Susan Boyle

by Alice Montgomery

  Laura had been as swept away by Susan’s story as everyone else. Rarely can a duckling have turned so rapidly into a swan, and it all started that night, in front of a television audience of millions, a moment that was to change Susan’s life.

  ‘She came on to the stage and just transfixed us all,’ Laura continued. ‘She’s become a hero to a lot of people with dreams of stardom, or who maybe have a talent but have been too scared to express it. And I think everyone’s heart soared when they saw her sing that day. I think Susan is getting more and more used to being in the spotlight and being on television and being photographed. Since April, you’ve seen her look just day to day become more polished and refined. And she’s growing in her confidence with what she’ll wear and how she’ll be perceived.’

  Something else that was changing was that Susan was beginning to have more fun - something that had been sorely missing from her life to date. Now finally she seemed to be enjoying herself, relaxing and going with the moment. ‘She actually did a little bit of moonwalking in her Giuseppe Zanotti heels at one point,’ said Laura. ‘What we did on our shoot was give her a little bit of a haircut, and that was it, and a little bit of a curl. And actually the shape of her hair is great. She’s got a really lovely curl to it. So we just tidied it up a little bit and paired it with some natural make-up, and she looked great.’ It was something of an understatement as the transformation was phenomenal.

  Susan’s interview with Harper’s was pretty revealing, too. For a short time, Susan appeared to be thinking of leaving Scotland for good, given that she’d been living in London for some months now. ‘I’ll go back to visit, but you have to move on,’ she said. As for her newfound fame, she commented, ‘It will take a bit of adjusting to, because I’ve led a sheltered life. I’ve got life experience, but mentally I have to adjust. But it’s all good, it’s all good.’ And then, really unexpectedly, she revealed she was a fan of Madonna: ‘I like that she is a diverse pop star and controversial,’ she said.

  Indeed, Susan’s tastes were turning out to be considerably more catholic with a small ‘c’ than anyone could have imagined. She’d already covered a Rolling Stones number and now she was praising Madonna. There was clearly more to Susan than met the eye. But it only served to illustrate what Susan had always been up against: being judged by her appearance and assumed to be a lesser person and a lesser talent than she was. Now that she’d been given her chance, she continued to amaze and surprise.

  The Harper’s Bazaar pictures caused a sensation and proved that interest in Susan showed no sign of abating. Piers Morgan, who was in the States at that time, related that he had just met the actor Robin Williams, who only seemed to want to talk about Susan Boyle. There continued to be talk of a film based on Susan’s life, with Catherine Zeta-Jones’ name cropping up to play the lead role.

  Meanwhile, Diversity, the band that had won Britain’s Got Talent, were forced to deny that there was any rift with Simon Cowell over Susan’s seemingly preferential treatment. There had been reports in the press that there were tensions, as Cowell appeared to be concentrating on Susan’s career rather than theirs. Certainly, there was no contest as to who had the higher profile. Diversity themselves were full of plans for the future, happily talking about being seen as role models for a younger generation, and wisely heaping praise on Susan. But despite their undoubted talent, they didn’t have Susan’s back story, and they hadn’t captured the public’s imagination in quite the same way.

  There had been predictions in the early days that interest in Susan would be short lived, but in reality nothing could be further from the truth. The whole world seemed to want a piece of Susan. Lord Glasgow, the chief of the Clan Boyle, extended an invitation to Susan to attend the next clan gathering, while it emerged that the famous chemist Robert Boyle and the film director Danny Boyle - of Slum-dog Millionaire fame - were both distant relations. Hollywood continued to be utterly fascinated by her, as did the rest of the world.

