Susan Boyle

[nonesuche]

Oldiebutgoodie posted the video of Susan Boyle days ago on Musings, a contestant in Britain's Got Talent on Monday - I was awestruck by it, touched by it, inspired by it.

In doing an internet search for her tonight I happened upon this editorial from the Herald & Times in the UK and felt it worth posting.

It's amazing the life lessons we can learn, if only we listen.

What an honor for her, for her character to be noted in this piece so eloquently.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2501746.0.The_beauty_that_matters_is_always_on_the_inside.php

The beauty that matters is always on the inside
By COLETTE DOUGLAS  April 14 2009
 
Susan Boyle's story is a parable of our age. She is a singer of enormous talent, who cared for her widowed mother until she died two years ago. Susan's is a combination of ability and virtue that deserves congratulation.

So how come she was treated as a laughing stock when she walked on stage for the opening heat of Britain's Got Talent 2009 on Saturday night?

The moment the reality show's audience and judging panel saw the small, shy, middle-aged woman, they started to smirk. When she said she wanted a professional singing career to equal that of Elaine Paige, the camera showed audience members rolling their eyes in disbelief. They scoffed when she told Simon Cowell, one of the judges, how she'd reached her forties without managing to develop a singing career because she hadn't had the opportunity. Another judge, Piers Morgan, later wrote on his blog that, just before she launched into I Dreamed a Dream, the 3000-strong audience in Glasgow was laughing and the three judges were suppressing chuckles.

It was rude and cruel and arrogant. Susan Boyle from Blackburn, West Lothian, was presumed to be a buffoon. But why?

Britain's Got Talent isn't a beauty pageant. It isn't a youth opportunity scheme. It is surely about discovering untapped and unrecognised raw talent from all sections of society.

And Susan Boyle has talent to burn. Such is the beauty of her voice that she had barely sung the opening bars when the applause started. She rounded off to a standing ovation and - in her naivety - began walking off the stage and had to be recalled.

Susan, now a bankable discovery, was then roundly patronised by such mega-talents as Amanda Holden and the aforementioned Morgan, who told her: "Everyone laughed at you but no-one is laughing now. I'm reeling with shock." Holden added: "It's the biggest wake-up call ever."

Again, why?

The answer is that only the pretty are expected to achieve. Not only do you have to be physically appealing to deserve fame; it seems you now have to be good-looking to merit everyday common respect. If, like Susan (and like millions more), you are plump, middle-aged and too poor or too unworldly to follow fashion or have a good hairdresser, you are a non-person.

I dread to think of how Susan would have left the stage if her voice had been less than exceptional. She would have been humiliated in front of 11 million viewers. It's the equivalent of being put in the stocks in front of the nation instead of the village. It used to be a punishment handed out to criminals. Now it is the fate of anyone without obvious sexual allure who dares seek opportunity.

This small, brave soul took her courage in her hands to pitch at her one hope of having her singing talent recognised, and was greeted with a communal sneer. Courage could so easily have failed her.

Yet why shouldn't she sound wonderful? Not every great singer looks like Katherine Jenkins. Edith Piaf would never have been chosen to strut a catwalk. Nor would Nina Simone, nor Ella Fitzgerald. As for Pavarotti But then ridicule is nothing new in Susan Boyle's life. She is a veteran of abuse. She was starved of oxygen at birth and has learning difficulties as a result. At school she was slow and had frizzy hair. She was bullied, mostly verbally. She told one newspaper that her classmates' jibes left behind the kind of scars that don't heal.

She didn't have boyfriends, is a stranger to romance and has never been kissed. "Shame," she said. Singing was her life-raft.

She lived with her parents in a four-bedroom council house and, when her father died a decade ago, she cared for her mother and sang in the church choir.

It was an unglamorous existence. She wasn't the glamorous type - and being a carer isn't a glamorous life, as the hundreds of thousands who do that most valuable of jobs will testify. Even those who start out with a beauty routine and an interest in clothes find themselves reverting to the practicality of a tracksuit and trainers. Fitness plans get interrupted and then abandoned. Weight creeps on. Carers don't often get invited to sparkling dinner parties or glitzy receptions, so smart clothes rarely make it off the hanger.

Then, when a special occasion comes along, they might reach, as Susan did, for the frock they bought for a nephew's wedding. They might, as she did, compound the felony of choosing a colour at odds with her skin tone and an unflattering shape with home-chopped hair, bushy eyebrows and a face without a hint of make-up. But it is often evidence of a life lived selflessly; of a person so focused on the needs of another that they have lost sight of themselves. Is that a cause for derision or a reason for congratulation? Would her time have been better spent slimming and exercising, plucking and waxing, bleaching and botoxing? Would that have made her voice any sweeter?

