Susan Boyle

Archive for the ‘General Interest’ Category

Question 1

Who do you listen to, what are your favourite CDs / musicians?

Question 2

What do you do with Pebbles when you are in London recording your album?

More questions and video responses from Susan will be published as they become available.

I had an email today from a gentleman called Mike Buck, who has written a song called Kathy and The Sailor, which he would like Susan Boyle to consider performing.

Let me be clear, I have no influence at all with the powers that be who look after Susan. However, I decided to add Mike’s song to the website so you could give Mike your views on his composition. Would you like to hear Susan singing this song, or is Mike wasting his time?

You can leave your comments below.

Susan Boyle is looking very attractive now, as her upcoming interview on the Today show demonstrates.

However, one American reporter, from Entertainment Weekly, has questioned the fact that there are “no tears” during Susan’s interview with Meredith Viera. The reporter, Tanner Stransky, asks the reader “I’m evil for suggesting she squeeze out a few tears, right?” and asks: “What’d you think of the preview? Are you going to watch the Boyle interviews on Wednesday? Do you even care about her anymore?”

Well, it is interesting to see what happens in America when the press starts to turn on somebody that the people love (Brits take note!).

PM Taylor says: “Of course I plan to watch the interview. I’m a Susan Boyle fan so yes I care. I plan to buy her CDs and attend a concert if I get the chance because I absolutely love her voice.

As for the interview, why would you expect ( or want ) tears? Obviously she’s recovered from exhaustion and feels fine.

Maybe you don’t get it. Susan’s not a curiosity anymore, she’s a major talent.”

Linda commented: “I looked up Tanner Stransky’s photo as suggested in a comment. He’s not a keeper. Sorry.”

Cheryl says: “You think you got a lot of comments on this article ,try writing something NICE NEXT time and see how many comments you get. FORGET SUSAN BOYLE NOT LIKELY FORGET YOU VERY LIKELY.”

Terry M is more direct: “Stransky, You’re a piece of crap……period…..How did you’re parents raise you? How do you look in the mirror?”

Read the full article here, but please come back to tell us what you think

A lot of Susan Boyle fans are wondering what the lady herself is doing right now.

I received this email from a Susan Boyle fan called Marg.

Hi,
I had heard so much about Susan coming to America to sing for the president on July 4th. It seems like that just went away. Now that the 4th has come and gone, did or didn’t it happen? I’m thinking not.

Also, now that the tour is over, what is happening with Susan now? Is she going to go on tour herself? I know she’s working on an album with Simon Cowell, but he said that may take some time. Is she going to be doing any personal appearances while she’s working on the album. I would hate to see her just disappear now. So many of us just want to see her perform. Do you have any knowledge of what’s going on with her now?

Thanks!

So I’ll answer the email as best I can.

In regards to July 4th, it would appear that Susan did not sing for the president. Indeed, she was still on the Britain’s Got Talent Live Tour and performed in Bournemouth on July 5th. She has also started laying down tracks for her CD, so I very much doubt she jetted off to the US for July 4th to return for the BGT tour on the afternoon of July 5th.

So, how did this rumour come about, and how come it came to be on this website that I write? Well, let me give you an explanation of what happened with a different Susan Boyle rumour.

1. Perez Hilton blogged that Susan Boyle was to be given a cameo role in Ugly Betty. Perez Hilton is unlikely to have just made this up – presumably one of his showbiz friends tipped him off, but the tip off turned out to be untrue.
2. Somebody in the UK press read Perez’s blog and thought, now here’s a story! Let’s put it in the paper and sell lots of copies, because everyone is interested in Susan Boyle.
3. All the other newspapers copy the report, rewriting it in their own words, because noone wants to miss out on story. Here, I put my hand up and say that I am guilty of this aswell.
4. A spokesperson for Susan Boyle replies, when asked the question: “Is Susan Boyle going to appear in Ugly Betty?”, that Susan Boyle has had lots of offers. I’m sure she has, and this retort neatly sidesteps the question. Perhaps the spokesperson isn’t privy to all the offers that have been made to Susan and doesn’t really want to reply: “I don’t know, ask her manager”.
5. A prudent reporter contacts ABC, who deny that an offer has been made to Susan Boyle.
6. Perez Hilton corrects his blog. I correct this website.
7. End of rumour.