  Elaine Paige, with whom it seemed increasingly likely that Susan would perform a duet, had her say, too, claiming that Cowell had stopped her from warning Susan in advance what fame was really like. She had, of course, commented on Susan previously, before going on to meet her, but she now felt she should have been allowed to give Susan a little advice. ‘Nothing prepares you for the overwhelming fame and the media interest in your life,’ she said. ‘I wanted to warn her of what was to come, but he [Cowell] wouldn’t allow that. Instead, I surprised her when she was on the Today Show in America. She still seemed overwhelmed by things when we met, but hopefully we will get the chance to sing together.’

  The fact that Susan had been so overwhelmed and had suffered from some well-documented difficulties relating to her overnight success had wider-reaching effects too, changing the modus operandi of reality TV. There had been real public anger about what some had seen as Susan’s exploitation, and the television community needed to address that fact if they wanted to regain the public’s trust and approval. It should be noted that Susan herself didn’t share these concerns or anger: she was well aware of the positive differences that Britain’s Got Talent had made to her life.

  There was also going to be more attention paid from now on to the age of the contestants who appeared on these types of shows. Cowell had come under repeated criticism for making small children cry on stage, although in fairness a great deal of the responsibility should lie with their parents. If they were concerned and felt their children couldn’t take the criticism, they should never have allowed them on stage.

  A new series of The X Factor was due to begin in August, and for the first time, in a bow to public concerns, it was to include some form of psychological appraisal for the contestants. They were also going to be offered more support if they found it difficult to cope with the pressure and the attention they received. No one wanted a repeat of Susan’s episode in The Priory, although it seemed a little unfair that Susan, who was now coping remarkably well, was always the first to be mentioned when the subject of reality TV stars going to pieces was raised.

  Susan’s full-time assistant, Ciaran Doig, was certainly helping her to cope. The two of them paid a quiet visit to Blackburn, where Susan was pictured attending church, and stayed in her old family home - London might have had the bright lights, but home was, after all, home. There were other, more subtle changes in the way Susan was perceived in the community. Once back in her old neighbourhood she was asked for her autograph, another acknowledgement of her new status. There was no sign of the people who had made her life difficult in the past - no doubt they felt nothing but shame for the way they’d behaved - and if they had tried to do anything to upset this national treasure, they would most probably have been lynched.

  Susan was such hot property by now that she regularly cropped up in debates about the television industry. The nature of reality TV was under constant scrutiny: there had been at least two reality TV-related suicides in recent years - one in the UK and one in the States - and there was a lot of concern about the ethics of the genre. In the UK, the tragedy had occurred in the wake of an episode of Wife Swap. One participating couple had been honest about the fact that they had an open marriage and had indulged in affairs with other people. In the wake of the show the husband, Simon Foster, lost his job, the marriage broke down and his life fell apart, and he subsequently committed suicide. In the States, meanwhile, a contestant on American Idol, Paula Goodspeed, committed suicide close to the home of one of the judges, Paula Abdul. Both cases were more extreme than Susan’s, but they did highlight many of the same issues and concerns, especially those relating to mental health.

  The big question, though, was whether or not an appearance on a reality television show could lead to a new and lasting career? The answer appeared to be yes when you consider examples like Paul Potts and Will Young. But the annals of reality television are also littered with the corpses of those who made an initial breakthrough but failed to go any further, in many cases beco
ming extremely bitter about their experience. Was it possible that Susan could become one of those?

  Louis Walsh, the man behind Westlife and Boyzone and one of Cowell’s fellow judges on The X Factor, had followed the debate with interest. Her case was so unusual, the pressures on her so unique and the issues surrounding her so delicate that it was unknown territory.

  ‘I think she could have a massive record, but I don’t know if she is able, due to all the pressure that she will be under,’ he said in a speech to the Edinburgh International Television Festival. ‘I’d get a very good tour manager on the road with Susan to make sure that he lets her work as little as possible. I’d get her to bed early at night and give her sleeping tablets. That’s the answer. There will be an awful lot of pressure on her, but once the record is out there and they make the right video for her she will be fine.’

