Authors: John McShane
Four big names: an ex-Beatle, a gigantic rock band, the most famous chat show host in the States and the most commercially successful woman singer of all time. All of them were mentioned in the stories that circulated around the globe. But the lead story? Yes, it was Susan.
Back where it all began, Glasgow’s SECC, she entered to thunderous cheers and chants of ‘Susan! Susan!’ Her hair, now darker than it had originally been, was immaculate and she wore a shimmering grey dress.
Stephen Mulhern introduced her by saying, ‘Now it’s time to welcome the most Googled lady on earth. The world’s talking about one lady. This lady.’
The 9000-strong crowd at the SECC were on their feet as Susan walked on stage.
Although her semi-final performance of ‘Memory’ and her rendition of the same song at Sheffield both had their faults, this time she was perfect. As she finished there was a roar from the crowd, which continued as she moved into ‘I Dreamed A Dream’, and with another ovation her confidence showed and she waved to the crowd.
Mulhern said, ‘You are definitely the best audience we’ve had.’
One report of the show said: ‘Show-stopper Susan Boyle was met with rapturous applause as she took to the stage in front of a home crowd.
‘There had been doubts as to whether the now world-famous singer from West Lothian would perform in the
Britain’s Got Talent
live show in Glasgow last night after pulling out of the event in Manchester. But the plucky church worker wowed the crowds as she belted out “I Dreamed a Dream”, the song which made her a global superstar.
‘Scots’ fans will be hoping Boyle can repeat her dazzling performance when the show reaches the Edinburgh Playhouse tonight.
‘Not only did she receive a standing ovation at the end of the Glasgow gig, the packed hall took to their feet as she walked on to the stage in a floor-length sparkling dress and twice during her performance.
‘Many fans were waving homemade banners; some said, “We love you Susan” and “Susan is the best”.
‘One fan, Bryan Felvus, 23, from Motherwell in Lanarkshire, said, “She was brilliant. She had to be here tonight. She was great and deserved every bit of support she got and she got the loudest cheer of the evening.”
‘Another, Audrey Hinde, 39, from Ayrshire said, “I thought she was fantastic. She brought tears to my eyes. She didn’t seem under pressure at all.” Last night Boyle,
from the village of Blackburn, rose to the occasion and once again wowed the crowds.’
But the controversy over whether Susan should be experiencing this strain, whether she should have been put through the ordeal of competing in the final in the first place, would not go away. It was a source of fierce debate, so much so that Simon Cowell felt he had to explain the background to it.
‘I sat down with her and said, “Look, if this is getting too much for you, you don’t have to go into the final, no one’s going to force you.”
‘I told her family, “I’ll rip the contract up, you can have it back. I’ll do whatever Susan wants.” She looked me in the eye and said, “No, I want to win this competition. I want to give it a go.” It was only at the moment she lost when it hits you and you go, “How are you going to cope with this?” She found it very, very difficult.
‘No one put a gun to her head and said you’ve got to enter this show. She got in a fragile state because she couldn’t cope with all the attention. That’s what you can’t predict.
‘But for me to have said on that first day, “Susan, I’m going to make a decision about you and say you can’t cope with this, so you can’t live your dream” – I’ve got no right to say that.’
Next stop was Edinburgh and brother Gerry said, ‘She has been ringing around family members to ensure
they are in the audience tonight. She sounds fine and happy. She’s like a kid in a sweetie shop. She’s really looking forward to singing in her home territory. She was very keen to get back to performing. It’s just about pacing it and giving her a rest when she needs it.
‘This is what she always wanted to do. She loves entertaining the public. She is very keen to get on with her recording career afterwards. She’ll be ringing round the family, seeing who can make it tonight. I’m sure there’ll be quite a few there.’
The show at the Edinburgh Playhouse was sold out and many of Susan’s friends and neighbours in Blackburn missed out on tickets.
Jackie Russell, from Happy Valley Hotel in Blackburn, said, ‘I think a lot of people were disappointed. Everybody wanted to go and see her, but I think it’s fully booked now. It was very hard to get tickets.
