by John McShane
Again pointing out how different it is for women, the article went on to say: ‘How dare such an unsexy female even get up on stage! It’s an outrage! If she hadn’t sung so wonderfully, who knows what would have happened? Susan might have been lynched. Or worse, stripped to her underwear and sent straight to Gok Wan.
‘It’s different for men. Think of Elton John, Barry Manilow, Meatloaf, Van Morrison, Phil Collins, Jimmy Ruddy Nail… even Michael Jackson. No one ever looked at them and thought, “There’s no way that man can sing. He’s not good-looking enough, the loser. Banish him!” But no woman gets to perform publicly unless she looks like Mariah Carey. If you’re a female singer, you are required by showbiz law to appear sexy at all times.’
It wasn’t just the national newspapers who had decided that there should be virtually no limit to their coverage of Susan; the provincial press too was simultaneously enthusiastically raving about her performance and questioning just why it had had such an impact.
‘When Susan Boyle walked onto the stage at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions, she was the complete antithesis of our image-obsessed world. Dressed in a dodgy gold dress, with bushy eyebrows and her greying hair longing to be styled and coloured, first impressions meant we all expected her to fail miserably,’ said Wales’ Western Mail.
‘After all, it wasn’t a surprise when the 47-year-old announced she was single, living at home with only a pet cat for company or that she’d never been married, never even been kissed. It wasn’t really a surprise when she waffled on to Simon Cowell about where she lived, how old she was or even when she started, rather embarrassingly, nervously gyrating her hips. The looks from the audience and judges alike summed up exactly what we were all feeling at home – this woman may want to be a professional singer like Elaine Paige, but she didn’t stand a chance, did she? After all, she just didn’t look right so what chance would she have against the bevy of half-dressed beauties looking to charm the judges for the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance. But Ms Boyle – even her name isn’t remotely showbiz or sexy – had a gigantic surprise up her rather old-fashioned shaped sleeve.
‘And when she belted out “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Misérables, we were all left gobsmacked.’
Much nearer to home, the Evening Times in Edinburgh said: ‘Let’s hear it for the misfits: a select band of people at least half a step out of synch with the rest of the world who with every word, deed and thought dare to be different. Best of all, they are as natural in quirks and foibles as the rest of humanity is not.
‘People like Susan Boyle, who bravely took to a stage and was ready to be mocked and patronised by some pretty shallow, sharp-minded showbiz cookies backed by an audience ready for a lynching.
‘At first it looked as if yet another lamb was being led to the slaughter: Simon Cowell rolled his eyes, Piers Morgan smirked and Amanda Holden set her face in pre-performance sympathy-mode. As the camera panned over the audience, the only things missing were knitting needles and a guillotine.
‘Then the gloriously plain and perky Miss Boyle opened her mouth and the rest is, as the sheep might say, history.’
The article, not one that favoured Britain’s Got Talent as a show, continued: ‘It is marshmallow media for the unthinking – until the likes of Susan Boyle comes along and shatters the pre-packaged myth of good looks, sophisticated charm, wit and style. Just an ordinary, wee, middle-aged, never-been-kissed spinster in a baggy dress with a twinkle in her eye and a singing voice that could shatter glass and splinter pigeonholes.
‘By the time she makes her next appearance I am in no doubt the style gurus will have set to work: the frizzy bob will have been softened, there will be a gown and girders to even out the lumps and bumps.
‘What won’t change is her aura of danger and anarchy: the spirit of individualism that sets Susan Boyle and her like outside of the herd.’
The newspaper added: ‘If anything, Miss Boyle – I refuse to say Ms because Miss was made for her – is a parable of our blighted, anxiety-ridden, narrow-minded times…it is also where Susan Boyle’s hidden talent lies. Not in a glorious voice singing its way from a brown paper bag…but to shock herded humanity out of complacency, conceit and self-deception.’