  Ant and Dec were also at the festival and were keen to defend the decision to allow Susan to take part in the show. Their views are worth listening to because both of them were child stars, meeting on the set of children’s programme Byker Grove, and both had had extensive experience of reality television in all its formats, as well as being the hosts of I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! and Britain’s Got Talent. Both had seen at first hand what reality television can do to a person and both, rightly, felt that it would have been grossly unfair to deny Susan, and others like her, a chance.

  ‘You can’t start censoring people because you don’t think they would be able to handle the fame and the attention as well as they should,’ said Ant, reminding the audience that he himself had been only eleven when he’d started his TV career. ‘You can’t turn round and say you don’t think she’s going to handle it that well so we won’t have her on the show.’ There was also the fact that, despite a wobbly start, Susan was definitely learning how to handle it. Given the right amount of help, she seemed perfectly able to cope.

  ‘People don’t turn up with it written on T-shirts how sane they are,’ added Dec. ‘You can’t tell by looking at somebody. Susan was a single woman who lives in a small town in Scotland and came along to fulfill a dream. How do you stand there and say, “You can’t go on, we’re not sure you’ll be able to handle it?” You can’t do that.’

  It should be noted that while Susan may have had mild learning difficulties, there was never any suggestion that she was in any way mentally ill. Her brothers had been keen to make that clear, but despite their insistence, it’s a misconception that has lingered in the public consciousness. Finding it difficult to cope with overnight global fame, especially when you’ve led a sheltered life, is simply not the same as being mentally ill.

  Ant and Dec were right: everyone deserves a chance. Susan would certainly have agreed with them, because she was loving every minute of her glory, clocking up one triumph after another. At the end of August her CD, I Dreamed A Dream, was posted on Amazon for pre-ordering, and despite the fact that it wouldn’t be released for another three months, it shot straight to number one.

  There was some curiosity about the tracks chosen to go on the CD, especially a cover of Madonna’s ‘You’ll See’, which explained Susan’s recent enthusiasm for the artist in Harper’s Bazaar. ‘Susan chose it herself - it’s a song she has loved for years,’ a friend who wished to remain nameless told the Sun. ‘She sang it at auditions for TV shows and music contests when she used to be cruelly turned away by people. At the end, when she was sometimes reduced to tears, she used to say, “You’ll see”. And she’s proof she can do it now as one of the most famous women in the world.’

  A picture was released from the album’s shoot, showing a smiling and relaxed Susan in the beautiful Scottish countryside, against a backdrop of the mountains of the Ardkinglas Estate in Cairndow, Argyll. Meanwhile, there were more firsts: she was spotted buying designer clothes in Harrods, a shop she had never visited before, while Pebbles got a session in a pet pampering salon.

  Susan’s personal style had noticeably changed, but she didn’t swan around in the kind of clothes she’d worn for the Harper’s shoot on a day-to-day basis. The magazine had simply proved that she could look attractive in the style of the modern woman, and as a result she took more pains with her appearance than she had done before. Her brothers had already commented on the fact that Susan used to be extremely careless about her looks, and that they’d often chided her for not running a comb through her hair. But it would seem that there was something self-defensive about her actions. If Susan was convinced she was ugly, then it was safer to play up to that perception than try to do something about it and risk exposing herself to ridicule.

  But Susan was not ugly; far from it. She had simply allowed herself to become unkempt and when, with the help of others, she woke up to the fact that she could look as good as anyone, she seized the chance. This is another often overlooked upside of reality television: it allows people to explore a completely different side of themselves and their lives.

  As the Boyle phenomenon continued to grow, other female stars mused on what lay ahead for Susan. Elaine Paige had already said she wanted to warn Susan of the potential perils afoot, and to her great credit she had shown nothing but warmth and generosity to Susan since that first audition, which now seemed like a lifetime ago. Now it was the turn of another star, a fellow Scottish singer, Lulu. Lulu and a great many other seasoned performers were as stunned as the public by the world’s reaction to Susan, not least because it was so different from how they had made their names. But even if her route to success had been different, Lulu, too, had experienced sudden fame, and as such knew what the downsides could be.

