When Susan Boyle stepped onto the stage of the UK talent show 'Britain's Got Talent', viewers and judges alike prepared for the worst. But no one was ready for the incredible voice that erupted from within her, writes KEVIN COURTNEY
SHE'S A SWEET 47 and claims she's "never been kissed". She hasn't been blessed with pop-star looks and could probably do with losing a few pounds. She clomped onto the stage of the UK talent show Britain's Got Talentlike a new headmistress arriving for the first term at school, wearing a mumsy frock, sensible shoes and a shy, slightly cheeky grin. If she'd told the audience to open their history books at page 47, no one would have been surprised.
But the audience – and the three judges, Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell – were in for their biggest surprise since mobile phone salesman Paul Potts blew them away two years ago with his rendition of Nessun Dorma.
They expected this ungainly, middle-aged woman from Blackburn, Scotland, to be just another self-deluded schoolmarm with an over-inflated sense of her own talent. As Susan Boyle introduced herself in an earthy Scottish accent, the judges prepared to settle back and sit through another excruciating three minutes of tuneless attention-seeking. When Boyle swung a vampish little wiggle, Simon Cowell rolled his eyes and when she revealed her dream was to be up there with Elaine Paige you could practially hear the crowd snort with derision.
The moment she opened her mouth and began singing I Dreamed a Dream, from Les Miserables,however, it was clear that Susan Boyle was one big bundle of talent. Watch the YouTube clip (which has already been viewed more than 12 million times) and you can practically see the ripple of shock and delight that runs through the audience as the beautifully-sung first line pierced their scepticism and brought them to their feet in a thunderous ovation. The reaction on the judges' faces was priceless – if they were feigning surprise they certainly put on a good act. Morgan beamed like a little boy who had just had confirmation that Santa was real. Amanda Holden stood transfixed; and Simon Cowell's inscrutable face moved just enough to signal that even he was blown away.
The ugly duckling had turned into a swan before their very eyes – with not a hint of a squawk in her voice.
The show is only in its audition stages but bookies have already tipped Boyle as the favourite to beat the 75,000 other hopefuls and win the show’s top prize. Simon Cowell has said it is too soon to call the contest a “one-horse race”, and that there were still a number of acts that we haven’t seen yet.
Most will probably be younger, better-looking and more image-conscious than Boyle, and will probably wiggle more convincingly; but will they be able to overpower that voice?
More importantly, will any other contestant have a chance against a bona fide internet sensation who now counts Hollywood star Demi Moore among her growing army of fans? Moore watched Boyle’s performance with her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and said she had been moved to tears.
“It made my night!” the actress tweeted on Twitter. In fact, the US has gone ga-ga over the singing Scottish spinster; She’s appeared on Good Morning America via live video link, and has been featured on NBC Today and on National Public Radio on various news programmes and morning shows, and it’s rumoured that Oprah Winfrey would like to have Boyle on her show.
Boyle herself has admitted she is overwhelmed by all the attention she has received, but “I just take it all in my stride, I’m enjoying it,” she says.
Since her performance, the media have beseiged her home village of Blackburn in West Lothian, 20 miles west of Edinburgh, where she lives alone in a modest semi-detached house with just her cat for company.
Boyle, the youngest of nine children, is a devout Catholic, and began singing in local choirs and at school concerts. Her vocal training came from going to karaoke nights in the pubs around her village.
She gave up singing to care for her ailing mother Bridget, who died two years ago. She says the memory of her mother gave her the courage to sing again, so she signed up for Britain’s Got Talent. She told the judges she hoped to make a living as a professional singer; even if she doesn’t win the contest, she certainly won’t have to go back to the karaoke.
Amanda Holden has urged Boyle not to let the stylists and makeover artists touch a single hair on her head. She reckons that – besides her voice – Boyle’s everyday, ordinary appearance is part of her appeal, and she would be spoiled if she was turned into “a glamourpuss”.
But chances are we will never recapture that moment when this dowdy middle-aged lady turned our expectations completely topsy-turvy.
Take away the show’s clever editing the eye-rolling, sniggering and knowing looks priming us for disappointment, Boyle’s childlike smile just before she leaps into song and the sweeping camerawork lifting us up in delighted surprise – and what you have is a very talented amateur brimming with personality and an endearing naivety.
Her voice may get better and better, her gowns get brighter and her fanbase grow to global proportions, but we may never experience the excitement of meeting that loveable, natural, untainted ball of pure humanness for the first time ever again.