‘I’m worried it’s all getting a little too much for Susan. People don’t realise she’s just a local girl from an exmining village, who’s been thrust into the limelight. I’m not surprised she’s exhausted – it’s been exhausting for us with all the attention we’ve had.
‘I’m sure Susan will be back in to sing here, but it could be a long time. I’ve got about 500 cards and letters to give her – everyone has been giving them to me.’
The Boyles and their friends weren’t the only ones eager to see Susan. Lisa Carpinello, 49, and her daughter Courtney, 12, travelled from Philadelphia, America, to
see Susan in action. ‘My husband has had to listen to “I Dreamed a Dream” for a month solid and he insisted I come over,’ Lisa said. ‘We stayed in Blackburn so we could go to the Happy Valley bar where she used to sing.’
Susan’s appearance in Edinburgh, too, was a triumph. One review said:
‘Sparkling in the simple silver dress that took her to second place in the
Britain’s Got Talent
final just three weeks ago, Susan Boyle clocked up three standing ovations for a rapturous nine-minute homecoming performance at the Edinburgh Playhouse last night.
‘In her first local appearance since leaving West Lothian for stardom in London, the 48-year-old singer perfectly performed two of the stage tunes that helped to make her the biggest internet phenomenon on the planet.
‘While she was on stage only long enough to perform her songs and take a bow, her stunning vocal talent more than made up for her low-key appearance.’
Afterwards, her spokeswoman declared the performance had been a resounding return to form, but warned Boyle’s fans that she would need rest days in order to cope with the demands of touring. ‘We’ve not toured with her before so don’t know how many performances she can cope with. We are waiting for her to tell us when she needs a rest.’
A report also said: ‘Boyle was last night at number three on the Playhouse’s post-interval bill, just after a performance by last year’s winner George Sampson, and
her arrival on stage took the excited audience by surprise.
‘Surrounded on all sides by the deafening roar of screams and applause from the crowd, an apprehensive Boyle walked out to meet the microphone in the centre of the stage as the giant screen behind her projected highlights of her time on the ITV show that made her a household name.’
Singing with warmth and clarity, any doubts about Boyle’s health and ability to perform after her recent spell in the Priory were quickly overcome as she easily drowned out the calls of the enthusiastic crowd with pitch perfect high notes in an almost flawless vocal performance. Offering the audience a hint of the cheeky smile that had captured the world she began to visibly relax on stage. Stepping back to the microphone she then delivered her most confident performance of the night.
Singing the
Les Misérables hit
, ‘I Dreamed A Dream’, made famous on You Tube after her first audition in Glasgow, Boyle gave a rendition so moving it that some said it ‘would put idol Elaine Paige to shame.’
But if Edinburgh was a triumph, the show at Liverpool on 18 June wasn’t. Susan didn’t make the show after reportedly being found clinging to a hotel balcony screaming, ‘Where’s my cat?’
She was spotted in a distressed state on the interior balcony outside her room in Liverpool’s four-star Radisson Blu Hotel, shouting down at the reception area, looking for her beloved cat Pebbles.
An eyewitness said, ‘She was not in a good shape. All she kept shouting was, “I want my cat… I NEED my cat!” It was very surreal. I think people just felt sorry for her because she was clearly unhappy.’
About half an hour later, minders ushered her down the hotel’s fire escape to a loading area at the back to avoid waiting press and fans. Shortly after she was driven away, organisers announced she would yet again miss one of the
BGT
tour shows.
She should have been one of the stars at Liverpool’s 11,000-seater Echo Arena but many thought she had not looked well when she arrived in the city around 2pm.
An onlooker said, ‘She just did not look right. She arrived in a Mercedes but as soon as she got out she ran away from the fans and the photographers. She just seemed to bolt but then she got stuck in the hotel’s revolving doors which looked ridiculous. She was acting really weird. When she was at reception waiting to be booked in, she just stood there scratching her belly with her top pulled up. She was out of it.’
A spokeswoman for Susan said that she was unaware of the incident on the balcony but said there were no plans for a return to the Priory. ‘Susan is not ill and I am not aware of any problems. She is just tired at the moment. She is going back down to London to have a sleep and a bit of a rest,’ she added.
