Susan Boyle

 

Susan Boyle, 47 from West Lothian, Scotland, is a contestant on the 3rd series of Britain's Got Talent. She surprised the judges with a strong performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables in the competition's first round, aired on 11 April 2009, eliciting the "biggest yes in three seasons" from Piers Morgan and yesses from both Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden.

 

Judges' comments
 
Piers: Without a doubt that was the biggest surprise I have had in three years on the show. When you stood there with that cheeky grin and said, "I wanna be like Elaine Paige", everyone was laughing at you. No one is laughing now. That was stunning, an incredible performance. Amazing. I'm reeling from shock.[1]
 
Amanda: I am so thrilled because I know that everybody was against you. I honestly think that we were all being very cynical and I think that's the biggest wake up call ever. And I just want to say that it was a complete privilege listening to that.[1]
 
Simon: Susan Boyle, you can head back to the village, with your head held high, it's three yesses.[1]
 
News media
 
The majority of British newspapers carried articles on Susan Boyle's performance and subsequent internet coverage, including The Daily Telegraph[2] and The Sun[3] where she was given the nickname Paula Potts in reference to the contest's previous opera singing winner Paul Potts. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Susan confirmed she had a meeting with the Sony BMG record company but said "I can't say much about it. It's early days and I'm taking baby steps."[4]
International news websites also carried stories on her such as the New York Daily News[5] and Australia's Herald Sun.[6] In the ABC News coverage which suggested that Boyle may be "...Britain's newest pop sensation...", the Entertainment section posts the headline The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell. Cowell went on to say after her performance: "She had a great voice and I was really surprised by her."[7]
 
TV shows
 
Following on from her performance on Britain's Got Talent, Susan was as a guest on STV's The Five Thirty Show.[8]
 
Social media
 
On the day following the performance, the YouTube video was the number one article for all categories on Digg, with nearly triple the votes ("diggs") of the second most popular.[9]
The same video was also popular on Reddit, with enough clout to top the front page as well.[10]
The most popular YouTube video submission garnered 800,000+ views in the first 24 hours with a five star rating across the board. This was despite embedding of the video being disabled. Also, the submitter was awarded the most subscriptions of the day. In addition, it was awarded 99 additional honours. As of April 15, 2009 at 09:00 EST, just three and a half days after the videos posting it had garnered approx. 5.6 million viewings and over 30,000 comments.[11]
 
It was reported that celebrity couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher posted their praise of Susan Boyle using the website Twitter.[12], as well as Edward Droste claiming on his Twitter, "Susan Boyle penetrates even the most cynical and jaded people...!"
 
Personal life
 
Susan is the youngest of nine children and lives in Blackburn, West Lothian, with her ten year old cat, Pebbles. She stopped her pursuit of singing to look after her sick mother who died in 2007 at the age of 91.[13]
References
  1. ^ a b c "Auditions 1". Britain's Got Talent. ITV. 2009-04-11. No. 1, series 3.
  2. ^ Khan, Urmee (2009-04-14). "Britain's Got Talent church worker Susan Boyle becomes YouTube hit". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5152638/Britains-Got-Talent-church-worker-Susan-Boyle-becomes-YouTube-hit.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  3. ^ Robertson, Colin (2009-04-10). "Paula Potts". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article2370359.ece. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  4. ^ Gould, Lara (2009-04-12). "Britain's Got Talent: Singing sensation Susan Boyle sang to escape the bullies". The Daily Mirror. http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/04/12/singing-was-my-escape-from-bullies-115875-21272894/. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  5. ^ Staff (2009-04-14). "Susan Boyle, the most unlikely reality TV star ever, shocks Simon Cowell on 'Britain's Got Talent'". Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/04/14/2009-04-14_susan_boyle_the_most_unlikely_reality_tv_star_ever_shocks_judge_simon_cowell_on_.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  6. ^ Staff (2009-04-13). "UK talent show stunned by Scottish virgin Susan Boyle". Herald Sun. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25329373-5006024,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  7. ^ Farhanghi, Hoda (2009-04-14). "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell". ABCNews Online. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=7332570&page=1. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  8. ^ "Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle's promise to mum". STV.tv. 2009-04-14. http://entertainment.stv.tv/home/88339-britains-got-talent-star-susan-boyles-promise-to-mum/. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  9. ^ Jenocide312 (2009-04-12). "Amazing Perf by 47YO on Britain's Got Talent". Digg.com. http://digg.com/music/Amazing_Perf_by_47YO_on_Britain_s_Got_Talent. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  10. ^ QueenZ (2009-04-12). "never judge a book by its cover-amazing singer Susan Boyle". Reddit.com. http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/8btiu/never_judge_a_book_by_its_coveramazing_singer/. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  11. ^ "Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)". YouTube.com. 2009-04-11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  12. ^ Robertson, Colin (2009-04-14). "Crying out for Moore". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article2377257.ece. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
  13. ^ "Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle proves big hit on YouTube". The Daily Record. 2009-04-14. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/showbiz-news/showbiz-news/2009/04/14/britain-s-got-talent-star-susan-boyle-proves-big-hit-on-youtube-86908-21277248/. Retrieved on 2009-04-14. 
Related links
YouTube:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-D75CWbSgY - Susan Boyle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKhIkeTkm8s&feature=related - Susan Boyle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related - Susan Boyle
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