  ‘It is hard to say if Susan Boyle mania is justified,’ she told the Daily Record a little tactlessly. ‘It’s amazing. It steps over into celebrity and that is hard to deal with. In a way, it would be better to just let her sing her song and go home. But you have to take both. I just hope she is going to be able to handle it because it’s not easy. Everyone can trip up and have their hiccups, but it’s about how you recover.’

  Susan had already had her hiccup, and appeared to be recovering beautifully, so it was unrealistic to expect her to just go home after the event. Other, more seasoned stars would probably have been a little bewildered by it all, but the fact was that the phenomenon had happened and Susan wasn’t going to go away. What was important, though, as Lulu acknowledged, was that she had proper guidance and management, for without that she really would encounter problems.

  ‘When I found fame, it was very exciting and scary at the same time,’ Lulu continued. ‘I was carried off in a whirlwind. I had a very nice manager who was a mother figure, so I was fortunate. It’s hard to do the work if you don’t have the right people around you.’ The right support was something Susan did have - Simon had made sure of that.

  Lulu also made the point that in this day and age, Susan would have had a lot of trouble breaking into the music industry on her own, because today’s stars are expected not only to be young and beautiful, but to cavort about wearing almost nothing. Lulu’s strict father would never have allowed her to do that, she said, but that only served to emphasize another aspect of Susan’s story. The idea of Susan cavorting about the place half dressed was unthinkable, which meant she was one of the few modern-day stars who knew for a fact they had made it on the basis of talent - and a good back story - alone. No one doubts that Girls Aloud are an entertaining bunch of singers, but it hasn’t hurt that they are toothsome as well.

  Lulu’s comments, while well-intentioned, missed an important point. Despite the fact that she was being hauled into practically every debate about reality television, it was difficult to draw general conclusions, because Susan’s story is unique. Yes, she clearly needed the right people around her to guide her career, and yes, the sudden leap into the limelight must have been extremely difficult, but what could really be said about Susan was this: nothing like this had ever happened to anybody else before.

  According to the man himself, she’d made Cowell
get in touch with his inner, caring side. Over in the States, Amanda was interviewing Simon on CBS’s The Early Show, as a new series of America’s Got Talent was about to begin. He was very frank about the way that Susan had changed his attitude, not just towards her, but towards all reality television stars. ‘I think at the point where she didn’t win, she was afraid everything would be taken away from her and she was going to go back to that little house. She didn’t want to go back to that life,’ he said, adding that he now felt far more responsible towards other people who came on his shows. ‘We’re used to it [fame]; they’re not. [But] After all the dust settled, she was happy. She is stunning on record. She’s going to sell millions of records this year.’ Indeed, he continued, Susan had been so delighted when she heard the results of the recording that she’d actually burst into tears.

  Given the Cowell connection, it was no surprise when it was announced that Susan was going to sing on America’s Got Talent, in her first live performance outside the UK. ‘NBC are buzzing with excitement about Miss Boyle’s performance,’ said a member of the production company. ‘All the networks have been putting in requests for her to appear on their shows, but it seemed fitting that she should make her US TV singing début on America’s Got Talent.’ Indeed, she could scarcely have chosen a more appropriate show. And so, in early September, Susan jetted off to LA, the celebrity capital of the world, where she got a first-hand glimpse of how much the United States loved her.

  There was a massive crowd waiting for her at the airport, chanting her name and crying, ‘We love you, Susan.’ The crowd was held back, but one little fan managed to break through and give her a hug. Susan initially looked as if she could scarcely take in the reaction, but she soon recovered, beaming at the crowd, blowing them kisses and waving, before she was escorted into a waiting limousine. ‘I was delighted to be given such a warm welcome,’ she said afterwards. ‘It was really lovely for so many people to meet me. I’m totally overwhelmed.’