Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle has been exclusively interviewed by Mark Jefferies of the Daily Mirror. He reports that Susan these days “cuts a sleek and sophisticated figure”. Susan agrees that she feels different now, too.

She said: “When I look in the mirror I see that I brush up quite well. It’s a bit like a cygnet to a swan.

“Now, I see a sophisticated lady. Even though the outwardness has changed, inside I’m still the same, but now I’m a bit more refined in some ways.

“Put it this way, a woman who went on Britain’s Got Talent with mad hair, bushy eyebrows and the frock that I was wearing that night had to be noticed.

“It was a good choice at the time. In fact, the whole process has been pretty good for me.”

Susan has done incredibly well since last year’s Britain’s Got Talent. Her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, sold more that eight million copies around the world. Now Amazon.co.uk have been inundated with pre-orders for Susan’s second album, which is yet to be recorded or named. There have so far been two million pre-orders and is set to be the most pre-ordered CD in history.

Susan also spoke of the effect the death of her mother, Bridget, had on her in 2007.

She said: “It was life-changing, not having her to depend on so much. I had to learn to do things for myself.

“My dad has been dead for 10 years now and my mum for two-and-a-half. They both had a good innings. They were elderly when they went and they’d been sweethearts since they were 20. They went to school together, came from the same area, grew up together.

“This was a promise that I’d made to my mum – that I’d do something with my singing. She was the reason I pursued my singing. She had a good belief that I could do it. I couldn’t straight away because the bereavement hit me hard.

“My confidence had been pretty good at the time. But when you lose someone as powerful as your mum, you feel as if a part of you is taken away.

“A good way of levelling out, I found, was to tell myself that she may not be here physically and mentally, but spiritually she is. That’s what keeps you going. I have my faith which is the backbone of who I am.

“I’m getting over that slowly and putting my promise into practice.”

Susan talked further, about the musical family from which she comes.

“Oh, we were quite a squad,” she says. “All very musical. My dad used to sing, my mother sang and played piano. I have two sisters who are very good singers. My brother Joe was a good songwriter, too. We were a wee bit like the von Trapps. We loved the Beatles in the 1960s. I was a wee lassie and we’d sit and watch Top of the Pops, and wait for them and the Rolling Stones to come on.

“My dad hated the programme, so he used to turn it down. But I used to turn it back up for devilment. My father was a fair sort of a person, mind you, but he caused a lot of arguments over that programme. We were never allowed to go to the local dance hall, but I had a sister who used to shimmy down the drainpipes and sneak out. Gradually my brothers and sisters flew the nest.”

At the moment, Susan maintains she is too busy with music to think about romance, even if she wanted to! However, any future boyfriend of Susan would need to be accepted by her family, so says Gerry Boyle. In an interview with an Australian magazine, he said: “Our family is very protective of Susan. Anyone coming into a circle from a romantic angle would have to go through the rigour.

“She becomes attached very easily to people so she has to be careful. There has to be a bit of reality in her life. I think the world realises that she is fragile. She’s desperately keen to be loved again.”

Susan also spoke about her school days, and the times when she was bullied. She said: “I started to get bullied at school. They used to knock me about a bit and make me cry. There’s nothing worse than another person having power over you by bullying you.

“For anybody with that kind of problem, I’d tell them to see a teacher, but I didn’t do it.

“I didn’t think I could trust anybody and it made me a bit of a sitting target.

“By the time I got to secondary school, I wasn’t sure who was my friend or enemy. I didn’t make friends very easily. I did try, but they made fun of me and I felt pushed aside.”

Now Susan has lots of money and fans the world over. Nevertheless, brother Gerry cautions: “Now that Britain’s Got Talent has gone, she’s got a commitment. She has to sing, she has to travel, she’s in the working world the same as the rest of us. I think Susan will have to realise that staying at the top takes a heck of a lot.”

I know that I for one can’t wait to hear her second album.

Susan Boyle’s second album, which is still to be named, is being tipped to be this year’s Christmas Number 1, even though it has not been recorded yet!

Pre-order sales at Amazon have been proceeding extremely briskly, with more than two million requests in two weeks, according to a report in the Daily Mirror. The album is set to become Amazon’s biggest CD pre-order in their history.

An industry source told the Mirror: “We haven’t seen this before. It’s seven months ahead of the release and already people are putting in requests for pre-sales. It’s an incredible achievement already.”

Susan is to start work recording the album in two weeks time. She said: “I’m hoping to make it better and a bit extra special.”

A spokesman for Amazon said: “We are certain it will make the Xmas No 1 spot. It’s not often you can say that in April.”

Susan Boyle has been invited to sing for the pope when he visits Scotland in September, according to an article in the Daily Record.

Susan has been invited by leaders of the Catholic Church to perform in front of the huge crowd expected to greet the Pontiff at an outdoor mass.

Susan will sing before the papal address and she might also give a performance during the mass in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow.

A senior source at the church told the Daily Record: “Susan has agreed to sing and everyone is delighted. It is a done deal.

“There are still some of the finer details to be ironed out but it has been approved by the highest echelons in the Vatican.

“Susan has described it as a dream come true and it will be an extra attraction for everyone attending.”

Susan herself is a devout Catholic, and I am sure that she is delighted to have been asked to sing in front of the pope.

