Posted on 04/14/2009 12:17:11 AM PDT by Wil H
Two years ago, Paul Potts, a chubby mobile phone salesman, wowed the British TV public with his performance of Puccini's "Nessum Dorma" to win "Brtiain's Got Talent", The British equivalent to "America's Got Talent".
While good, I didn't think Potts to be that fantastic.
However last weekend, the third season of "Britain's Got Talent" opened and another diamond in the rough emerged.
This one is quite fantastic.
Susan Boyle, a frumpy looking 47 year old Scottish spinster, who lives with her cat "Pebbles" and admits she's never been kissed, came out on stage and told the audience she wanted to be a professional singer but had never had the chance.
She wanted to be like Elaine Paige, she said, and the crowd, and judges, sniggered....
Then she did this ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related ^
whoa... Simon got pawned!! rofl
Wow!! Her singing was unbelievably awesome! Pierce said it best...”stunning”!
It brought a huge smile to my face almost the entire time after she started singing ~ you could just see her confidence building as she went on. And to see how happy & excited she was at the comments from the judges afterwords was just absolutely great to see!
You’re right ~ very well worth watching!
A tremendously uplifting moment to see in a world gone largely mad.
What a remarkable woman. Such a gift.
Wow. Just goes to show, don’t judge a book by its cover.
Watch how Simon’s eyebrows perk up.
OK I’ll admit it. I cried.
Dare I hope that she starts a new trend where pure talent is appreciated more than over-produced hootchies?
Incredible! I bet she’ll get some marriage proposals now! :-)
This story gave my wife and me such a great feeling; even made my wife shed a few tears. What a great story. I pray that she becomes a Professional singer and that she gets signed to a contract. God Bless her.
Yes, and the son with the family group Good Evan is fantastic. Quite a voice this young man has.
I first saw this video Saturday night, so it’s only been up a little over 48 hours. This particular link shows 2,485,245 and if you add up the other videos of the same performance that have been posted on youtube you can add at least another 1/2 mil. Amazing amount of hits for that short of a period of time.
Nice!
I hope this was her break and she gets to sing more too, but you know watching her, I don’t think anything further really matters...to her. The way she started to walk off after she finished singing made me think she had achieved her dream by singing there in front of that audience and she was fullfilled.
Susan, love, you sing better than Elaine Page.
An understatement, if ever there was one.
Tremendous.
Damn, the lady HAS talent - no question about it.
I still can’t watch that video without tearing up.
She is too cute and you just want to be so happy for her!
We can dream the dream (yes, a play on her song) can’t we?
You are so right! She had done what she always wanted, to sing in front of a large audience.
Remarkable voice and talent!
Remarkable talent. Found it so interesting I watched it twice. Good luck to her - she deserves success.
EXCELLENT.
THANKS VERY MUCH.
Now, when are we going to hear more great songs from this woman?
Yea!
Joya Ping
EXCELLENT.
THANKS VERY MUCH.
Now, when are we going to hear more great songs from this woman?
Yea!
I cried several times during her performance.
Wonderful.
Exceedingly uplifting.
Yea!
When I watched that on Saturday, it had 17K views. Amazing near 3 million now. (and that is just from that video, there are over a dozen other videos of the same performance.)
It touches the soul.
Still, it sounds like we are being played.
Not anymore Susie, not anymore.
bttt
Appy, I don’t think she is a professional. I saw subsequent interviews with her since her performance (On youtube)
She has sung in church choirs but never anything professional.
Not a pro but perhaps someone who is more experienced than we were lead to believe.
I can guarantee the media will be doing all sorts of background checks on her.
Another Paul Potts story? Beautiful voice. Thank you for posting this.
This brought tears to my eyes - the lady is FANTASTIC.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Susan, 48, said last night: “They say that television makes you look fat and it certainly did.
“I looked like a garage. It was mortifying to see and a bit of a shock. I didn’t realise I could reduce people to tears and I hope it wasn’t because of that.”
But Susan – who has never had a boyfriend and was bullied because of her appearance while growing up – is determined not to let it upset her.
She added: “I’m proud to be part of the show. It really is a dream come true.” She got a standing ovation when she walked into her local Catholic church for yesterday’s Easter service.
She said: “It was incredible. Although we sing in church, not a lot of them knew how good I was, so it was a bit of a shock to them. I’m a bit shy and retiring so they would never have known. It was very emotional.
All she needs is a Professor Higgins.
It was ok. Cute lady, heartwarming video. But she wasn’t all that. She couldn’t hit any of the low notes in the bridge. If she were young and pretty, they wouldn’t go crazy over it. It’s a story because she’s a frumpy older gal.
:)
I think we’ll be hearing more from Ms. Boyle.
Great story!
Thanks for this. I just love things that I can forward to my wife that will make her eyes leak.
"All that is gold does not glitter..." - J.R.R. Tolkien
As they say in Britain ... Brilliant!
It really restores my faith in human nature that so many people are so supportive and moved by this talented lady.
My wife has a degree in music theater and teaches vocal music and private voice. She thought it was outstanding. Even exceptionally high natural talent takes years of professional training to develop and be able to perform in front of an audience. She did it on her first try.
That would have received a standing ovation no matter what she looked like. Her look just added to the story.
Baloney. Her looks are the story. The whole reason it’s compelling television is the surprise. It was set up that way. They set you up by showing you this very warm, endearing frumpy old gal. Every one is cynical about it. Low expectations. And then it turns out she’s a pretty good singer, so everyone is delighted. Of course she showed a lot of courage getting up in front of so many people. I’m not knocking her for that. But if people couldn’t see her. If there was no drama involved. If they didn’t know it was her first time, they’d have a much different reaction. It’s not even debatable. The surprise is what makes the video.
I’m wondering. Doesn’t Britain’s Got Talent do auditions like it’s counterpart here in the US does? If that’s the case, this wouldn’t be the first time Ms. Boyle had been seen and heard.
Also, after watching the long version where the two guys talk to her before she went on stage, she mentions she's been singing since she was 12. I presume this was church, small gatherings etc.
So she has gone from ok to pretty good? Obviously, the drama/surprise was a big part of the emotional response. That is what these shows are designed to do. Just like in a good musical or movie or music video. They knew there was some potential there for great television and that she could sing.
My problem is you are tryng to downplay her talent because of the emotional setup of the clip and her looks. She would be considered extremely talented whether you could see her or not. A studio recording of her would spend hours making sure she was eq’d correctly and every note was hit perfectly. Only then would she possibly be able to meet your high standards of talent.
I said she's got a pretty voice. But look at this article. The first two paragraphs prove my point. It's all about the fact that she was frumpy and old and no one expected her to sing well. Even your comments contained phrases about how she didn't have training, had never performed before, etc. That's what makes it compelling. If the expectations were different, she'd be judged differently. She did OK. It was pretty good. Those mean the same thing. And like I said before, she has a pretty voice. But it's not as if her voice is a huge deal. Plenty of people can sing as well as her. And she couldn't hit the low notes in the bridge.
It's a cute, heartwarming little story. But that's all it is. Masterful emotional manipulation by the tv producers.
A must see!
From something I read from last year I believe that this was the first time the panel of judges got to hear her.
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