Susan Boyle’s Success “A Virus” Update
January 28th, 2010 | 
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As I suspected, Elaine Paige was very unhappy with the quotes that were attributed to her by the press today.
Here is Elaine’s statement, in her own words, taken from her Facebook page.
A personal statement from Elaine Paige about today?s press reports
?I was dismayed to read the remarks attributed to me today in the Daily Mail which were incomplete and misinterpreted.
“I am a huge supporter of Susan Boyle and admire what she has achieved; she has handled the extraordinary situation of being catapulted to worldwide stardom with tremendous strength, charm and dignity and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her on the ITV special we recorded together only last month.
“I have always said it?s very hard for someone to be fast-tracked to stardom without any prior experience ? I know this as it happened to me when ?Evita? opened and I found it extremely difficult in the beginning; today, of course, it?s much harder with the phenomenon of the internet ? Facebook, YouTube etc ? it seems it only takes minutes for fame to spread around the world ? and that?s why I used the word ?virus?! I wasn?t referring to Susan herself; I was referring to the speed of her fame spreading as fast as a worldwide viral marketing campaign.?
So there you have it.
Here are the quotes that were attributed to Elaine in the newspaper reports, comments that Elaine allegedly made at the South Bank Awards.
When Elaine Paige was asked directly if she was happy about Susan’s success, she allegedly replied: “I don’t particularly feel any pride for her – I’m sure she is proud of what she has done.”
“It’s all about turning someone into an immediate celebrity at the expense of longevity and working hard and experience.
“Susan Boyle is doing terribly well considering she literally came to the attention of the world overnight with the advent of YouTube.
“She was like a virus really that spread across the world in a nanosecond.
“She is a girl with no experience of anything to do with theatrics, the music business, or art in any way.
“She has done terribly well to be a major star overnight with YouTube.”
When asked if she thought Susan’s success would last, Elaine allegedly replied: “That’s a good question. She is a major star because of YouTube. Longevity is gained through knowledge, experience and effort so it will remain to be seen.
“When I started, YouTube didn’t exist but even then with 15 years of experience prior to my success with Evita it was difficult, so I admire the way she handled her sudden success.
“Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor just take a bunch of people from real life who think they can sing and try and turn them into overnight “stars” with a couple of songs.
“Ha ha. It’s not entertainment.”
And here is what I said about the quotes before Elaine’s statement on Facebook
Let’s not jump on a “We hate Elaine Paige” bandwagon. First of all, Elaine Paige was very nice about Susan when Susan first entered the public spotlight. She met with Susan and subsequently performed on Susan’s TV Special, as the guest, not the star. Elaine Paige has to date behaved very graciously towards Susan.
Maybe she was just having a bad day – maybe she said other things and the remarks are taken out of context, who knows?? I don’t think Elaine’s remarks are spiteful in any way, I think she is just being a little too “honest” about how she feels, and she should perhaps have been more savvy about how her marks could appear in the press.
I do feel though, that Susan wouldn’t want people to be mean about the lady she has idolised for years. What do you think?
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1)Je dirait elle a dit autres choses et les remarques sont prises hors contexte comme vous le dite.J ai vue une emission avec SUSAN par apres j ai lu dans le DAILY?? je me suis dit elle na pas dit sa SUSAN.2) Pourquoi elaine Paige chante le duo avec SUSAN sur son nouveau d.v.d.? 3)Chercher l erreur! suzanne Belgique.
I agree with the writer that hating Elaine Paige is hardly appropriate. I have several theatrical performers in my building in Upper Manhattan, and a close friend who was a huge opera star for 30 years, and we’ve had these conversations about the instant success that’s happening today via TV and YouTube. People struggle their entire lives to make a living in theater and it’s a hard life. You are often never home, traveling all over the country, living in small hotels away from family and pets. Then maybe, like a neighbor of mine, you get a part in a huge Broadway smash two years ago, “The Pajama Game”, but then go right back to the road when it ends. Atlanta, here I come. So to see someone even as talented as Susan Boyle go intergalactic the way she has could easily create resentment. Everything EP said is true. She knows how hard she worked to get to where she is, what she’s gone through. Susan hasn’t yet made a career, is very ackward on stage, and where her voice alone will take her is anybody’s guess. I love Susan to death but she’s not a “performer”, she’s a singer, and there’s a huge difference. We’ll all be watching.
I don’t hold any negative feelings toward Elaine Paige regarding these comments. We don’t know everything that happened. We weren’t there. However, I do have some questions about how Susan has been performing so far. I believe I’ve read that she has had theatrical training. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m wondering why she’s always just standing in front of a stationary mike when she’s performing. The only time I saw her with a portable mike was when she performed with Elaine Paige. That was really nice. Susan showed more facial expression and body language during that performance. That was what I was hoping to see after the tour last summer. I wish I could see her perform more with a portable mike and move around on the stage more and show more facial expression. When she’s being interviewed she has so much spunk. She’s clearly not such a subdued person. What I’m really wondering is if she’s being told to use a stationary mike and is just doing it because of that.