Susan Boyle's mother encouraged her to sing. She wanted her to enter Britain's Got Talent. But the shy Susan hasn't been able to sing at all since her mother's death two years ago. She wasn't sure how her voice would emerge after so long a silence. Happily, it survived its rest.

She is a gift to Simon Cowell and reality television. Her story is the stuff of Hans Christian Andersen: the woman plucked from obscurity, the buried talent uncovered, the transformation waiting to be wrought.

It is wonderful for her, too, that her stunning voice is now recognised. A bright future beckons. Her dream is becoming reality.

Susan is a reminder that it's time we all looked a little deeper. She has lived an obscure but important life. She has been a companionable and caring daughter. It's people like her who are the unseen glue in society; the ones who day in and day out put themselves last. They make this country civilised and they deserve acknowledgement and respect.

Susan has been forgiven her looks and been given respect because of her talent. She should always have received it because of the calibre of her character.

© All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

_________________________________________________________________________

If you missed the video, this is the link to her fansite that went up today, it also has two media interviews with Susan, such a charming and unassuming but extremely talented woman.

http://www.susan-boyle.com/

[tcumom]

None ~ I found the video last night. . . . the full 7+ minutes ~ it was simply awe-inspiring . . . I listened to it over and over again, with tears brimming over.....

For any monkeys who have not listened, please click on None's link.  Susan's voice is genuinely mesmerizing.

Just heard today that she's the eldest of 9 children, and was the caregiver for their 91-year old mother, who recently passed away.

Susan blessed me with the gift of hearing her sing.  wow.

[Wyks]

I was absolutely STUNNED to hear this woman sing! 
        

A star is born... indeed!     

Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

and her fansite:
http://www.susan-boyle.com/

[Wyks]

Oh!  Here ya guys are!  Hadn't found anything in here about Susan and made a thread for her over in music.  Glad to see some posting about her! 

Thank you nonesuche for posting that article.  Amazing story! 

Just found the same video today tcumom, and yes, absoooooooooolutely stunning!!!!!  I cannot even think of a word that perfectly describes how stunning her voice is.  I was in tears.  Still listening to her video tonight.  I wanted to stand up and cheer along with the audience, that's how compelling Susan is. 

I want her to win!!!  I want her 1st CD!!  I want to be her next door neighbor!   

[crazybabyborg]

Oh!  Here ya guys are!  Hadn't found anything in here about Susan and made a thread for her over in music.  Glad to see some posting about her! 

Thank you nonesuche for posting that article.  Amazing story! 

Just found the same video today tcumom, and yes, absoooooooooolutely stunning!!!!!  I cannot even think of a word that perfectly describes how stunning her voice is.  I was in tears.  Still listening to her video tonight.  I wanted to stand up and cheer along with the audience, that's how compelling Susan is. 

I want her to win!!!  I want her 1st CD!!  I want to be her next door neighbor!   

Well said, Wyks! Me too! I've listened to her over and over! This whole story is such a beautiful one, and so purely "right" in that good so simply and sweetly emerged and triumphed. When Susan began to sing, "right" did what it aways does: it brought it's audience to new realization and self examination. I know there are good things for Susan ahead, and because of Susan, there's a lot of people a little closer to being more kind and open minded. I love Susan, I love her pure talent, I love her character, and I love that the Blessings ahead of her will also be shared by so many.

[tcumom]

Wyks, none, and CBB ~ you are all so eloquent in your postings about Susan . . . all 3 of you put my feelings out there, too!  Thanks. 

Let's keep each other posted, if there's any news about a CD ~ I think I'll listen once more before I head out to school!

[Monken]

I was absolutely STUNNED to hear this woman sing! 
        

A star is born... indeed!     

Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

and her fansite:
http://www.susan-boyle.com/

Wyks. I'm so glad you posted this! I was just getting ready to, isn't this lady amazing!!??
And I heard Simon has already discussed recording with her! Bless her heart!!

[nonesuche]

Thanks tcumom, wyks, and CBB.

tcumom, like you I just can't listen to her sing without welling up, but it's also how she ignores all of the taunts and blows kisses at them? Such purity of heart she has and then reading how she wasn't sure she could sing again post her mum's death......I have to think her mum was the angel lifting Susan up with the courage to sing on that night.

To see her touch even the hardened heart of Simon Cowell is compelling too!!! Go Susan !! I think the points made in that editorial regarding the importance of respecting people who don't fit our stereotypes is so timely and important.

