Susan Boyle - the Woman Who Shocked Simon Cowell

If you've been living under a rock or in the outer reaches of Mongolia you may have missed this bit. In the course of a little more than a week the media world has been abuzz over a woman named Susan Boyle from a small village in Scotland.

Susan was a contestant on the UK reality show "Britain's Got Talent" last Saturday. The frizzy-haired, squarely built Boyle walked onto the stage to barely suppressed snickers from the audience and skeptical eye rolls from Cowell, the annoyingly caustic judge on both "American Idol" and the British TV show.

Then Boyle opened her mouth. And within the first few bars of "I Dreamed a Dream," from my favourite musical "Les Miserables," the audience was standing, cheering and applauding. The judges pronounced themselves shocked and impressed with Boyle's soaring vocals, and millions watching knew they had just seen a rare gem of a moment on live television. Some members of the audience were so moved that they were in tears.

You can watch her performance (interspersed with bits of her talking about herself and her dreams) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Word of her performance quickly spread via Twitter . . . between the huge television audience and the endorsement of the Twitterati, Boyle went 'viral' on YouTube. More than 9 million people have watched her on the site. As of this morning a google search on 'Susan Boyle' delivers 2,760,000 hits - impressive for a self-proclaimed frump from Scotland that few outside of Blackburn, Scotland had heard of before Saturday. By the time I had finished this post it had increased to 9,960,000!

As details of her life emerge, Boyle's story only becomes more unlikely. The youngest of nine children, she lives alone with her cat, Pebbles. She spent years taking care of her mother, who recently died, and she lives in a government-subsidized home.

She always wanted to sing in front of a large audience, but mostly she just sings in church.

On Easter Sunday, the day after her television debut, Boyle -- dubbed "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell" in one headline -- received a standing ovation when she went to Mass.

One wonders about the reaction though - is it because of her amazing performance or is it because of the fact that society discounts those who look unattractive. You could tell the audience was discounting her as soon as she walked on the stage.

Many of the articles that have been written express some collective guilt about the way Boyle was perceived prior to her having opened her mouth. Frankly this says a lot about our so-called enlightened society; it is wonderful when someone like Boyle comes along to remind us that beauty is far more than skin deep.

I can still remember my mom telling us as children 'not to judge a book by its cover'. (See mom, I WAS listening!) Boyle has proved the truth of this adage.

Hopefully someone out there is listening.

I particularly liked this comment from Zennie Abraham of the San Francisco Chronicle: So, in a World of nasty pirates, mean internet commenters, and crazy right-wing extremists, we have to stop and embrace Susan Boyle for making us smile.

How true. Given the hellish state of our world right now it is a treat to appreciate a story like this! Especially one that isn't about Bo, the new White House dog!

Comments

[Laura]

The stylist that gets to do her makeover, which you know is coming, is going to make millions. ;-)

[Jerry]

Dear god Laura - I can just imagine the reps who are camped outside her door trying to sign a contract!

[barb cabot]

Jerry, this post is so well written. Her voice is really beautiful. What a gift. She seems to have quite a good sense of humour and despite whatever her previous circumstances seems pretty well balanced. It's an amazing uplifting story and as you said so welcoming considering the major state of affairs of the world. Thank you for such a well written piece.

[Rose]

amazing the hidden talent in this world....your right, i hate to say that....you should never judge a book by it's cover

[Eden]

I saw this item on ABC evening news and it brought tears to my eyes literally. The next day The View did it on their Hot Topics segment. Joy Behar, one of the hosts of the show, kept saying "She is still homely!", I could not over her (Joy's) being stuck with her appearance. Everyone else tried to explain to her about looking beyond the lady's outside appearance and see the talent... but Joy was not changing her staunch. It was annoying, esp. coming from someone who claim to be a former teacher.

Jerry, you did a great job with this post. I hope she gets some record deal... She is supposedly singing for the Queen.

[Kathy (Trekcapri)]

Well said Jerry! I watched her sing 4 times already! Loved it!

[nancyhol]

Great post, Jerry! I loved seeing a speechless Simon Cowell - that doesn't happen very often!

Susan Boyle is definitely amazing, and I wish her luck!

[Kendall]

It is a shame that we live in such a image driven, superficial society. We need more wake up calls for condescension such as this.

[Annie]

Great post. The bottom line is that the woman has an incredible voice, just amazing! I look forward to following this story and buying her first album! And I want to see a pic of Pebbles!

[Jerry]

Isn't it awful to have to amdit that mom was right all of those years Rose? Shhhh - don't tell her.

Joy Behar is clearly missing the message Eden, to say nothing of some class and intelligence.

I hope that Susan is allowed/able to keep some of herself in the whirlwind of crap that will no-doubt come her way . . .

Nancy - I guess a speechless Simon is not unalike a speechless Jerry! LOL

We sure do Kendall!

Beckett agrees with you Annie - we want Pebbles.

[Chicago Property Management]

Its been months now since the first time I saw Ms.Susan Boyle in YouTube singing that heart warming song from Les Miserables. Every now and then, if I needed a 10-minute break from my work surfing the net, I would always go back to Ms. Boyle's youtube. Her voice warms my heart, the reaction of the people and the judges still amuses me, never fails to give me a smile. But most of all, it always gives me a hope that someday my dream will come true just like hers. No matter what other people say, I would forever thank Susan Boyle for giving me that inspiration to never stop dreaming. :-)