Newspapers and television and radio stations around the world rely for a vast amount of their information on agency reports; the wire services, as they were once referred to. The unsung heroes of the newsgathering process, they disseminate information locally, nationally and internationally. One of the leading agencies is the Associated Press, and in the middle of the crazy week that ensued after Susan’s Saturday night performance they sent out several stories, one of which was headlined ‘Singing “spinster” strikes chord in talent contest’.
Datelined ‘Blackburn, Scotland’, it said: ‘Susan Boyle lives alone in a row house with her cat Pebbles, a drab existence in one of Scotland’s poorest regions. She cared for her widowed mother for years, never married and sang in church and at karaoke nights at the pub. Neighbours knew she could sing, and now – what with You Tube, Twitter and countless blog postings – just about everyone else does, too… When she mounted the stage for Saturday’s broadcast, her frizzy grey-tinged hair curling wildly and a gold lace dress clinging unflatteringly to her chubby frame, Boyle looked the antithesis of the American idols Simon Cowell normally anoints. She was greeted with giggles from the audience and eye rolls from the notoriously acerbic Cowell. The audience chuckled in embarrassment as she wiggled her hips awkwardly.
‘Then she opened her mouth… her soaring voice drew startled looks and then delighted smiles from Cowell and the other judges. The audience leapt to its feet to applaud. More than 11 million people watched Saturday’s show, but Boyle’s instant success is due as much to new media as to the power of television, with a clip of her performance posted on YouTube by the show’s producers drawing nearly 13 million views. Not to mention the skilful packaging of the segment, a mini-opera of underdog triumph.’
The report added: ‘Boyle herself seems ill at ease with her newfound fame. At her modest, government-subsidised home on Thursday, she seemed more at ease making tea for visiting TV crews than answering questions about her life. She did mug for the cameras, however, crooning into a hairbrush.
“‘It has been surreal for me,” Boyle told the AP. “I didn’t realize this would be the reaction, I just went on stage and got on with it.”
“‘She is often taunted by local kids. They think she’s an oddball, but she’s a simple soul with genuine warmth,” a neighbour was quoted as saying. “Not many people these days are devoutly religious or would spend their time devoted to their parents to the point they’d find themselves a spinster.”
‘Susan told the agency, “I can hardly remember what happened on the night as I had my eyes closed most of the time. It really didn’t dawn on me what was happening.”’
Perhaps the most famous news agency of all is Reuters, the organisation founded in the middle of the 19th century and synonymous with the dissemination of news about major world events.
So how could they not write about Susan?
The message they circulated to the world in the aftermath of her appearance was: ‘A middle aged Scottish spinster with untamed hair and a plain-spoken manner has captivated millions of music lovers and confounded celebrity watchers with her rise to fame after appearing on a British TV talent show.
‘Susan Boyle, at 47, became one of the world’s hottest celebrities virtually overnight after her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” on Britain’s Got Talent this month.
‘She has appeared on Larry King Live in the United States and in countless newspaper and internet articles. The clip of her song has been viewed around 50 million times on website YouTube.
‘But while most people see her story as a fairytale, some say it casts an unflattering light on the public and its preconceived notions about beauty and fame. They argue that the reason Boyle, who lives alone with her ct, became the instant
star she has was because she did not look or behave like a “typical” celebrity.’
That even an organisation as prestigious as Reuters should see fit to give Susan the accolade of a feature about her life and television debut is a mark of how far she had come in so short a time. And nowhere had that impact been greater than in America.
The ‘story had become the story’, in newspaper parlance. In other words, the amount of column inches and air space that Susan was generating was now being mentioned as newsworthy in its own right.
The Independent was one of the first to note the fascination in America with the tiny lady from West Lothian.
‘It didn’t take long. Just days after Susan Boyle caused a sensation on Britain’s Got Talent she has conquered another media market far away from her home in Blackburn, Scotland. She may not be in Beatles territory quite yet, but America is going nuts for the lady.’ Under the headline ‘Just Who Is The Singer Susan Boyle?’ the paper went on to record the interest of others.