If you view Elaine Paige's youtube's for the same song from Les Mis, I have to say I think that Susan's rendition is better? I so hope Susan wins and has comfort and joy from sharing her 'gifts' with the world.

[nonesuche]

Well Susan was on CBS's the Early Show and I missed it! The video is here and it appears Oprah will have her on soon?

I can't wait 

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4949467n

[2NJSons_Mom]

None,

Thanks for posting the wonderful article about Susan.  After oldiebutgoodie posted the Youtube, I've received a couple of emails from friends sharing the same.  I watched the video you posted from the Morning Show, and Susan is going to do just fine, imo.     

I've passed the article and the video on to others. 

[cookie]

I have also received this video via emails...I never get tired of watching it and listening to her voice..I am telling you that when I heard her start to sing, something came over me...Awe? not sure exactly, but I think that she has the most beautiful pure sounding voice of anyone I have ever heard before...I think that I could listen to her sing forever....!
I think that this little gal is going to go far in her singing career...that will show all those bullies who teased her throughout her life! You go Susan! you have more fans than you know...
I would be really amazed if she doesn't win if the rest of her songs sound like this one...beautiful, so beautiful! Everyone I know is talking about her!

[tcumom]

Just thought I'd tell y'all ~ this is how I've decided to begin each day ~ just listening to that voice of an angel inspires me so very much. 

So happy to see some of my very favorite monkeys here sharing your thoughts on Susan.

Just so beautifully inspiring!

[nonesuche]

NJ Son's Mom - my daughter says that Susan and her video are all the rage with the younger group too! One has to wonder if Susan can even grasp the impact she's had? It would be hard for anyone to, I think.

I saw this earlier this morning, although I think Piers didn't have to be so mercenary in his response to Susan's endearing comments..........alas at least he's very supportive that she has a bright future.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-16/how-susan-boyle-won-my-heart/

[nonesuche]

tcumom I agree !!

[nonesuche]

A new link for Susan, singing Cry Me A River 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI2DxkrgpgQ

[nonesuche]

I'd like to know what all of you think about Shaheen?

'Young Stevie Wonder' steals spotlight from Susan BoyleStory Highlights
12-year-old Welsh boy shines on "Britain's Got Talent" with Motown voice

Shaheen Jafargholi earned standing ovation from judge Simon Cowell

Cowell had earlier halted Jafargholi's audition and got him to change songs

Show has become a global hit following Susan Boyle's performance last week

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/20/uk.talent.jafargholi/index.html

Here is his performance on YouTube, I can't say it gives me goosebumps but he's surely talented. Simon "loves him".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVU4IkzMNIo

[2NJSons_Mom]

Now there is young, little Hollie in the mix.   

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/bOeWz2k4tTI&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/bOeWz2k4tTI&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl</a>

[tcumom]

Wellllll ~ gosh!

I thought Hollie was wonderful ~ I'm not that keen on Shaheen (partly 'cause I can't stomach Michael Jackson *or* his music....I know, I'm odd) . . .

In my heart of hearts, I am saying a prayer for Susan Boyle . . . for me, it would be such a gift for her to win . . . she has given us the gift of hearing her sing.  JMO.  joan

[MuffyBee]

My View: Gobsmacked by Susan Boyle
My View
Dennis Daly
A financial depression, for all its pain, has a good side.

It forces our self-absorbed natures to see the world in a different, and some would argue, more substantial way. Feel-good stories take on a new, almost magical significance.

Insight sometimes follows these victories and things change for the better. Families become closer. Mere acquaintances morph into good neighbors. Insignificant people can suddenly grow very big indeed.

Forty-seven-year-old Susan Boyle, described by some as shy, frumpy, beetle-browed and rugged-faced, was one of those little people. She's not now.

Her "Britain's Got Talent" appearance, during which she wowed both audience and judges with her unlikely performance in the audition round, has been seen by tens of millions of viewers on YouTube and elsewhere. What's going on here?

We watched that seven-minute clip over and over. It was hypnotic.
<snip>
She has already won her talent-show competition. Further rounds are less than meaningless. For our purposes, she has had her moment of fame. She has conveyed us, at least momentarily, out of our self-imposed depression.

But we want more for her. We want Susan to succeed in life, to be happy; but on her terms, without the makeover that invariably comes with success. We want her as she is, eyebrows and all, for better or worse. Phoniness be damned.

http://www.salemnews.com/puopinion/local_story_119214616.html?keyword=secondarystory

[2NJSons_Mom]

After Oldiebutgoodie posted the video in Musings, nonesuche started a thread about Susan Boyle in the Monkey Lounge.  (merging them now, might confuse some.......I'l check on it.)

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=4865.0