
s. This has in turn garnered more media attention, as mentioned by
PeopleIn 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine.
In Italy, it was the first album of the month in the Italian No. 1 Account by a non-Italian artist ever. In only a week, it sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, becoming the fastest selling global female debut album.
Boyle gave a U.S. concert tour in November as a lead-up to the album release. On 13 December 2009 she appeared in her own television special "I Dreamed a Dream: the Susan Boyle Story", featuring a duet with Elaine Paige. It got ratings of 10 million viewers in the United Kingdom and in America was the TV Guide Network's highest rated television special in its history.
In November 2009 it was reported that Boyle's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" would be the theme song of the anime movie
Eagle TalonThe Eagle Talon was one of three model names given to a sports coupe that was manufactured between 1990 and 1999 and sold by the then Chrysler Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors of Japan in a joint 50/50 corporate venture known as Diamond-Star Motors...
The Movie 3 which was later released in Japan on 16 January 2010. Boyle performed for
Pope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
on his tour of Britain in 2010. In May 2010, Susan Boyle was voted by
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine as the seventh most influential person in the world.
The Gift (2010–2011)
On 9 July 2010, Boyle announced that her second album would be a Christmas album entitled
The GiftThe Gift is the second album by Scottish singer Susan Boyle, which was released on 8 November 2010. Boyle hinted that the album has a 1960s feel "because that was [her] era".-Background:...
. As part of the lead up to the album, she held a competition called Susan's Search, the winner of which sang a duet with her on her new CD. The album was released on 8 November 2010.
The album was produced by
Steve MacSteve Mac , is a songwriter, record producer and owner of Rokstone Studios in London.He has produced more than 22 number one singles in the UK and had several multi-million selling albums worldwide...
, who said that "Now Susan's used to the studio and the recording process, this time round we might go even further down a traditional route of recording by getting a band together and rehearsing songs before we go into the studio to see what works, how she reacts with certain parts, and so we can change the arrangements that way. I think that’s going to work much better....With Susan it’s very important she connects with the public and the public connect with her. She doesn’t want to sing anything that hasn’t happened to her or she can’t relate to."
Boyle has suggested the album will include some jazz numbers now she's "a bit more content" within herself. "My next album has to have an element of surprise in it again. I'm hoping to make it better and a bit extra special."
In August 2010, British tabloid, News of the World, reported that Boyle was experiencing financial woes as she was unable to access her fortune, which was being controlled by her management team – consisting of Andy Stephens, Ossie Killkenny and Boyle's lawyer and niece, Kirsty Foy. Boyle's brother Gerry said that his sister was fearful of losing her contract and of returning to her previous financial situation and also that she has been unable to move into her £300,000 five-bedroom house in Blackburn because she does not have the cash to furnish it. He said "[Her] millions are ring-fenced but Susan has no concept of money" and that she was "extremely distressed" at having to live off £300 a week after being banned from withdrawing money from the bank or owning a credit card. This story was contradicted the following day, however, by the news that she had bought two houses. It was also reported that Boyle had been on a spending spree in which she had bought a grand piano, an iPhone and five dresses made by Stewart Parvin, the Queen's dressmaker. The press had previously stated that Boyle was suing her brother Gerry for other stories he had sold to the newspapers.
In November 2010, Boyle became only one of three to ever top both the UK and US album charts twice in the same year.
On 30 November 2010, in the United States, Boyle performed on ABC's The View singing "O Holy Night" and then on NBC's Christmas at Rockefeller Center program performing "Perfect Day" and "Away in a Manger". During her appearance on The View she was unable to finish her song, stating that she had a "frog in her throat"; she wanted to start the song over but was not allowed to. The audience applauded her anyway and she later performed an unaired version of the song which was uploaded to The View's YouTube account.
Someone to Watch Over Me (2011–present)
Emeli SandeAdele Emeli Sandé , known by her stage name Emeli Sande, is a Scottish R&B and Soul recording artist and songwriter, from Aberdeen, Scotland...
was reported to have helped Boyle to write songs for her third studio album, which was released on 31 October 2011. Boyle performed on the second semi-final results show of the
sixth seasonThe sixth season of America's Got Talent, a reality television series, premiered on May 31, 2011 on NBC. On September 14, 2011, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr...
of
America's Got TalentAmerica's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...
, which aired on 31 August 2011.
Boyle made her first appearance in Australia, on X Factor Australia, on 8 November 2011 and sang "Autumm Leaves".
Media impact
Websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have been crucial in facilitating Boyle's rapid rise to fame: The most popular YouTube video submission of her audition garnered nearly 2.5 million views in the first 72 hours. On the day following the performance, the YouTube video was the most popular article on
DiggDigg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
and made the front page of
Redditreddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content, in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.Reddit was originally...