So, I don’t know where the July 4th rumour came from, but it probably followed a similar route, then it was forgotten about and July 4th came and went without many people realising, except for sharp-eyed Marg, that Susan Boyle never sang for The President.

In answer to the rest of the points in Marg’s email, I’m reasonably sure that Susan Boyle is laying down tracks for her CD now. Simon Cowell has been quoted as saying in The People: “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.”

As for personal appearances and a tour, the honest answer is that I have no idea. I would be very surprised if Susan does not make a trip to the US to promote her CD, especially as the Americans in particular are so in love with her.

Nevertheless, we can’t forget that Susan has also stayed in a mental health clinic since being thrown into the public spotlight, so in her best interests, the gently, gently approach that is being taken with her should continue.  We do not want to damage this lovely lady with our voracious appetite for her.

Facebook have banned Susan Boyle  – but not the Susan Boyle that you are thinking of. This Susan Boyle is a tall redhead and is a child care worker.

Her Facebook page had been established for two years – long before our Susan Boyle became famous. Nevertheless, Facebook are now saying that Susan Boyle, the redhead, must send them either her passport, driving licence or birth certificate to prove her identity before she can get her page back, according to an article in The Daily Record.

Susan Boyle, the redhead, is currently unable to log on to her own page.

She said: “I can’t believe they have done this.

“My Facebook site was something personal that I really liked using and now they have taken it away from me.

“Their actions are just stupid as I am obviously not pretending to be anyone.

“Surely they have come across two people with the same name before?

“You only have to look at my profile page and it is obvious I am just someone who happens to have the same name.

“I do miss not being able to access my friends’ new photographs and updates but it’s a point of principle.

“I am not going to send my personal documents through to them.”

There could be blue sky on the horizon for Susan Boyle the redhead though – she in planning on getting married in 2011, and then she will become Susan Brown.

Susan Boyle fans – I know there are many of you out there who absolutely adore Susan Boyle, and  leave comments below the many posts on the site or contact me directly with your views and requests.

One such fan, Misti from Seattle, has been creating some beautiful Susan Boyle tribute videos using the Animoto software on Animoto.com,  and she has been uploading them to YouTube.

You can view one of them below. Check out Misti’s channel on YouTube for more similar videos.

Has anyone else done anything interesting to demonstrate their love for Susan? We’d love to hear from you – leave your comments under this article!

I’ve been running the survey “What do you think of the tabloid inspired nickname “SuBo” for Susan Boyle?” and the majority of respondents (75% at the last count) do not like it. However, I’ve recently received an interesting comment from Misti in the US.

Misti says: “I was interested in the results of your poll and just want to say that this must be a “culture” difference between UK and America.

“I asked several of my friends and not one of us even UNDERSTOOD the Japanese wrestler connection until I googled and figured it out. In America our greatest stars get their names shortened this way… it is a high compliment for someone so famous they are instantly recognized with just the nickname.

“I was stunned to see 75% of your pollsters said it sounded like the Japanese wrestler! Again, I don’t personally know ANYONE who takes it that way. The name SuBo is said with great love and affection!! ”

For those of you who may be puzzling the Japanese wrestler connection, SuBo sounds close to Sumo, a type of Japanese wrestling where participants are usually extremely fat and wear what looks like a nappy (for my American friends: diaper) style shorts – see photo above right.

Nevertheless, it is true that Jennifer Lopez is called J-Lo and Lindsay Lohan is called Li-Lo. There must be other stars who have their names abbreviated in a similar way too.

So there you go. That’s it from me – Ma-Bo!

