Once in LA, she was treated like the A-lister she’d become. Nothing was too much trouble. Susan and her newly acquired retinue were taken on a visit to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, where they were pictured enjoying the rides. Susan had a number of minders with her now, which was very necessary considering the fact that she was even more popular in the States than she was in the UK, and was regularly mobbed wherever she went.
Back in the UK, the debate raged as to whether or not Susan had been exploited, despite the fact that she was very publicly loving every minute of her new life. The latest person to wade into the debate - and there was no shortage of people prepared to do so - was Jean Rogers, the vice president of Equity, the actors’ union, who claimed that reality TV shows were nothing more than freak shows. ‘Susan Boyle was catapulted into fame by Britain’s Got Talent,’ she said, ‘which is the modern equivalent of the Victorian freak show. The truth is that Susan Boyle is a vulnerable and exploited middle-aged woman. Her fairytale did come true, but at a high physical and mental cost. This is not an excuse to get at Simon Cowell or anyone else who survived their apprenticeships and deserves their success. It’s about fairness. Everyone gets paid - everyone except the performers. The performers are workers in a highly competitive and exploitative industry where their hopes and dreams are manipulated. Britain has got talent . . . so let’s pay them.’
Rogers seems to have completely and fundamentally misunderstood the role of reality television and the contestants on the show. Susan Boyle - the ‘vulnerable and exploited middle-aged woman’ - was now an international star, and as we’ve often repeated in this book, she had no desire to go back to her old life. She’d spent decades trying to fight her way out of it, and having been presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, she had seized it with both hands. As for paying the contestants, well that was what they were: contestants. No one was forcing them to enter the competition and the rewards, if they did manage to win or get noticed, were very great indeed.
Back in LA, the last thing Susan would have wanted was for the likes of Jean Rogers to stop her appearing on the television screen. Her performance on America’s Got Talent, which was watched by 25 million viewers, was an absolute triumph. She performed ‘I Dreamed A Dream’, as well as ‘Wild Horses’ - the first time she had sung the number in public. It was later released as a single and went some way towards addressing the critics who had complained that she only ever sang two songs, ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ and ‘Memory’ - she was clearly capable of a great deal more. Susan looked the part, as well: she was clad in an elegant black gown and sang in front of a full orchestra. Unsurprisingly, she got a standing ovation.
Many of the reviews for her appearance pointed out what an outstanding performer she’d become. ‘Watch out Mariah [Carey], there’s a new diva in town!’ wrote one critic, while the Los Angeles Times said, ‘Time to take Susan seriously. She should no longer be considered a sideshow. She should be appreciated for her singing ability.’ ‘She wasn’t even a competitor, but Susan Boyle arguably stole the finale of America’s Got Talent,’ added The Huffington Post, while the website E! Online agreed: ‘Who won America’s Got Talent? Besides Susan Boyle, that is.’
Piers Morgan was there to witness Susan’s latest triumph. By now she was becoming something of an established showbiz hand, and was able to have a chat with him behind the scenes. Susan was certainly living the lifestyle, too. She was staying at the swanky Hotel Bel Air, and was seen on a shopping trip to upmarket department store Barneys, a favourite with the Sex And The City girls. It helped that Cowell was in town and was a part of it all: Susan had come to rely on him and to trust him, too.
Susan’s brother Gerry also seemed happier about the way things were going. ‘She is in a great place right now and very confident about her career at this point as her new album apparently sounds excellent,’ he said. ‘This is a totally different set of circumstances [from before] and Susan is totally more relaxed. She’s in a great place. Simon Cowell is going to meet with her in America and he has assured us that he will do everything he can to protect Susan and to promote her in the correct fashion. I know Simon has a surly reputation, but I think he is a very trustworthy person who has my sister’s best interests at heart.’
Susan had another triumphant return to Britain. She was feeling so much better now that she was able to talk about the strain she’d been under and even about her stay in The Priory. ‘With no pressure and then suddenly having all this pressure I found it suffocating,’ she told the Daily Record. ‘I don’t remember much after the final. All I do remember is being put in an ambulance and taken to a clinic. I was tired. I look back now and it was a necessity because I was so tired. I used to be a kind of spectator looking outward at the world. Now I am part of that world. I am not frightened, I am going to embrace it because I feel a bit more confident in myself. I am more able to cope, more able to take part in the dream. I’m ready to get there and get on with it now. I am not the wee frightened lassie I used to be.’
Could there have been any more vigorous proof that Susan’s life had been totally transformed by reality TV? There was frenzied speculation in the press that Susan would end up bigger than the Beatles, not least because she’d cracked the notoriously difficult American market with no effort at all.
Meanwhile, back in the UK Susan was being pitched head first against none other than Robbie Williams in the race for the number one slot in the Christmas album charts. Ironically, Robbie had spent years trying and failing to crack the American market - something Susan had done with ease - and it was another indication of how far she had come that she was being tipped to win the race.
‘No contest. It is Susan Boyle,’ said the veteran music industry commentator Paul Gambaccini. ‘That is not an insult to Robbie Williams, it is just that, bizarre as it sounds, Boyle is the new-artist story of the year around the world. The interest factor alone will bring her many, many sales.’