‘The San Francisco Chronicle: “Unless you live under a rock, you know about the Scottish woman who has taken the industrialised world by storm. CBS scored biggest. There on its Early Show yesterday was a bemused-looking Ms Boyle for a live satellite interview from her front room. Veteran London correspondent Mark Phillips had been dispatched to her local pub to gauge her popularity among the punters – they love her.
“‘You have become overnight a worldwide star,” CBS anchor Harry Smith gushed. “Do you understand that, do you understand what that means?” Ms Boyle, who also sang a few bars again for those American viewers who had not already heard her on YouTube, responded very simply, “It hasn’t completely sunk in yet.”
‘The whirlwind may only just have begun. CNN was yesterday reporting that after broadcasting excerpts of Ms Boyle this week, it had been besieged by requests from viewers for more. It also said that it would be following up the CBS with an interview with her on its own daily breakfast show, American Morning, today.”’
The Independent mused on why Susan had this appeal in the Land of the Free. ‘It is a country that will respond always to any variation of the fairy tale where the apparently unprepossessing suddenly becomes pretty, from Shrek to My Fair Lady.
‘Thus some of the excited headlines yesterday, including “The Moment an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan” in the New Jersey Star Ledger and “Susan Boyle Stole My Heart” in the San Jose Mercury News in California. Stepping back a little, the Daily News in New York noted, “Susan Boyle was the Golden Ticket to Reality TV.”
“‘The grand prize for any ‘reality’ TV show is to stumble, with no prior warning or expectation, on to a moment of drama so engaging we would only expect to find it in carefully scripted fiction,” the Daily News wrote. “That’s the prize the British competition show Britain’s Got Talent won last Saturday night when a rather drab-looking 47-year-old woman named Susan Boyle sang a version of ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ and stopped the show.”’
The Daily Mail, too, recognised the global appeal the Susan now had.
‘She is the most unlikely of showbusiness sensations. But amateur singer Susan Boyle has become an international star since wowing the judges and viewers of Britain’s Got Talent six days ago. Show creator Simon Cowell is predicting a number one album in the US for churchgoer Miss Boyle after announcing that Oprah Winfrey, America’s leading talk show host, had asked her on to her programme. This comes after 48-year-old Miss Boyle – who lives alone with her cat Pebbles for company – was interviewed for top US breakfast show Good Morning America yesterday.
‘She has also been featured in newspapers around the world, even making the front page of the prestigious Washington Post and being described by another as having the “voice of an angel”.
‘Yesterday, appearing on Good Morning America by satellite from Britain, Miss Boyle was asked by host Diane Sawyer if she wanted to change the way she looked. “I’d like that,” Miss Boyle replied, adding, “I can’t really believe this is happening.”’
The New Zealand Herald said: ‘A middle-aged volunteer church worker with the voice of an angel is Britain’s latest unlikely showbiz star.’ Even France acknowledged her talent when the French news agency AFP (Agence France-Presse) reported on her ‘stunning musical debut’. Susan was truly on her way to becoming a global phenomenon.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUSAN GOES GLOBAL
One of the remarkable aspects of Susan Boyle’s fame is how her appeal has transcended all nationalities and classes. She isn’t just for the section of the public known, for better or worse, as ‘the masses’, or the various outlets of the media who constantly feed the outside world with information and tittle-tattle. Even ‘celebs’ themselves have fallen under her spell. And it didn’t take long for that to happen, either. In the global village we all now inhabit, word circulated in a matter of days.
It was fitting that among the first to acknowledge her gift was Elaine Paige, the woman who had so inspired Susan throughout the years. ‘I did not see the broadcast when it went out as I was taking a little break,’ she said. ‘But when I got back from that holiday my email box was inundated with friends telling me to watch the YouTube clip, which I did – along with everyone else in the world.’
The obvious question, given Susan’s professed admiration for Paige, was did the West End star think the Scot was any good – and was there a similarity in their voices?
