by John McShane
Morgan added, ‘She still gets a bit tired sometimes, but she is 48.’
‘We didn’t want to fall into the trap of looking at every middle-aged woman as the next Susan Boyle. That would be pointless. With Susan, it was a moment of total surprise and electricity. There’s no denying that everyone wants to see if we have our own Susan Boyle,’ said the American show’s executive producer, Cécile Frot-Coutaz. ‘The worst thing we could do is find our own version. The more you try to engineer it, the less you achieve on the desired outcome.’
Paul Telegdy, chief of reality programming at NBC, the channel that broadcast America’s Got Talent, said the show expected Boyle’s meteoric rise from obscurity to provide a ratings boost to AGT, which for the past two years had been massively popular throughout the summer.
Her sudden fame would be ‘very effective in letting the public know that this is what America’s Got Talent is about: a democracy for any act, age range or personal story,’ Frot-Coutaz said.
Susan had already had an effect on the show, even though she had never been on it, thanks to her YouTube hit and the massive attention it attracted in America.
‘We definitely saw a lot more people coming to audition who’d been told they would never make it, either because of their look or they didn’t fit the mould,’ said host Nick Cannon. ‘People felt if [Boyle] can do it, they can.’
US public relations expert Steve Jaffe, who had worked with former president Bill Clinton and film star Leonardo DiCaprio, put her success down to her ‘underdog’ image. ‘Susan Boyle is the classic example of what Americans want in their entertainment and in their lives. She represents hope. Americans dine on hope,’ he said.
‘Susan Boyle’s an underdog – a real rags to riches tale. That’s why we idolise people who are stars and that’s in large part what motivates us. We dream a dream that we can be like Susan Boyle. She’s the real thing, the genuine article, and we all believe that if she can make it, we can make it.’
He added, ‘Susan is someone who is without pretence. Americans grow up knowing that there’s an American Dream out there for them if they really try. Susan Boyle waited for her big break and grabbed it. No one expected her to be at such a professional level when she first appeared. We judged her by her plain appearance but she had heart. That’s why we have embraced her – Susan sings from the heart.’
Even as the crowds were welcoming her into LAX Airport, Lulu was pointing out, ‘It is hard to say if Susan Boyle mania is justified. 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 is about how you recover. When I found fame, it was very exciting and scary at the same time. 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.’
If there were any doubts that America’s love affair with Susan might end in tears, they were dispelled that evening. An estimated 25 million people – the largest audience of the night – tuned in to hear her sing. She was a sensation.
America’s Got Talent host Nick Cannon called her ‘a singer who took the whole world by storm just a few short months ago. She was launched on an extraordinary journey to take her to unprecedented global fame overnight.’
Backed by a pianist, a string section and a tuxedo-clad choir, Susan appeared in a black gown, with her hair straightened, and was given a standing ovation by the studio audience and judges, who included Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan.
‘Wow, truly amazing,’ Cannon said after her performance.
Speaking on the show, Susan referred to the loss of her mother. ‘I was very lonely to begin with. The loneliness really kicked in. I found myself crying a lot. I found I couldn’t manage or cope. But I know she meant me to do something with my life.’
She also talked about her spell in the Priory clinic after the pressure became too much following the BGT final. ‘I don’t remember much about it after the final. All I remember is being put in an ambulance and taken to this clinic. I’ve never felt so tired. I look back on it now and it was a necessity because I was tired. I don’t know what was wrong with me though. I used to be a spectator looking out at the world and now I am part of that world and, although frightening, I want to embrace it because I feel a bit more confident within myself right now, 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’m not the wee frightened wee lassie I used to be.’
The contest, incidentally, was won by country singer Kevin Skinner, a chicken farmer, who received one million dollars and a headline slot in Las Vegas and was understandably reduced to tears by his victory.
As well as that massive audience, Susan attracted rave reviews from the American media. Perhaps the most note worthy of these came from the pop music critic of the Los Angeles Times. ‘Susan Boyle placed her hands on her abdomen as she sang the last note of the song “Wild Horses” Wednesday on the finale of America’s Got Talent, taking the familiar stance of a trained singer, carefully locating her breath. The pose concluded a per formance that was exactly what Boyle’s mentor, Simon Cowell, could have hoped for – lovely, inspirational, free of surprises.
‘Devotees of the original Rolling Stones version of this often-covered weeper might object to Boyle’s stolid rhythmic sense, her utter lack of irony (irony is, after all, the essence of Mick Jagger), and her artistic choices, which transform “Wild Horses” from a complicated account of emotional confusion to a simple exclamation of longing. But mainstream America, at least as it’s portrayed on prime-time television, adores Boyle’s sunny vocal tone and her ability to turn even a song about a drug overdose into something worthy of church.’
The article went on to point out that her performance was canned (it was taped the night before the telecast, though made to look live) and that her nerves clearly planted her to one spot, but that it didn’t matter. It continued:
‘Ever since she appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, the UK version of this global talent-show franchise, Boyle has become one of the world’s most celebrated regular people. Working class, average looking and too old even to join the cast of Desperate Housewives, Boyle inspired many by pursuing her dream of becoming a professional in a field, entertainment, that mostly rewards the young and the beautiful.
