Susan Margaret Boyle

Susan Margaret Boyle (born 15 June 1961) is a Scottish singer who came to international public attention on 11 April 2009, when she appeared as a contestant on Britain's Got Talent, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables.

Global interest in Boyle was triggered by the contrast between her powerful voice and her plain appearance on stage. The juxtaposition of the audience's first impression of her with the standing ovation she received 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, an online record. Despite the sustained media interest, she later finished in second place in the final of the show, behind dance troupe Diversity.

Boyle's first album, I Dreamed a Dream, will be released on 23 November 2009, and has become Amazon's best-selling album in pre-sales. Its first single is a cover of the Jagger/Richards song "Wild Horses." The album is also expected to include "You'll See," "I Dreamed a Dream," "Memory," and "Cry Me a River."

Early life

Susan Boyle was born in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland, to Patrick Boyle, a miner, World War II veteran and singer at the Bishop's Blaize, and Bridget, a shorthand typist, who were both immigrants from County Donegal, 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 difficulties. 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 College for six months and took part in government training programs. She visited the theatre to listen to professional singers and performed at a number of local venues.

Early singing

Boyle took singing lessons from voice coach Fred O'Neil. She attended Edinburgh Acting School and took part in the Edinburgh Fringe. Prior to Britain's Got Talent, her main experience had come from singing in church and karaoke at pubs in her village. She had also auditioned several times for My Kind of People. She also has long participated in her parish church's pilgrimages to the Knock Shrine, County Mayo, Ireland, and has sung there at the Marian basilica.

Her repertoire through the years has included songs such as "The Way We Were" and "I Don't Know How to Love Him." British tabloids claimed "exclusives" of video clips of some early performances. In 1995 her audition for Michael Barrymore's My Kind of People at the Olympia Shopping Centre in East Kilbride was filmed. The amateur video shows Barrymore was apparently more interested in mocking her.

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 & Post 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 Post said it showed that Boyle was "not a one trick pony." Hello! said the recording "cement[ed] her status" as a singing star.

In 1999, Boyle used all her savings to pay for a professional demo tape, copies of which she later sent to record companies, radio talent competitions, local and national TV. The demo tape consisted of her versions of "Cry Me a River" and "Killing Me Softly with His Song", and was uploaded to the Internet after her 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 Factor because she believed people were being chosen for their looks, and that she almost abandoned her plan to enter Britain's Got Talent. O'Neil persuaded her to audition despite her believing "...she was too old and that it was a young person's game".Boyle said that her mother's death motivated her to go on Britain's Got Talent and 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 then.

Personal life

Boyle still lives in the family home, a four-bedroom council house, with her 10-year-old cat, Pebbles.

Her father died in the 1990s, and her siblings had left home. Boyle never married, and she cared for her ageing mother until she died in 2007 at the age of 91,[10] which meant that she never had any time for herself.[10] 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 remains active as a volunteer at Our Lady of Lourdes church in Blackburn, visiting elderly members of the congregation in their homes.

Britain's Got Talent

In August 2008, Boyle applied for an audition for the third series of Britain's Got Talent and was accepted after a preliminary audition in Glasgow. When Boyle first appeared on Britain's Got Talent at the city's Clyde Auditorium, she said that she aspired to become a musical theatre singer "as successful as" Elaine Paige. Boyle sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables in the first round of the third series of Britain's Got Talent, which was watched by over 10 million viewers when it aired on 11 April 2009. Amanda Holden remarked upon the audience's initially cynical attitude, and the subsequent "biggest wake-up call ever" upon hearing her performance.

' I know what they were thinking, but why should it matter as long as I can sing? It's not a beauty contest. - Susan Boyle, The Sunday Times.

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 Mackintosh, the producer of the Les Misérables musical, also praised the performance, as "heart-touching, 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 Cats. 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 Diversity; the UK TV audience was a record of 17.3 million viewers.

Album and U.S. concert tour

Boyle's first album, I Dreamed a Dream, will be released on 23 November 2009. The album will include covers of "Wild Horses" (scheduled to be her first single) and "You'll See" as well as the songs "I Dreamed a Dream", "Memory" and "Cry Me a River". The album became Amazon.com's best-selling album in pre-sales, shortly after it became available. Boyle will give a U.S. concert tour in November as a lead-up to the album release.