I guess there’s really a lot we just don’t know about the people working with her. I know for a fact that Susan is very talented. I have absolutely no doubt about her abilities with her music. She’s been singing and playing the piano all her life. It’s her passion. I pray that whatever the reason is that she’s only been using stationary mikes so far is changed soon so we can see Susan really come alive. I just feel like something (or someone) is causing her to be subdued and not show her true personality. One of her best performances for me to date was the live performance in Rockefeller Square in New York before Christmas. She was so full of life that day and I enjoyed it immensely. You could tell by the folks in her audience that they enjoyed it immensely too. It was written all over her face.
I PERSONALLY VIEWD THE DUET WITH SUSAN BOYLE AND ELAINE PAGE. IT WAS VERY,VERY CLEAR TO ME THAT SUSAN IS THE MOST TALENTED. ELAINE PAGE IS SIMPLY “JEALOUS”. I COULD SEE IT ON HER FACE WHEN SUSAN WAS SINGING ALONE DURING THE DEUT. SHE CAN’T ACCEPT THE FACT THAT EVEN THOUGH SHE HAVE BEEN AN IDOL TO SUSAN A LONG TIME, THAT DOES NOT MAKE HER THE QUEEN OF SONG. SUSAN EARNED HER SENSATION IN HER OWN GOD GIVEN RIGT, AND NOT THROUH THE HELP OR INSPIRATION OF ELAINE PAGE. AND BY THE WAY “WHO IS ELAINE PAGE ANYWAY” ELAINE WHO? GOD IS BEHIND SUSAN AND HE WILL SURROUND HER AND PROTECT HER FROM JELOUS AND CYNICAL PEOPLE LIKE ELAINE. ELAINE HAS APPARENTLY HAD HER DAYS OF GLORY, STEP BACK SISTER AND GIVE SOMEONE ELSE VERY DESERVING AND TALENTED THEIR TIME OF GLORY. YOU REALLY SOUND LIKE A BACK STABBER BIG TIME SISTER.
If Elaine did, indeed, make the reported comments, it is partly understandable based on all the comments others have stated above on this blog.
As much as Susan has been catapulted to the forefront of world attention, it isn’t as though she sat on her hands the last two decades wanting to be heard and given a chance. She repeatedly made her rounds to auditions, and spent all her savings on a demo CD she sent around.
On Mike Barrymore’s program she was heard alright, but Barrymore turned the segment into an episode of the Gong Show…he was on his back on the floor looking up Susan’s skirts trying to get laughs at her expense. All that just because she had ‘unconventional looks’ and wasn’t a Christie Brinkley or Taylor Swift piece of eye candy. That was unfair and I’m sure even Elaine Paige was never humiliated like that. Elaine has conventional good looks and would not have attracted such mean behavior.
Susan has said she wanted to be a SINGER….and that IS what she IS. Dramatic lessons aside, she has not officially declared she wants a Broadway career; she certainly wouldn’t want to be away from Pebbles and Blackburn that long. She’s a home-town girl at heart.
As to her animation at the Rockefeller Center premier of her CD, I believe her managers were trying to avoid negative first impressions by television watchers when she played with her red scarf, which Andy subsequently took away from her. It is my guess that since she has stated she wants to sing for the Queen someday, that she needs to be more polished in front of the cameras.
There has been enough comedy ascribed to her because of her earlier frumpy, non-glamourous, unconventional looks. It would appear that Andy simply wants her to be accepted on the basis of her singing talent and not on the comical character she can be when doing karaoke, etc.
Just my thoughts.
The British tabloid are infamous for distorting people’s comments. Look at all the bogus stories they’ve printed about Susan. I believe Elaine over those disreputable papers. I think Elaine and Susan have a nice friendship now and the tabloids are just trying to start trouble where there isn’t any.
Le mal est fait:la presse Belge titre. SUSAN BOYLE L HUMILIATION: quoi de plus humiliant que d etre publiquement critiques par son modele de toujours.Elaine Paige etc….suzanne Belgique
Don’t believe what you read in those British tabloid rags. Elaine thinks very highly of Susan. Here she is in her own words, check it out. http://entertainment.msn.com/video/?g=8b7112e0-3046-11de-9eb5-075463a74c6d&tab=Entertainment&
As a viewer of her performance at the Rockefeller Square, I didn’t even notice that anyone took her scarf away. I was just so mesmerized by Susan’s most wonderful performance and was also enjoying the emotions that were clearly written on the faces of the crowd watching her. They were clearly mesmerized too and totally absorbed in her performance.