‘She’s not the first star to defy beauty standards: there was Ethel Merman, Janis Joplin, heck, even American Idol had the chubby Christian rocker Chris Sligh. Perhaps because her voice is so pure while her chin is so wobbly, Boyle seems truly exceptional.’
The report continued by saying that the public were behind Susan for reasons that had nothing to do with the way she sings. ‘It is heartening to see a not-quite-50-year-old woman who’d never previously caught a break find success, even if at times she seems more traumatised than fulfilled by fame. But to be surprised by her singing is, frankly, an unfair response. Boyle has trained hard to sing the way she does; she is as careful as a singer comes. We should stop being startled by her performances and respect her for the qualities she’s cultivated: scrupulousness and dependability.
‘At 48, Boyle is old enough to have been a teen fan of the Rolling Stones. Perhaps the spunkiness that helped make her famous led her to choose a chestnut by those bad boys as the single from her debut album, to be released Nov. 24. Her rise has given the pop world an interesting new personality and music lovers a chance to embrace yet another very pretty voice.’
If that astonishing assessment of her performance was not enough, there were many more who echoed its sentiments. Eric Ditzian, of MTV, said she brought the house down; the Examiner called her performance ‘subdued yet elegant’; while one of the world’s most influential blogs, the Huffington Post, said she had arguably ‘stolen the show’.
; David Hinckley of the New York Daily News commented: ‘She did it mostly with piano accompaniment, in a deliberate style that sounded at times like a soaring theatrical ballad and other times like something out of a hymnal.
‘It definitely wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll – which is good, because that would have been just too bizarre. But it was still a bold choice from a woman who said in interviews that show tunes were her music.
‘She sang the song confidently, even when some of the lyrics seemed disconnected from any personal experience – and it certainly wasn’t the oddest Rolling Stones song she could have chosen.’
Amanda Holden, who was in America at the time, was interviewed on CBS News shortly after the broadcast.
‘I cannot it tell you how proud I was. My mother was out with me at the moment and we were both sat there, here in Nashville, watching her being embraced by America. I thought it was the most self-assured, confident performance I’ve ever seen her do. And I think that it’s really showing now in her personality, the love that she’s been shown… It was beautiful, really beautiful. It blew me away. I think it was the best thing she’s done so far. I have to say that I heard the song two weeks ago. Simon gave us a sneak listen. It was me and Simon and Piers at Simon’s house in Los Angeles. It was very dark. Simon has fires all around his swimming pool and he said listen to this, and he put the CD on.
And we listened and it was – her voice just rang out into the darkness and it was the most ethereal kind of spiritual moment ever. I thought even Simon was going to cry. I mean he couldn’t believe it. I think she sounds like a cross between kind of Kate Bush and Barbra Streisand at the moment. Her voice quality is stunning. I mean and that song choice is genius, just genius. I think that she’s found the middle ground. Her hair looks lovely. She didn’t have too much makeup on. She’s got a very pretty face. And I think that the makeup she had on last night kind of just accentuated that in a – in a very subtle kind of way. And I also thought she looked lovely, she was kind of very regal. I loved how she thanked the orchestra afterwards. She was very centred, very calm. It’s just brilliant.’
Holden also revealed how knowing Susan was now getting her into places she might otherwise have struggled to enter. ‘To get into places, whenever they asked, “Who is it for?” I’d say, “Do you know Susan Boyle? I’m the judge on that show.”
‘They would be like, “Oh my gaawwd! Wow, Susan Boyle!” And we would be in.
‘It’s amazing – she seems to have reached every corner of the world. I don’t think she realises her fame is growing. Susan has been in a little bubble in LA, making her album, and probably thinks the world has forgotten about her.’
The world certainly hadn’t forgotten about Susan. She got a rapturous ovation from fellow fans of her beloved Celtic when she performed the half-time draw on the pitch at their Parkhead ground during a European clash with Hamburg at the end of October and, as the excitement grew nearing the release of her CD, she came out with an astonishing admission: Susan, the 48-year-old spinster who ‘had never been kissed’ let alone anything else, had once been near to marriage.
She was quoted in the Sun newspaper as saying, ‘I had a boyfriend, John. He asked me to marry him, but he got cold feet. We had only ever had a peck on the cheek.
‘I just thought, “I don’t think so. We’re not getting married after just a few weeks.” He got cold feet. It made me sad, in a way. You feel unattractive. You feel life is passing you by.’
She also said how shocked she was by her ‘wee wifey’ appearance when she first saw herself on television. ‘I saw this wee wifey with the mad hairdo and the bushy eyebrows and said, “Hmmm, not really telegenic”.’
As always with fame, however, there were downsides. Susan’s loss of privacy was hard to cope with for a woman who had lived such an anonymous, mundane existence for so long. The press and a posse of photographers were continually around her, looking for snippets here a revealing photograph there. There was another kind of follower too, people of a more disturbing nature. By mid-November she had been given extra security after a crazed stalker turned up at her home in Blackburn.
