An amazing year for Susan Boyle

Apr 15 2010 by Debbie Hall, West Lothian Courier

WHAT a difference a year makes.

This time 12 months ago only a handful of people knew about Susan Boyle’s extraordinary singing voice.

But now the whole world is at her feet, just one year after she first wowed viewers and judges alike on Britain’s Got Talent.

The new series of the show is due to start this weekend, but it’s unlikely there will be anything quite like the Susan Boyle phenomenon again.

And what a year it has been since the 49-year-old spinster – now worth £4 million – first stepped out on stage, declaring she’d never been kissed.

Just days after that first performance a whopping 10 million people had watched her sing ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ on YouTube, quickly making it the most viewed clip on the website that year.

A whirlwind few months followed, as the Blackburn star was well on her way to conquering the world and winning over fans from all over the globe, including celebrities like Demi Moore and Catherine Zeta Jones.

American President Barack Obama has since twice invited Susan to sing for him and the former church volunteer has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey and Jay Leno shows and on TV channels all over the world.

Her overnight success became all the more poignant as fans learned Susan had endured bullying at school when growing up as well as suffering heartbreak at home.

It was revealed Susan’s sister Patricia died of cot death when she was just months old and another sister, 53-year-old Kathleen, suffered a fatal asthma attack nine years ago.

Their father Patrick (83), had died a year earlier after battling cancer and in 2007, Susan’s mum Bridget (91), passed away.

The down-to-earth superstar could do no wrong and even though she came second in the Britain’s Got Talent final in June, her story was not about to end there.

Her debut album ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ became the most pre-ordered release on Amazon and it shot to number one in the UK, making it the fastest selling debut album in the country.

And such was her popularity, Susan was made the star of her own TV special in December, where she sang with her idol Elaine Paige, attracting 10 million viewers.

An it was also on that show that the star received a triple platinum disc from host Piers Morgan for selling one million copies of her debut album.

Susan celebrated her 49th birthday this month and there have since been rumours of more celebrity duets with the likes of rapper Snoop Dog.

And with a new album due out this year there is little chance that Susan Boyle sensation is about to die down anytime soon.