Update

Misti has sent me the following remarks about what I wrote:

“Thanks for posting my comments on your site! I appreciate your sharing this information. I do hope Susan does not think fans calling her “SuBo” mean so disrespectfully.

“And your example… J-Lo for Jennifer Lopez was a good one; another is “Brangelina” for Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lopez. Perhaps this has just become such an American “superstar” designation that it was inevitable for our beloved “Lady Susan” to become “SuBo” to us!

Some may be using the term in a hurtful way but the vast majority of us in the USA say it “with our greatest cheers.” Susan is a HUGE hit here, especially considering she has not even been here yet! We so appreciate everyone in the UK posting the videos on YouTube so we can see them and also the wonderful cheering and ovations the crowds are giving her!!

Thank you and God bless you.”

And thank you too, Misti.

Impossible to imagine, but there is actually more than one Susan Boyle. The other Susan Boyle, an artist from Texas, was living her life and minding her own business until one day she received an email from a friend.

“It was a link to Susan Boyle’s YouTube performance a few days after her audition,” Susan K Boyle told the Guardian. “I thought she was wonderful – what a beautiful voice and what a compelling story. But I thought it was just an interesting coincidence, nothing more.”

Luckily for Susan K Boyle, in 2002 she set up a website at susanboyle.com to display her paintings and generate interest. However, she had not spent much time on the site of late and it did not generate a great deal of traffic.

Then something very interesting happened.  Susan Boyle (without the K) became an internet sensation, and everything changed. Susan K Boyle received a phone call from a journalist who asked if she knew that her site was getting 1800 hits an hour.

“I had no idea,” said Susan. ” I hadn’t upgraded the site for a couple of years.”

Then Susan K Boyle started to receive emails from Susan Boyle fans.  “A couple of Susan Boyle fans emailed me to say they thought I sang beautifully. Another thought I sang beautifully and liked my artwork! Among the emails were inquiries for price quotes on a couple of my art pieces. However, I have had no sales as a result of this. Yet.”

In addition to enquiries about art and Susan Boyle, some of the people who contacted Susan K Boyle wanted to buy the domain. Susan consulted Sedo, a domain name broker, who apparently advised a price of $25,000 for the domain.

As yet the domain remains unsold.  A spokesman for Sedo said: “The value of the domain name really depends on the sustainability of Susan Boyle’s popularity.”

Well, I love Susan Boyle, but I wouldn’t be paying $25,000 for the domain SusanBoyle.com. I doubt Susan would, either. Would another speculator? Well, you’d have to sell a lot of albums, cds, t-shirts and mugs to recoup that sort of investment, so I guess it does depend on how long Susan Boyle remains popular. I think she’s around for the long haul, but I do recall Amanda Holden saying that she thought her career would be short lived.

The obvious parallel is to look at the career of Paul Potts – he is still going strong. I know that talent shows are frequently associated with short lived fame (eg Michelle McManus, Steve Brookstein, Journey South and Leon Jackson), but these acts are pop and even none talent show pop acts come and go with almost brutal speed – such as the Fast Food Rockers, who now may even be serving fast food themselves after their brush with fame.

Acts like Elaine Paige and Barbara Dixon by their very nature have increased longevity, and there is always the option of a glittering career in the West End. These opportunities and others like them will be open to Susan Boyle and it is up to her if shes wants or feels well enough to pursue them.

And finally, how much did I pay for the domain susan-boyle.co.uk? Well, it was free on a special offer from the OVH web host domain and hosting service (sadly that particular offer has now closed). It will though cost me £5.75 to renew it in 2 years time. There’s no sense in wasting money now, is there?

Uneekdolldesigns, an American company have created a Susan Boyle doll, or “miniature character”  to “commemorate Susan’s accomplishment”.

Susan is wearing a dress tied around the middle with a sash, and  gold coloured beads. In one hand she is carrying a microphone. The doll is 4.5″ tall.

Other dolls made by the company include Charlie Chaplin, Dolly Parton and I Love Lucy.