‘When I first saw the YouTube clip I remember having an idea in my head, “Oh, that’s a voice I kind of recognise a bit.” I think there is a kind of similarity. It has a tone to it, a similar timbre. Yes, I can hear a similarity, most definitely. It’s slightly uncanny and a bit spooky even. Yes, I can hear it.
‘When I saw her I thought she was wonderful. She has a clear, natural voice and I was blown away like everybody else. Hearing her sing with such freedom, it was an outstanding performance. When I saw her on YouTube and heard her say that she wanted to sing like me, I was very honoured and flattered. To be an inspiration, when you are completely unaware of it and then to discover in this way, is a, is a big surprise. Well, it’s just very flattering.’
Paige thought Susan was a role model for other people who were dreaming of the same thing and, like many, found it refreshing to hear a voice that didn’t belong to someone of 25 or younger. ‘I think everyone is tired of that youth culture. Equally, in days gone by opera singers could be any shape or size or whatever and no one would comment on their appearance. It was their voice that mattered. I think it is the same with Susan. I think it is her voice that is her talent and I think she should stay true to herself. She comes from a little village in West Lothian in Scotland; she is a country girl I suppose you could say. I think for her to be glitzy and glamorous in some village in Scotland is not the way for her to go about things and would perhaps be a little unsettling.’
And of the suggestion that the two should sing a duet: ‘If it’s something that Simon Cowell would like to do then it would be my great pleasure to sing with her. Of course, to be in the theatre is a whole different ball game. You need to sing eight times a week, you need energy and stamina and some training. I would love to meet her and talk to her and maybe have tea or something.
‘She is a very natural girl you can see that in her performance. She reached out to the world, as it were. She’s a country girl. And I think she just has the most lovely, natural voice. She’s very open in her performance. And I think, you know, in such gloomy times that we’re all sort of living through at the moment, economically speaking anyway, she was a breath of fresh air, and just came out of the blue and reached out to everybody.’
The star even had a message for Susan: ‘If you want to sing together – let’s.’
Days after being an unknown and generating a million smirks and eye-rolls with her ridiculous suggestion that she would ‘like to be like Elaine Paige’, Susan had the superstar herself not just coming out with a few polite words of praise, but a fulsome, generous and
spot-on assessment of Susan and her appeal. And she wanted to sing a duet!
There was more praise to come Susan’s way from another singer familiar with ‘I Dreamed a Dream’.
The two words most often placed before Patti LuPone’s name are ‘Broadway’ and ‘Diva’, and with very good reason. The singer, a contemporary of Elaine Paige, had a career which in many ways mirrored the Brit’s: she starred in Evita and Sunset Boulevard and, most relevantly as far as Susan was concerned, in 1985, she created the part of Fantine in the Royal Shakespeare Company–Cameron Mackintosh production of Les Misérables. In recognition of that debut performance with the Royal Shakespeare Company she became the first American actress to win an Olivier Award.
She too was enraptured by Susan.
The two ‘came together’ on a CBS television show in America: Susan from the front room of her home in Blackburn, Patti on the telephone in the States. Standing ramrod straight in her small living room with its cheap-looking furniture and reproduction paintings on the walls, Susan, wearing a plain white dress and a chunky pearl necklace, answered the by now familiar questions about her performance and the reaction to it, before singing, at the interviewers’ request, a few bars of the song.
Across the other side of the Atlantic, Patti LuPone was listening and she immediately said, ‘I heard that, I cried. Susan, you got pluck girl. It’s not an easy song, it’s the ending actually that is the roughest part, as Susan will attest I’m sure. What you have to hit at the very end of the song that is difficult. It’s an emotional song. It’s the first ballad in the musical and it comes very early in the show. I saw her performance on YouTube like everybody else. Someone that works in my press agent’s office in New York sent it to me, was it yesterday or the day before, I believe the day before yesterday. My husband and I watched it and I started to cry. Susan you made me cry.’