There’s nothing wrong with a singer moving around on the stage and showing some physical expression while singing. It really makes the song come alive. There’s also nothing wrong with showing your personality and interacting with the audience when you are on the stage to sing. Susan has a wonderful and playful personality and in some cases it’s appropriate to show that to your audience. That’s why I said what I did above. I just can’t help thinking that they are coaching her to just stand in front of the mike and sing. Let’s all think back to her performance that won us all over in the first place. Susan was witty before she sang her winning song. She stood up before a very harshly judgemental crowd and took control of the situation for her own sake. Then after being given 3 yeses she did a little dance and raised her hands in the air before she left the stage. THAT was the real Susan. We were all so overjoyed for her authenticity, her joy in being approved to advance in the competition and, yes, also her wit in expressing her “I showed you” to a very cynical audience and judges. She just made me cry with her authenticity. No pride, no facades, no act, just plain real. That’s our Susan and I love her for that and want to see more of the real her on the stage when she performs.
Thanks so much for posting Elaine Paige’s comments directly from her Facebook page. It explains a lot of things. That’s why it’s always a good idea to reserve judgement when you read things like this. Unless someone personally witnesses comments made by a person, then it’s not a good idea to just take what you read in the public media and attack the person who “supposedly” made such comments.
I’m really glad to read that Elaine is a big supported of Susan. That is how she came across in their performance together.
I agree with the person who says Susan needs some coaching on how to handle herself on a stage, what to do with her body. Holding a microphone made such a difference on the EP/SB duet that it’s hard to imagine her handlers didn’t notice that. Otherwise, she stands like a statue. Also, those dresses have to go! Can’t she be dressed in some nice contemporary dresses, empire waistlines, that don’t make her look like some huge opera singer? All that bare flesh just emphasizes her size. She even wore that last brown dress on Oprah. Susan is so talented, but she needs some help in creating a comfortable stage persona, including some nice dresses.
I agree, Marg1, they have changed Susan’s presentation of her stage technique and I’m unsure that it’s for the better. Even on her audition, she was so full of life and natural movement, holding the mic and moving to the music and with great facial expression. Why are they having her stand like a statue and seeming to want to suppress her own vibrant personality and charm?
As for the comments of Elaine about Susan, she is a fan and a huge supporter of Susan, in her own words. There is an out-of-proportion contradiction in some of these “supposed” quotes in that article. I can’t believe she “allegedly” isn’t proud of Susan…What “fan” isn’t proud of the person they “hugely support”? And, obviously, Susan adores Elaine! What’s going on?
Elaine Paige has always shown herself to be a class act. It’s clear from earlier interviews she has given that she is not fully conversant in or comfortable with the language of the Internet. Other than that, she is simply being honest about the difference between someone who has “come up” the hard way and someone who hasn’t.
Regarding stage presence: for some reason, Susan’s team seems to be lacking someone who is willing/able to coach her on (appropriate) performance skills. It seems to me that, in their efforts to “dial back” Susan’s flamboyance, they’ve succeeded in eliminating it altogether. There’s a balance that can, and should, be worked on.
We saw a glimpse of that balance, I think, during her duet with Elaine Paige. It was not only about having the hand-held mic, but also that Susan seemed to be feeding off of Elaine’s wonderful style.
Susan desperately needs a mentor.
yes i totally agree that susan need to have some one who can help with her stage present. they need to let her use the hand held mike and be herself they are trying to make her look like a robot just stand there and sing and thats not her. who ever is handeling her needs to let her be herself she has a great voice and when she sign let her express her self with movement.
Eloise, yes, I also thought Susan’s performance during the duet with Elaine was much more natural. Yes, she did seem to be interacting with Elaine and it was so precious. Having the portable mike also gave her much more freedom to move around and express herself in her body movements. I truly think that she can do this and interact more with her audience if she’s not performing with someone else on stage. It still think the stationary mike needs to go in most cases. There may be times when it’s appropriate, but in most cases it’s just not. I just get the impression that the mike is nailed to the floor when she performs with it, and that inhibits her. She doesn’t even take the mike off the stand and move around. She could do that too. Like I said above, I don’t know if she’s being coached to do this, but I strongly suspect it is. I get a sense that they are trying to inhibit Susan’s natural spirit on the stage, and that’s just not a good thing. We all love Susan’s natural spirit. That’s what warmed us all to her in the first place on Britain’s Got Talent. I agree with some that the dresses may not be the best thing for Susan. She did wear a beautiful blue dress when she performed in France. That was very becoming and really made her sparkle, but I haven’t seen her wear that dress since. Are they telling her what to wear too?
I just want to see Susan get her sparkle back and be herself on stage like we first saw on BGT. Whenever you see her getting interviewed, and especially the quilt event, she is just so filled with life and everyone around her just seems to love that. Are her publicity people too stupid to see how her fans react to her when she’s totally herself?