Sunday, April 26, 2009

Susan Boyle - The Inspiration!

Maybe I'm the last person in the known universe not to have heard about the gratifyingly quirky and true-to-herself Susan Boyle ...


... who at nearly 48 and unemployed auditioned this year for 'Britain's Got Talent' in Glasgow.

So if, like me, you missed it, here's the pre-performance interviewing stuff ...



... and the performance itself ...



Susan's joy in singing and her sweetness and optimism is the inspiration!

If this didn't move you - even a little bit - check for a pulse!

By the way, one of the You Tube postings on Susan's audition has (to date) registered over 47 million hits!!!

16 comments:

  1. Hi Nick,

    What.....have you been living under a cock? I mean, rock?

    It's great how Susan Boyle has taken the blogosphere by storm. I have to admit, I've always been a fan of musicals (going all the way back to the golden age: Brigadoon, Camelot, My Fair Lady, South Pacific, West Side Story, etc...) and she certainly has the perfect voice for a stellar career in that genre. I hope she can act.

    I had to go and look up Elaine Paige on YouTube to check out her voice, since Susan Boyle mentioned her as being her inspiration. Frankly, I feel Ms. Boyle's voice is superior. Especially when you consider that she has no real professional experience. Can't wait to see what will become of her.

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  2. Thank you. I have heard about this but being unable to access UK programs where I am I have not seen or heard it. Stunning voice, begs the question, where has she been hiding for the last 30 years!
    Kev
    Egypt

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  3. hey ken

    can't think of any other explanation either! ... but come to think of it, living under a cock isn't such a bad life, restricted tho it might be.

    and i have been listening to other of Susan Boyle's singing ('cry me a river') and sense she's not a one song trick pony

    and i've been told by musical theatre friends here that she's in fact going to be singing with elaine page in something soon - do you know anything about this?

    she has a beautifully pure voice and an unfussy way of singing - hope she does really well!

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  4. hey kev

    yes it does make you wonder what she's been up to

    i would guess she's been knocking on doors trying to get heard - cos there's a recording of her singing 'cry me a river' in the 1990s for a charity thing - so she's been putting herself out there

    really interested to see what happens next in her career

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  5. The "Cry Me a River" performance is a total knockout. Reminds me of Shirley Bassey and Lanie Kazan.

    There's an Elaine Paige interview with Larry King where she says there's something in the offing.

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  6. Hi Nick,

    It's me again.

    Lanie Kazan (she was Barbra Streisand's understudy in the Broadway "Funny Girl"):
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1w3Kl8RvuA&feature=related

    Shirley Bassey (best known for "Goldfinger"):
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO395a-bFs4&feature=PlayList&p=1F365472F3E893F9&index=0&playnext=1

    Ken

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  7. hey alan

    thanks for sending the url!

    sadly a very odd little voice said 'this video is currently unavailable' - scary actually -

    LOL

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  8. hey ken

    the 'cry me a river' is surprizingly good - not copy cat - and she takes it in such a leisurely but controlled way - great!

    good to hear from you

    nick

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  9. hey ken

    saw shirley bassey here a couple of years back - went along a bit resistant to such a gay icon

    but was carried away with the rest of the audience - really!

    take care

    nick

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  10. What a fantastic story and I loved seeing Cowell gobsmacked, although he weaseled out at the end. Great for a 48 year old with a real singing voice. I'm fed up of listening to young girls screeching while they eat the microphone. End of rant.

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  11. hey juicer

    yep, she's pretty great

    and simon's remark i think was cleverer than the people on the show gave him credit for - he said he 'expected something extraordinary' - and i think he was playing with double meanings - like 'something terrible' which ended being 'something wonderful' - he's that kinda guy so i think it's likely

    so great to see a non-buffed less than hot man/woman getting an audience into a frenzy!

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  12. Yes it's great to hear someone who's not only over 20 but also over 40 singing quite nicely but I think that it has all been blown out of proportion. Don't get me wrong, I like her voice but I have heard many people (both professional singers like Ute Lemper or so called "new talents" on god awful reality shows) sing the very same song much better. Is it because of how she looks? I happen to think she looks rather pretty..or did until the recent 'makeovers'. Can't see nor listen to what all the fuss is about. Last time I checked on youtube she had close to 50 million hits on a single video and overall well over 200 million. Ruthie Henshall had less than 4000 when I posted her clip on my FB wall to no great accolades. To none, in fact.
    Hype. Hyper Hype. Pity it should have happened to such a nice lady.

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  13. This is a beautiful human story.
    BTW YouTube(?) has disabled embedding of the original clip. I decided to participate in this little experiment and not to hit any 'clones' (like the one here). We shall see how long the neurotic attention of the bloggosphere remains faithful to Susan before jumping to another freak sensation the show producers manage to deliver.

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  14. hey antipodean pete

    good to hear from you!

    i'm certain part of the success is the ragged to riches thing - a latter day Cinderella - but in an age where the often very young and beautiful rule with fists of steel, it's good to see that something else is possible.

    there are so many singers who make it big who have talent i don't see as astounding - so i've no problem with the size of Susan's - and she sings 'cry me a river' very well indeed.

    great to hear from you - missed your comments!

    nick

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  15. hey anon

    it is a great story for making people ware of breaking the stereotypes of what a successful singer/whatever must look like, the age they must be and so on.

    and the extraordinary attention on YouTube and elsewhere i think says more about the general public than susan who, while of course wanting to make it, did not create the hysteria.

    BTW, the footage here is not embedded and so doesn't feed into hit counts - i'm not trying to encourage people to look at it when i say this

    good to hear from you

    CYA

    nick

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  16. The previous comments seem to have said it all. A voice quite extraordinary. But without the looks, what chance does she have?

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