Susan had been bombarded with weird letters from the middle-aged American woman after her initial YouTube appearance. The stalker then arrived unannounced in Blackburn and although a bodyguard intercepted her, when Simon Cowell heard of the incident, which left Susan ‘shaken up’, he ordered increased protection for her.
The incident was especially disturbing because at a London book signing a few weeks earlier The X Factor winner Leona Lewis had been punched by a deranged fan.
‘This woman is constantly following Susan around the world,’ a friend revealed. ‘It is a middle-aged American woman who has become obsessed with her. At first, people thought it was no more than a nuisance. But after what happened to Leona everyone is taking extra precautions. This is an important month for Susan and everyone wants it to go smoothly.’
With the release date for her album approaching, an Edinburgh-based security firm was hired to protect her, although Susan seemed to be unperturbed by the danger, said friends.
She was even out on her doorstep in a polka-dot dressing gown waving to neighbours and giving them the thumbs-up. For luck she added a typical hip-wiggle and, in anticipation of the success of the album, said, ‘Things are great. It will be an absolute honour to be No. 1.’
In the run-up to the CD release, Susan gave an interview to the Daily Mirror in which she revealed more of the troubled life she had led as a child – she had been hit with a belt every day by brutal teachers and cruelly taunted by other children – and the impact it had had on her in the ensuing years. One of the blackest periods of her life, she told the paper, was when she was bullied at school. ‘There’s nothing worse than another person having power over you by bullying you and you not knowing how to get rid of that thing.
‘After mum died it didn’t fully register until maybe six months after. That’s when the loneliness set in and there was nobody around except my cat Pebbles. When you lose someone as powerful as your mum you feel as if a part of you is taken away and that does things to your confidence.’
She said music was ‘a complete emotional release’ from the problems she encountered in her youth, explaining, ‘This feels like a good way of making up for that – a very, very enjoyable way of making up for it as well.’
That wasn’t, of course, the only interview that Susan gave. In contrast to the anodyne conversation she had with American television, she was remarkably candid in a talk with Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum for Australian television. His down-to-earth, low-key questioning allowed her to reveal much more of the torment she had been through at various stages in her life, than the fairly saccharin approach of interviewing in the US.
She expanded on the points he had raised in the Mirror: ‘When people are a wee bit slow, others pick at them,’ she said. ‘My life was made absolute hell.’ She said she was constantly ‘made a fool of’ at school, and admitted that the jibes have left her emotionally scarred and holding on to a lot of anger.
‘I can be up and down like a yo-yo. I can be depressed. I can be a bit funny after being tired, but when I go on stage I forget all about that. I feel I’ve got a communication with the audience. I’m told I’m a different person on stage.
‘I know I’m taking a big chance telling people this, but you have to be honest. I used to be made a fool of at school. It was psychological bullying and that leaves a scar and it also cultivates a lot of anger.’
When Meldrum pointed out that she had given hope to others with her success, she took up his theme by saying, ‘Especially those who tend to be the underdog like myself. I have a slight disability and people have always been saying to me “you can’t do this and you can’t do that, or you can’t take this job” or whatever. It made me so annoyed and angry and frustrated. I like to think that people who dare to dream a dream can have that dream come true through their own determination.
‘So when I wen
t on Britain’s Got Talent it was a chance to prove myself. I had a lot of friends in the community who said I had a reasonable voice and obviously I had the support of my mother and members of my family, which is very important.
‘In some ways I had a conflict with my mother. Everybody argues, everybody does things they should not do. And it was really was poignant and it did make me cry, and I’m trying not to do that now, that she is not alive to see how proud I would have made her. I know she would have been proud of me.’
When Meldrum pointed out her success around the world, her response was simple: ‘All I did was open my gob and sing. I just made a noise. Everybody does it you know…’
Was the pressure too great? ‘Pressure is good because it makes you work hard, but it works against you when you get a bit tired, you need rest periods in between. That’s the only way I can handle it. But other than that it’s been good fun.’
She added, ‘If people didn’t recognise you I might end up saying, “What am I doing wrong?”
‘Everybody goes through phases where they think should I give up and if I hadn’t made that promise to my mother then I probably would have given up… I did not have a path in life. I did not have anything set out for me. A lot of people have their lives mapped out for them, mine was not. I did not know what I wanted to be. I did not know what I was good at. I wasn’t told I was good at anything. I was always kept down. So the question there was what was I going to be, what was my goal, what was my place in life.’
It was a remarkable interview by the grizzled Aussie, who had coaxed more out of Susan than anyone before.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though, Susan was quite perky throughout it too, and at one stage when Meldrum asked her jokingly if she would replace Mick Jagger in the Stones for a version of ‘Wild Horses’, she reduced him to laughter with an impromptu impersonation of the Stones’ singer.
Although ‘SuBo mania’ was still as strong as ever, and there had been the rendition of ‘Wild Horses’ in the US, Susan had not sung in public or on-screen in the UK for some time. Therefore, a story about her singing ‘Wild Horses’ on the The X Factor at the time of her album release towards the end of November was billed as ‘ a comeback’!