. Within a week, the audition performance had been viewed more than 66 million times, setting an online record, while on Wikipedia her biographical article attracted nearly half a million page views. A total of 103 million video views on 20 different Web sites was reached within nine days. The Los Angeles Times wrote that her popularity on YouTube may in part be due to the broad range of emotion packed into a short clip which was "perfect for the Internet". In December 2009 her audition was named the most watched YouTube video of the year with over 120 million viewings, more than three times higher than the second most popular video.
Additionally, Boyle’s first on camera interview with Scots journalist
Richard MooneyRichard Mooney is a journalist and web producer from Glasgow, Scotland. He obtained a Bachelors Degree in Journalism from the University of the West of Scotland...
for her local newspaper the West Lothian Courier, was named as YouTube’s Most Memorable Video of 2009. The video went viral after being uploaded to YouTube on 14 April 2009.
Many newspapers around the world (including China, Brazil and the Middle East) carried articles on Boyle's performance. British tabloid The Sun gave her the nickname "Paula Potts" in reference to the
first series'The first series of Britain's Got Talent began on 9 June 2007 and ended on 17 June 2007. It was won by opera singer Paul Potts. The first five shows concerned the audition stages of the competition and the final four shows aired the live semi-finals and final. The show was hosted by Ant & Dec on...
winner
Paul PottsPaul Robert Potts is an English pop opera tenor who won the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent in 2007, singing an operatic aria, "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot". As a singer of operatic music, Potts recorded the album One Chance, which went to #1 in nine countries...
. Later, the British press took to referring to her by a short-form of her name, 'SuBo'. In the U.S., several commentators also drew parallels between Boyle's performance and that of Potts.
ABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
hailed "Britain's newest pop sensation", and its Entertainment section headlined Boyle as "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell".
Within the week following her performance on Britain's Got Talent, Boyle was a guest on STV's
The Five Thirty ShowThe Five Thirty Show was a short-lived Scottish topical magazine show, which began broadcasting in Northern and Central Scotland on STV on Monday January 28, 2008...
. She was interviewed via satellite on CBS's Early Show,
Good Morning AmericaGood Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, NBC's Today,
FOX'sFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
America's NewsroomAmerica's Newsroom, written on-air as "America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum" is an American news/talk program on Fox News Channel, first airing on February 12, 2007.-Synopsis:...
. and
The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
. Via satellite on
Larry King LiveLarry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
, Boyle performed an
a cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
verse of "
My Heart Will Go On"My Heart Will Go On" is the theme song/love theme of the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. With music by James Horner, lyrics by Will Jennings, and production by Simon Franglen, James Horner and Walter Afanasieff ,, it was recorded by Céline Dion...
". She was also portrayed in
dragDrag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
by
Jay LenoJames Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
, who joked that they were related through his mother's Scottish heritage.
At the invitation of
NHKNHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
, a major Japanese broadcaster, Boyle appeared as a guest singer for the
2009 edition of Kōhaku Uta GassenThe , referred to from hereon as "Kōhaku", was aired on December 31, 2009 from NHK Hall in Japan.-Performers:The singers, announced on November 23, 2009, are ordered below according to the gojūon....
, annual songfest on 31 December in Tokyo. She was introduced as the by the MCs and appeared on the stage escorted by
Takuya Kimura, nicknamed , is a Japanese singer and actor. He is also a member of the Japanese idol group SMAP. Most of the TV dramas he starred in produced high ratings in Japan...
, and sang "I Dreamed a Dream".
Although Boyle was not eligible for the 2010 Grammy Awards, its host
Stephen ColbertStephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
paid tribute to Boyle at the ceremony, telling its audience "you may be the coolest people in the world, but this year your industry was saved by a 48-year-old Scottish cat lady in sensible shoes." There was also earlier controversy, when Boyle was not nominated in any of the categories for the 2010 Brit Awards.
Stage musical
It was originally planned that Boyle would appear as herself in a musical about her life. She was quoted as saying she hated "having to sit watching people up there" who are actors. However it was later announced that actress Elaine C Smith would be portraying her. The musical will "tell the singer's entire life story, including her years living with her moggy back in Blackburn before her world-famous telly audition." The show may play in the West End before touring the United Kingdom.
Judging by appearance
The Huffington PostThe Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
noted that the producers of the show would have anticipated the potential of this
story arcA story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
, by deliberately presenting Boyle in a manner that would enhance this initial reaction.
The HeraldThe Herald is a broadsheet newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, and available throughout Scotland. As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 47,226, giving it a lead over Scotland's other 'quality' national daily, The Scotsman, published in Edinburgh.The 1889 to 1906 editions...
described Boyle's story as a modern parable and a rebuke to people's tendency to judge others based on their physical appearance. Similarly,
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said that Boyle's performance was a victory for talent and artistry in a culture obsessed with physical attractiveness and presentation.
The Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
believed that her initial demeanour and homely appearance caused the judges and audience to be "waiting for her to squawk like a duck". New York's Daily News said that an underdog being ridiculed or humiliated but then enjoying an unexpected triumph is a common
tropeA literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...
in literature, and the stark contrast between the audience's low expectations and the quality of her singing made Boyle's performance such an engaging piece of television.