It is not yet known which songs Susan will choose, however a spokesman for the church said: “We would be delighted if Susan Boyle were to perform on the day at Bellahouston Park. She is top of our wish list.”

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to visit Edinburgh and Glasgow at the start of a four day UK tour  September 16th-19th.

Susan Boyle has been spotted at Edinburgh Playhouse, watching the musical “Les Miserables”. Of course, Susan rose to fame originally with the song I Dreamed a Dream which is from this musical.

Susan appeared to be on a night out with the girls, and mingled happily with other members of the audience after the show, according to an article on STV.tv.

Two Susan fans,  Louise and Colette Bradley from Barrhead, Glasgow spotted Susan and were lucky enough to meet her.

Louise told STV: “I am a massive fan, I adore her. There were a lot of people who noticed Susan but we just held back and brass-necked it so we could meet her.

“She was really nice and friendly.”

Susan, who was said to be in a rush, happily stopped for a photo and a chat with the girls, although she did say that she was supposed to be keeping a low profile at the moment.

In other news, Susan is currently working on her new album which is thought will contain some original songs written especially for Susan.

Susan Boyle has signed a book deal to write her autobiography. The title of the book is “The Woman I Was Born To Be” and it will be published in the autumn (the fall).

Susan said: “When I strutted on to the stage for that audition, I was a scared wee lassie, still grieving for my mother, not caring how I looked.

“I think I’ve grown up a lot in the last year, become more of a lady, and I’m not so frightened any more. I’m writing this book to try to show that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and I hope it will benefit other people.

“My story demonstrates that you shouldn’t just look at the label, you should look at the whole person, emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually, and I hope that telling it will show that dreams are not impossible, if you’ve got courage and a willingness to go on no matter what the circumstances.”

The book will be published by Transworld. Her publisher said: “This astonishing transformation has not always been easy for Susan, faced with all the trappings of celebrity, but in the whirlwind of attention and expectation, she has always found calm and clarity in music. Susan was born to sing.”

In other news, it is expected that sales of Susan’s second album, which is yet to be named, will break all the records set by her first album. The album is already available to pre-order from Amazon UK, approximately seven months ahead of its release date.

Susan Boyle has cancelled her performance at the Logie awards in Australia next month, according to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald.

The trip has been cancelled in order to allow Susan some time to rest in order to prepare for the recording of her second album.

Susan’s manager, Andy Stephens, said that Susan was still keen to visit Australia and was looking at dates later on in the year.

He said: ”Regrettably, we have had to make the tough decision to postpone our Australian visit for the Logies in May.

”We want to apologise to all Susan’s Australian fans and look forward to coming to Australia later in the year.”

Susan Boyle’s second album has just become available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk approximately seven months before its anticipated release date of November 29th, 2010. Presumably it will shortly be available for pre-order on Amazon.com too.

There is no title currently given for the album – just TBC which I assume is short for “To Be Confirmed”.

I’m not sure how many of you would want to pre-order seven months in advance – but if you do want to – you can!

Here is the Susan Boyle “Living the Dream” interview as shown on Australian TV, delightfully interviewed by Charles Wooley on Channel 9. I am unable to embed the first part of the interview, so you will have to click the this link here to view the first half.

It’s funny, I went to Edinburgh Castle about four weeks ago – I kept saying to my husband, “I wonder if we’ll bump into Susan Boyle”. And we went to Edinburgh Castle. Looks like I picked the wrong day. It would have been lovely if I had bumped into her, but I doubt I would have known what to say. Blushes and looks tongue tied!!

Thanks to Eloise for bringing this interview to my attention.

Susan Boyle has admitted she would love to sing a duet with Lady Gaga, according to an interview in today’s Daily Record.

Susan says: “I think Lady Gaga is a wonderful artist and completely original and I like her costumes. Love it! Yes, I’d love to do a duet with her, complete with telephone hat too!”

She has also said that she would like to sing for Pope Benedict when he visits Scotland later in the year. I guess Susan is not up to date with current news stories which allege that Pope Benedict protected a paedophile priest (source: Sky News).

She said: “The Pope is a very special person and singing for him within the Mass, it’s not just for him, it’s for everybody.”

Susan has also said that she is looking forward to working on her second album, which will shortly be available to pre-order.

She said: “I love recording. The recording studio is your own space, it’s your bubble, it’s you and the music and the producer and engineer.

“That’s when the real craft comes in and that’s how people get to hear what you are really like. It is like my sanctuary.”

I’ve also been reading some media stories that are insisting upon a collaboration between Susan Boyle and Snoop Dog. Hmm, I know we’re past April 1st now, but I just don’t believe that one. Maybe I’m wrong. Time will tell…

Susan Boyle has been interviewed on the Australian TV station Channel 9 (reported in the Daily Mirror) and has insisted that although she is still single, she in enjoying life more than ever before. However, she maintained: “Some day, my prince will come”.

She continued: “I go on looking. But I have never been in a better place. It’s absolutely brilliant for me right now.”

She also spoke about fame, saying that: “It takes a wee bit to get used to it. I had to learn to be a bit different. People recognise you in the street. At the beginning I couldn’t go out on my own. I still catch the bus.”

Susan also confessed that she doesn’t know how to use a computer, saying: “I don’t know what Google is.”