Susan pulled out of the next concert at the Cardiff Arena and a spokesman passed on a message – ‘Sorry, to
all her fans’, adding, ‘She would love to be able to perform every single evening but she is aware of what she can and can’t do. I feel sorry for her because she doesn’t want to let people down but also she needs to have a rest.’
Susan then missed two performances in Nottingham before returning to the stage for two dates at London’s Wembley Arena, where she sang her customary two songs and received a standing ovation. She pledged not to miss the next gig, in Aberdeen, and flew up to wow the crowd.
Given her ‘no-shows’ so far on the tour, it was no surprise that there were doubts within the local community as to whether she would appear. But appear she did, arriving in a silver Mercedes at 6pm.
A review of her performance noted: ‘In a glittering grey dress, perfectly made-up face and sleek hairstyle, the woman who might be on the brink of making a fortune looked a million dollars.
‘Screaming fans jumped to their feet in a standing ovation as she belted out the song that first rocketed her into the headlines – “I Dreamed a Dream” and then the haunting “Memory”.
‘In spite of reports she was still behaving erratically, she looked calm and seemed to enjoy every second of her performance.’
The roadshow eventually hit Dublin and then Belfast. Susan dedicated her performance at Dublin’s O2 Arena to her mother Bridget, both her parents having come
from Keadue in Co. Donegal. No doubt it was an emotional return to Ireland for Susan, who had often travelled to Knock, where she first performed on Irish soil as part of a parish pilgrimage to a shrine to the Virgin Mary. ‘I knew it was something I had to do. I had to get on with it. That’s where the courage came from, my mother,’ she said.
There were 20 dates on the tour, several of which had matinee performances too, and it took the
BGT
cast the length and breadth of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Despite what people were hearing, the surprising aspect was that, in spite of the tentative start, Susan managed to make an appearance – normally to a tumultuous reception – on most of those dates, a remarkable achievement given her fragile state of mind just days prior to the tour beginning. It was an achievement in itself.
CHAPTER TWELVE
O
ne day in June, just before the
Britain’s Got Talent
tour was about to start, Susn was sitting in Simon Cowell’s office. ‘He asked me how I was doing and I said my dream was to record an album,’ she revealed. ‘He said, “If that’s still what you want to do I will help you – but only if you promise to take it slowly.” We did a tryout in the studio – I finally felt happy there. Everything I’d ever dreamed of was happening.’
By the first week in July, as the much-published tour, with its dramas and uncertainties, neared its end, Cowell was in a position to announce: ‘I’ve cut one track with her and she sounds fantastic on record – she’s so good, the album is not just going to be show tunes, we’re going to take our time with this.’
Susan was happy and enjoying being in the studio, he said. Although he refused to say what the track
they’d recorded was, Cowell added, ‘It’s not an obvious record but so far, it’s good. She’s got a really good recording voice.’
The song was actually ‘Cry Me a River’, the 1953 ballad that had been sung by Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Cocker and Michael Bublé but which had been made famous by Julie London. It also happened to be the song that Susan had recorded for charity back in 1999.
‘She’s happy and I think she’s enjoying the process. Luckily, things have quietened down a bit,’ Cowell said.
They may have ‘quietened down’ to some extent, but it was hard to notice from the outside. Susan was making her prime time debut in America – the key evening hours when viewing is at its peak – on NBC at the end of July. It was considered so important that President Obama’s planned live press conference on his plans for health care had to be re-arranged so as not to interfere with it. The conference was moved forward an hour so that the 9pm slot was available for Susan.
The interview, conducted via a video link to Susan’s London residence, was with Meredith Vieira, one of the leading personalities in American television. In common with many Americans, Vieira seemed to have an almost reverential feeling towards Susan.
‘I’m one of those millions of people that fell in love with you in mid-April… You look gorgeous,’ she gushed. ‘I’m loving the hair… it’s a little bit different, right, you got a slight little makeover?’
Susan’s hair had been slightly cut and coloured, her eyebrows were trimmed and she was wearing a flattering purple knee-length dress. ‘Just a slight one. I brush up quite well,’ Susan replied.
‘You do brush up very, very well. The journey you have been on. Everybody around the world suddenly saying, “Who is this Susan Boyle?” Are you having a good time?’