Feminist view
R.M. Campbell, music critic for The Gathering Note compared her to
Ella FitzgeraldElla Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, in that "[... it is] really, really hard to make a career if a woman isn't attractive." In another Huffington Post article,
Letty Cottin PogrebinLetty Cottin Pogrebin is an American writer and journalist. She graduated from Brandeis University and became a writer and feminist advocate in the early 1970s. In 1971, she was one of the founding editors of Ms...
wrote that although people may "weep for the years of wasted talent", Boyle's performance was a triumph for "women of a certain age" over a youth culture that often dismisses middle-aged women.
Tanya GoldTanya Gold is a British journalist. She has written for a variety of newspapers in the United Kingdom, including The Guardian, the Daily Mail, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard. In 2009 she was highly commended in the Feature Writer of the Year category at the British...
wrote in The Guardian that the difference between Boyle's hostile reception and the more neutral response to
Paul PottsPaul Robert Potts is an English pop opera tenor who won the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent in 2007, singing an operatic aria, "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot". As a singer of operatic music, Potts recorded the album One Chance, which went to #1 in nine countries...
in his first audition reflected society's expectation that women be both good-looking and talented, with no such expectation existing for men. Los Angeles vocal coach Eric Vetro stated, "She's an Everywoman as opposed to an untouchable fantasy goddess, so maybe that's why people react to her."
American Dream
Several media sources have commented that Boyle's success seemed to have particular resonance in the United States. An American entertainment correspondent was quoted in
The ScotsmanThe Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
comparing Boyle's story to the
American DreamThe American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
, as representing talent overcoming adversity and poverty. The
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
described this as Boyle's "hardscrabble story", dwelling on her modest lifestyle and what they characterised as urban deprivation in her home town. Similarly,
The IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
s New York correspondent David Usborne wrote that the United States will always respond to "the fairy tale where the apparently unprepossessing suddenly becomes pretty, from
ShrekShrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
to
My Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
".
Cultural references
The American cartoon show
South ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
made a reference to the Susan Boyle craze in the episode "
Fatbeard"Fatbeard" is the seventh episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 188th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 22, 2009 and in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2009. It was the...
", which aired on 22 April 2009; the
Late Night with Jimmy FallonLate Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
show aired a comedy sketch showing the "feel good" effect that Susan Boyle's performance has had on people;
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
aired a new commercial for its 20th-anniversary show "Springfield's Got Talent", in which
Homer SimpsonHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
talks about his dreams "to be a great singer like Boyle". A European trailer for the video game
The Sims 3The Sims 3 is a 2009 strategic life simulation computer game developed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims 2. It was first released on June 2, 2009 simultaneously for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows...
includes a character mocked up as Boyle. In June 2009,
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
broadcast a short story called "I Dreamed a Dream" that was based on a combination of Boyle's appearances on Britain's Got Talent and the political difficulties of
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
. The 5 November 2009 episode of the show
30 Rock30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
showed recurring character Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot) – who has a dowdy appearance – singing in the style of Susan Boyle as
Liz LemonElizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.-Personal history:...
and
Jack DonaghyJohn Francis "Jack" Donaghy is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He is the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric and later Kabletown....
teared up. In a Season 35 sketch on
Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, an accountant (
Andy SambergDavid Andrew "Andy" Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live...
) doing Boyle's taxes, notes that her income for 2008 was $1, $900,000,000 for 2009, and projected to be $1 for 2010.
Bobby MoynihanRobert M. "Bobby" Moynihan, Jr. is an American actor and comedian who is currently a cast member on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:...
played Boyle in the sketch.
In the
FuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
episode "
Attack of the Killer App"Attack of the Killer App" is the third episode of the sixth season of the animated sitcom, Futurama which first aired July 1, 2010 on Comedy Central. The episode focuses on the release of the new eyePhone, resulting in Fry posting a viral video of Leela on the Internet...
", Leela has a
boilA boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is always caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue...
named Susan ("Susan Boil") that can sing show tunes.
Studio albums
- I Dreamed a Dream
I Dreamed a Dream is the debut album from Scottish singer Susan Boyle. It was released on 23 November 2009 by Syco Music in the United Kingdom, and by Columbia Records in the United States one day later. In the standard edition, 11 out of the 12 songs that appear on the album are cover songs, plus...
(2009)
- The Gift
The Gift is the second album by Scottish singer Susan Boyle, which was released on 8 November 2010. Boyle hinted that the album has a 1960s feel "because that was [her] era".-Background:...
(2010)
- Someone to Watch Over Me (2011)
Awards and nominations
| Year |
Association |
Category |
Result |
| 2011 |
53rd Grammy Awards The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
|
Best Pop Vocal Album – I Dreamed a Dream I Dreamed a Dream is the debut album from Scottish singer Susan Boyle. It was released on 23 November 2009 by Syco Music in the United Kingdom, and by Columbia Records in the United States one day later. In the standard edition, 11 out of the 12 songs that appear on the album are cover songs, plus...
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External links