Susan Boyle Dreamed A Dream And It Came True

Saturday 12th December 2009 - 08:15:23

On Saturday April 11 this year families up and down the country lazily gathered around their televisions to watch light entertainment reality show 'Britain's Got Talent'.

Seen as the less serious, slightly poorer cousin to channel ITV's flagship reality show 'The X Factor', the usual procession of comedic dancers, novelty acts, pets, ventriloquists and largely hopeless singers appeared - to be subjected to various levels of either ridicule or raised eyebrows as they performed for the show's judges, egged on by hosts Ant and Dec.

As one dowdy middle aged woman shuffled onto the stage, instantly attracting derisive sniggers from the crowd, the bored looking adjudicators - Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan - looked ready to dismiss her before she'd even opened her mouth.

The lady stumbled over her words in a thick Scottish accent as she explained her name was Susan Boyle and she came from Blackburn, a small collection of villages in West Lothian, to the crowd's laughter.

Little would anyone - not Susan herself, not even media mogul Simon - know that by the end of the year she would be one of the world's most successful singers, with one of the fastest selling debut albums in history, shifting over four and a half million copies in three weeks, making her a household name across the world, from the US to the Philippines.

Back on stage that night, after completing her slightly awkward exchange with the judges and explained she was to sing show tune, 'I Dreamed A Dream', from 'Les Miserables', Susan was finally given the opportunity to sing.

From her very first line, the hairs on the back of the necks of those watching across the UK stood on end. The audience who, minutes before, were laughing were instead brought to their feet to give a standing ovation at her breathtaking performance.

Afterwards, a gobsmacked Piers told her: "Without a doubt that was the biggest surprise I've had in three years on this show. When you stood there with that cheeky grin and said 'I want to be like Elaine Page' everyone was laughing at you. No one is laughing now. That was stunning, an incredible performance. I'm reeling from shock."

In a testament to the power of the nouveaux word of mouth in today's age of accessible media, the clip of Susan's performance was almost instantly uploaded to the internet and passed around. It didn't take long to reach the US, where it was seen and championed by actress Demi Moore and her husband Ashton Kutcher, two of the most followed and influential users of the twitter micro-blogging service.

Within days the clip became one of the most watched on the internet ever, with an estimated 100 million views after just seven days. Things were happening fast - some would say too fast - for the fledgling star.

Susan was, in many ways, not ready for showbusiness. She grew up in the same house all of her life, the youngest of ten children. She had lived a sheltered existence from the start and had to overcome learning difficulties - the result of being deprived of oxygen briefly at birth - and bullying from other children.

She has said she felt failed by the education system in Scotland, saying: "You're looking at someone who would get the belt every day, 'Will you Shut up, Susan!' - whack!

When you stood there with that cheeky grin and said 'I want to be like Elaine Page' everyone was laughing at you

"I'm just a wee bit slower at picking things up than other people. So you get left behind in a system that just wants to rush on."

The singer added her isolation only grew when she went to secondary school.

She added: "I wasn't sure who was my friend or my enemy. I didn't make friends very easily. I did try to speak to people but they made fun of me."

After school, Susan was employed for six months at a local college as a trainee cook, the only time she was employed during her life. After this her life revolved around her parents and community college courses, as well as singing in church and at local karaoke nights.

After years of rejection from TV programmes and record companies, Susan admitted she had nearly given up hope, and only auditioned for 'Britain's Got Talent' because it was the dying wish of her beloved mother, who passed away two years ago aged 91.

Susan explained: "We'd just seen a soloist singing on TV, just before she passed and I said, 'Is that what you want me to do mum?'

"I had to pluck up the courage to go through with it, though. When I was out there, singing on that stage, I was doing it for mum."

'Britain's Got Talent' changed everything for Susan, before the show was even over, even before her second performance, she was being offered TV interviews, radio appearances and lucrative singing slots across the world.

Susan tried to retire to her house and old life, but found herself the target of the notorious UK paparazzi, and before the show finished at the end of May, she had to be hidden by the show's producers in a secret location. Susan did, however, agree to be interviewed by the most influential woman on US TV, Oprah Winfrey, for a special show about her life.

Ironically, Susan didn't even win 'Britain's Got Talent', losing out in the final to urban dance troupe Diversity, based on viewer's votes. The fallout of the show and the constant hounding from the media visibly took its toll on the singer shortly afterward, and she was admitted to posh rehabilitation clinic The Priory with exhaustion.

Despite rumours of a breakdown, Simon Cowell, who signed Susan to his Syco record label, denied she was being pushed too hard either during the show or after.

He said: "No one ever put a gun to her head and said you've got to enter the show. I sat down with her and said 'Look, if this is getting too much for you, you don't have to go into the final. No one's going to force you - you do whatever you want, whatever suits you'.

"And she looked me in the eye and said, 'No I want to win this competition, I want to give it a go'. That was the decision we all made."

"I even spoke to her family about it. I asked them, 'Did we make the right or wrong decision having her on the show?'

"They said it was the right move because all Susan ever wanted to do was have a shot."

Over summer 2009 Susan busied herself in the recording studio, and was also trained to cope with her newfound fame. She was given a makeover, which saw her bushy eyebrows plucked, her hair restyled and the frumpy gowns replaced with elegant, classy dresses and even a leather jacket.

Her debut as an artist, rather than a reality TV contestant, was made a few months later, when her sultry, stripped back version of The Rolling Stones' classic 'Wild Horses' emerged.

Accompanied solely by piano, the clarity of the singer's voice shone through the haunting melody and cut through the radio waves, setting her firmly apart from the contemporary pop and rock which was otherwise being played.

The song was a hit, and off the back of it presales of Susan's album - aptly titled after the song which made her famous, 'I Dreamed A Dream' - were rocketing, with online retailer amazon.co.uk announcing it as their biggest selling presale album in history.

The trajectory of Susan's career has firmly been upward ever since, and with successful promotional tours of the US and Europe under her belt and a warm reception from critics to the mix of show tunes, contemporary balladry and even an original composition written just for her on her album, have shown Susan has talent far beyond what she initially promised.

The pinnacle of 2009 for Susan though, was finally meeting and performing alongside her idol, legend of London's West End theatre district, Elaine Page.

Of meeting her heroine, and performing the track 'I Knew Him So Well', she said: "I never thought I'd see myself on the same stage with such an icon from West End theatre, let alone singing with her as an equal. I don't want the dream to end."

Elaine complemented Susan back, saying: "It was a pleasure to finally sing with Susan, she was a delight to work with and I think we more than did justice to one of my favourite songs."

Last year Susan was alone in the world, apart from her siblings, living in the council house she had spent all her life in and barely daring to dream of success.

Now, she modestly describes the year in which she became one of the most famous people on the planet, sold millions of records and won over millions more hearts, as being "b****y fantastic", but the beauty of Susan comes in her eternally simplistic worldview.

She maintains there are only two things she needs in this life to keep her happy - her council home in Blackburn, which she is in the process of buying, and her beloved cat, Pebbles.

She said: "I don't want to be moving an inch away from my family, and Pebbles doesn't want to move. She's lived there all her life and cats hate upping sticks.

"I'm the wee wifey with the mop and the cat next door. It's what keeps me grounded - remembering I am just that wifey. And Pebbles would hate to live anywhere posh."

And as Susan's family have lived in the house for over 30 years they're eligible for a £15,000 discount off its estimated £80,000 price tag, which is also bound to make her happy.