Was there anything this extraordinary Scottish lady couldn’t do?
The Legend of Susan Boyle
By late September, Susan’s reputation as a star in her own right had been sealed. Early criticism that she only ever sang two songs had been drowned out by the medley of tunes she’d performed in the past couple of months - the critics didn’t seem to realize that she was obliged to sing only those two songs, because she was on the Britain’s Got Talent tour, rather than a tour of her own. There was also no slowdown in the number of stars stepping up to the plate to profess their admiration for her. Jon Bon Jovi became the latest - and perhaps most unlikely - star to express a desire to work with her.
Piers Morgan also spoke out about Susan again. It seemed that he, too, had benefitted from his association with her. Unlike Amanda, he was already making a name for himself in the States before Susan came along, but he believed she’d transformed his image.
‘What propelled me to worldwide fame is largely Susan Boyle,’ he said in the run-up to the release of Susan’s first album. ‘I have been passionate about my duty of care towards her, and I think that has changed attitudes towards me. But I feel adamant that the maelstrom resulting from this year’s BGT finale was hugely overplayed. Susan Boyle will especially become the standard-bearer for the response to the criticism of Simon Cowell and the way he does his business. She’s not some weirdo. Most people in showbusiness are a bit eccentric if you think about it. It doesn’t mean they’re not great talents. When people hear her album, they are going to see that she is phenomenal.’
Susan returned home from America for a well-deserved rest, and shortly afterwards plans for her to appear on The X Factor were announced. There was a brief health scare, when she was rushed to hospital with flu-like symptoms, but her health was bearing up well on the whole.
Susan was increasingly excited as the launch of the album neared. On her website, she called the album ‘autobiographical’, explaining, ‘Some of the songs I chose because they had been favourites that I have sung for many years.
One of the songs, I suppose you would call it a signature tune, “Wild Horses”, has had a great reception and was first played on the radio by Terry Wogan. I have his autobiography at home and it seems very strange that he is now playing my record.’
Her grasp of modern technology continued apace: as well as her own website, on which she posted regular updates about how she was getting on, she also had a Facebook site, which had attracted 1.8 million fans. Although this doesn’t quite rival the site for Michael Jackson, which has over 10 million members, it’s still one of the largest sites on Facebook. Madonna has only managed 1.2 million, and that’s considered an extremely reputable tally, while Whitney Houston has only 214,000.
Michael Bublé became Susan’s newest celebrity admirer. ‘I didn’t understand Susan Boyle,’ he said. ‘I was cynical and critical because I had never seen her in that first show where she’d come up and says, “I want to be a singer,” and the audience looks at her and says, “Oh please!” I got goosebumps. I’m going to go, when this record comes out, and buy twenty copies, because what a beautiful story of an underdog. It gives me faith in the human condition that we still have that kind of feeling that we actually want the good guy to win. It killed me. It really is a beautiful, beautiful story.’
And so the launch came about, as detailed in the first chapter of this book. Susan had done it, and she got the kind of reviews all entertainers crave:‘More restrained and emotionally resonant than seemed likely, and Boyle emerges with real dignity and class. Given the fleeting nature of her particular kind of fame, it may be her only mega-selling album: if so, she can be proud of it.’
new.uk.music.yahoo.com
‘She’s done well, has Susan Boyle, but whether she’s got the talent and nerve to see her career through to the next stage is something only time will tell. In the meantime, this is a no-brainer for your gran’s Christmas stocking.’
Lauren Murphy, entertainment.ie
‘In “I Dreamed a Dream”, from Les Miserables, her quieter singing, notable for its freshness and clarity of diction, evokes the spirit of a young woman without recourse to dramatics. Another winner is her gentle take on the Skeeter Davis song “The End Of The World”.’
bbc.co.uk/music
‘Boyle’s voice is restrained, the orchestration is rich and the song choices demonstrate her vocal clarity and range . . . In our era of Auto-Tune and artificial glamour Boyle is a reminder of pure talent.’
virginmedia.com
Of course, the reviews couldn’t resist mentioning the possibility of transient fame, but that didn’t take into account one very important aspect of Susan’s renown - she had cracked America. The only other British reality TV star to have made an impression in the US was Leona Lewis, and few British stars of any description had managed to achieve success Stateside. It was this fact, more than anything else, that suggested Susan would enjoy longevity in the music business, for there was no sign at all that the United States was tiring of its new heroine. Even back in Britain, as everyone conceded, there had never been a phenomenon like this.
The singer Seal, another Boyle admirer, thought much the same. ‘It’s good entertainment, but I question sometimes whether it’s the best thing for our industry,’ he said of reality television talent shows. ‘Susan Boyle is an exception. I seriously believe that Susan couldn’t give a stuff about being famous. She sings because it’s in her - she’s a true artist. She sings because it’s her form of expression and if she doesn’t she will become ill. It’s her way of release.’ High praise indeed.
