SUSAN BOYLE: SCOTTISH SINGER EXTRAORDINAIRE

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

I never watch these so called talent shows on TV. Not enough time. Certainly insufficient interest on my part in any case.

The entertainment industry being what it is and always has been – this could certainly be a contrived situation of some kind.

But SUSAN BOYLE’S voice is real…

CP has always celebrated glamour and sensuality in all its glorious forms. I’ve certainly been immersed in them in my own life.

To the max…

But there are all kinds of people that I am drawn to and have affection for. I do tend to root for the underdog.

Having watched the stirring YOUTUBE clip, I do find SUSAN utterly delightful. I hope she kicks some serious ass.

It’s her time…and she’s earned it.

SUSAN BOYLE lives alone in a row house with her cat PEBBLES. It’s a drab existence in one of Scotland’s poorest regions. She cared for her widowed mother for years, never married and sang in church and at karaoke nights at the pub.

Neighbours knew she could sing, and now – what with YOUTUBE, TWITTER and countless blog postings – just about everyone else does, too.

Since wowing the judges on the TV show BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT, the ordinary looking middle aged woman has gained celebrity fans and millions of admirers.

SUSAN is currently unemployed. “I did this for my late mother,” she said at her home in this scruffy Scottish village on Thursday. “I wanted to show her I could do something with my life.”

And that she did…

As well as showing a thing or two to the show’s smug judges, who include Simon Cowell of AMERICAN IDOL fame.

When she mounted the stage for Saturday’s broadcast, she was wearing an unflattering gold lace dress and her hair was curling wildly. SUSAN looked the absolute antithesis of the American idols Simon Cowell normally anoints.

She was greeted with giggles from the audience and eye rolls from the notoriously acerbic Simon Cowell.

Then she opened her mouth…

Launching into I DREAMED A DREAM from the musical LES MISERABLES, her soaring voice drew startled looks and then delighted smiles from Simon Cowell and the other judges. The audience leaped to its feet to applaud.

More than 11 million people watched Saturday’s show, but SUSAN’S instant success is due as much to new media as to the power of television, with a clip of her performance posted on YOUTUBE by the show’s producers drawing nearly 13 million views. Not to mention the skillful packaging of the segment, a mini opera of underdog triumph.

In the past few days, SUSAN has appeared on TV around the world. Her fans include actors DEMI MOORE and husband ASHTON KUTCHER, who flagged the performance on TWITTER.

Interview requests have poured in.

To friends and neighbours in Blackburn, a community of 4,750 people about 30 kilometres west of Edinburgh, it was not surprising that the talent of a local treasure should finally be recognized.

“SUSAN can’t help herself. She just sings whenever she can sing,” said JACKIE RUSSELL, manager of Blackburn’s HAPPY VALLEY HOTEL, where SUSAN does karaoke.

“We weren’t surprised by her talent, but we were surprised by the reaction around the world.”

SUSAN herself seems ill at ease with her new found fame. At her modest government subsidized home, she seemed more comfortable making tea for visiting TV crews than answering questions about her life. She did mug for the cameras, however, crooning into a hair brush.

“It has been surreal for me. I didn’t realize this would be the reaction. I just went on stage and got on with it.”

Her hard scrabble story has only added to the emotional tug of her tale.

The youngest of nine children of a devout Roman Catholic family, she grew up in one of Scotland’s most deprived areas, a district blighted by unemployment, crime and social problems.

In an irony not lost on local residents, the HAPPY VALLEY HOTEL sits on the grimy main street, close to a liquor store and boarded up shops.

“It’s a bit of a joke, isn’t it? There’s nothing to be happy about around here,” said SUSAN WILLIAMS, a fan of MS. BOYLE’S karaoke performances there.

As a child, SUSAN BOYLE had learning difficulties, struggled in school and was bullied by other children. That continues in some form to this day.

“She is often taunted by local kids. They think she’s an oddball. But she’s a simple soul with genuine warmth,” neighbour STEWART MacKENZIE remarked.

“Not many people these days are devoutly religious or would spend their time devoted to their parents to the point they’d find themselves unmarried in middle age.”

A keen amateur singer, SUSAN performed in church choirs and school plays. She was a regular on the karaoke circuit in Blackburn and the nearby town of Bathgate. She has said her mother BRIDGET encouraged her to enter BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT.

But it was only after her death that she plucked up the courage to do it.

“Everyone here knew she could sing and we were always saying, ‘You should go in for talent competitions,’ ” JACKIE RUSSELL stated.

“She devoted her life to her mother and father and when her mother died a couple of years ago she realized it was her turn.”

On Saturday night’s show, the first of a new season, SUSAN told viewers she had “never been kissed” and drew smirks from the judges when she said she wanted to be a professional singer like BROADWAY legend ELAINE PAIGE.

After knocking them on their asses, judge PIERS MORGAN said her “stunning” performance was “the biggest surprise I’ve had in three years of this show.”

Judge AMANDA HOLDEN smiled, nodded and clapped. Simon Cowell called her singing “extraordinary.”

“I can hardly remember what happened on the night as I had my eyes closed most of the time,” SUSAN recalled. “It really didn’t dawn on me what was happening.”

Her performance has been a huge internet hit.

SUSAN’S millions of fans must now wait to see whether she makes it through the next rounds of the show. The chances appear good she might go all the way. Bookmakers have made her the firm favourite, giving her victory 5-2 odds.

In Blackburn, her neighbours are rooting for her.