Susan Boyle: Stands for All We Want to Be

Before Susan Boyle appeared on the third series of “Britain’s got Talent” she was the preverbal mouse in the corner. Very few people had heard of her except those that attended her church where she sang or the people that benefited from the record she made in 1999, “Cry me a River”, that was done for charity. But the world now knows Susan Boyle and her spectacular voice. When I heard Susan I couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t been heard by the world before so I decided to do a little research. Here is the life of Susan Boyle.

Susan was the youngest of nine children and she lives in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland. Her only companion is her ten year old cat Pebbles. Susan grew up with learning disabilities and suffered the stigmatism that goes with them, being made fun of during her school years, not only about her learning disabilities, but also her looks.

In her early years Susan did take singing lessons in Livingston Scotland but as her mother got older Susan put her dreams of singing aside to take care of her aging mother. Her mother passed away at the age of 91 in 2007. Britain’s Got talent was the first time Susan had sung since then. Ironically it was Susan’s mother, before she died, that had encouraged her to enter the contest. Her dream was to become a musical theater singer in the vein of Elaine Paige; needless to say Susan’s dream will come true with the voice she displayed on the show.

It amazes me that a woman with this kind of voice was surprised that she got such a positive reaction to her performance with tens of millions of people responding to this very performance. It is said she was shocked and amazed by the strength of this reaction. It just goes to show that this lovely lady did not realize just how talented she is which certainly adds to her charm. It wasn’t only You Tube that stood up and took notice of this woman with such a lovely voice it was also the New York Daily Times, Australia’s, Herald Sun, Canada’s Maclean’s, Germany’s, Der Spiegel, China’s, Xinhua News Agency, Macau’s, The Macau Post daily, Portugal’s, Correio da Manha, Korea’s ,The Chosun Llbo and Holland’s, De Telegraaf. Susan was the voice that was heard around the world. Susan has already done several TV shows and is expected to appear on Oprah in the very near future.

Back in 1999 when Susan did a record of Cry Me a River, she apparently didn’t dream of the success that would be hers today. This record that was made back then was released on the web and had an immediate positive reaction, it affirmed that she was not, nor will she, be a flash in the pan. Susan is here to stay and those that hear her voice will be truly blessed from the sheer beauty of it. There were only 1000 copies of this record made, so those that own them today are holding quite a collector’s item.

Susan not only brought a beautiful voice to the stage she represented much more than this. She showed the world that you should not judge a book by its cover, in a way Susan was every child that suffered during their life from disabilities and looks. She showed the world that they need to look beyond the surface of a person and go to the person inside and what a beautiful person we saw. She also stood on that stage for all of us that are getting up in age and maybe have lost a little of our outer beauty and feeling down about it. She showed us all, what can be accomplished beyond looks and age. She showed us what we thought was impossible and it was so good to find out that the impossible is only in the minds of those that chose it. Susan Boyle showed us that anything is possible!