There had been reports of Susan suffering from bad attacks of nerves, but those close to her were adamant that she was learning to cope. ‘She is adjusting very well to the circumstances of her fame,’ said Susan’s voice coach Fred O’Neil. ‘I don’t remember her ever being a nervous performer, but I think that it’s a different set of circumstances and she will cope given time. I feel that she’s very happy in her life, so I’m sure that will come through. She comes and goes whenever she likes at home [in Blackburn] with no problems. She has time to live a normal life and the stresses are off her. She sounds very happy with life.’
Susan was merely getting used to a new and extraordinary set of circumstances and there was bound to be a period of adjustment when she would have to learn to pace herself.
In London, there was a great hoo-ha when Simon Cowell celebrated his fiftieth birthday with a huge party. Le tout showbiz was there - with one exception. Apparently the £2 million bash held in a Palladian mansion called Wrotham Park, with a guest list that included Cheryl Cole, Dannii Minogue, Kate Moss, the Britain’s Got Talent judges and others too numerous to mention, was a slightly raunchy affair and Susan would have been out of place. And although she was probably more famous than anyone else there, Susan had not yet begun to take part in the schmooze fest of awards ceremonies and showbusiness parties that accompany life in the music business.
In the wake of her album release, her brother Gerry explained it: ‘Susan is doing really well just now and is just resting up after visiting America,’ he said. ‘She didn’t go to Simon Cowell’s fiftieth birthday party because she didn’t want a lot of attention on her, but she is delighted with her new CD.’
Indeed, Gerry was very keen to talk about the CD. It had been thrilling for the Boyles to watch Susan blossom over the past few months. They had all had their various concerns about her, especially in the wake of their mother’s death, and they were delighted that she was suddenly having such an interesting life. They, of course, had heard her singing from childhood and knew that this was a culmination of a dream Susan had nurtured for nearly fifty years.
‘Both Susan’s and my own personal favourite track is “I Dreamed A Dream” - I know it is corny but that is the song that really introduced her to the world and I think it is really well suited to her voice,’ Gerry said. ‘“Cry Me A River” is another strong song on the album, and she originally recorded it at Heartbeat Studios in Scotland many years ago. “Wild Horses”, which she débuted on American television, is another good choice, as the classic Rolling Stones song shows off her vocal range. I think a lot of people will also love “Silent Night” because it is perfect for Christmas time and the holidays. Susan’s version of “Daydream Believer” is a lot of fun and her version of “Up To The Mountain” is very rousing too. Overall the album is very well produced, but it still gives her the chance to showcase her vocals on tracks like “Amazing Grace”, “How Great Thou Art” and “You’ll See”. I think that the song choice is very good and we are all crossing our fingers that her fans will like it and it will be a hit too.’ Needless to say, it was.
There was more admiration from yet another unlikely quarter, the rapper 50 Cent. ‘Susan Boyle is hot right now,’ he said. ‘I got to get her on a track, for real. We’d make a hit. Everyone is talking about her, the lady from Britain’s Got Talent. She’s got an amazing voice, and together we’d get everyone dancing. I’m always looking to do something new and she’s cool, so I’ll ask somebody to let her know. I’d love to take her clubbing, show her around my world. She’d have a great time.’ Was he joking? Who knew?
The Britain’s Got Talent judges had certainly been vindicated about their choice. Amanda was delighted with the way the record was selling, but given that she’d seen the reaction to Susan from day one, she had suspected this might be on the cards.
‘It’s incredible, but to be honest I’m not at all surprised,’ she told Hello! magazine. ‘She’s phenomenal, and her story has gone worldwide, so of course her album sales would do the same.’ As for the earlier teething problems, Amanda felt the same way as the other judges: ‘You’ve got to remember her audition,’ she explained. ‘She was feisty and strong, and funny and flirty - she’s a really big character. She’s had to deal with a lot in her life, she got through it and she’s a stronger person for it, so we mustn’t underestimate her strengths. I think we will have a chance to catch up with her before Christmas. She’s been all over the world
and none of us have been able to pin her down!’
Susan was also on the verge of becoming a wealthy woman. No one knew how much she was earning from it all, but there were estimates of over £5 million. Whatever the truth of it, Susan was finally going to get the peace of mind she craved. Despite all the comments about her single status, she appeared to be more interested in preparing for the future than finding love: ‘Och, there’s no time for that now!’ she told one reporter. ‘I’m far too busy! What a laugh. I dream about security, I dream about one day finding the right person. My advice to those who dare to dream is don’t give up. If I can do it, anyone else can too.’
Simon Cowell was, of course, earning money out of Susan, but he was adamant that he would have walked away from it all had Susan not been able to cope. ‘I said to [her family] at the time, the truth is, if this is too much for her or if she doesn’t want to do it, we’ll rip the contract up,’ he said. ‘No-one is going to be forced into doing anything. We were going to make a lot of money, and we have, but I would have walked away from that, I would.’
Simon had also been criticized for making more money out of Susan than she was, though that’s not entirely fair, for like it or not, that is the way the music industry works. The artist is paid a percentage of record sales, thought in Susan’s case to be about 15 per cent, because it’s the record company that’s taking the risk. Susan was certainly not being treated unfairly. Indeed, the money she was set to earn would have been life-changing in itself, even without her new career.
Susan Boyle Page 15