TV special on surprise pop star Susan Boyle debuts

By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer Lynn Elber, Ap Television Writer – Fri Dec 11, 7:38 am ET
Photo: AP – In this undated image released by TV Guide Network, Susan Boyle sings 'I Dreamed A Dream' with the London

LOS ANGELES – Susan Boyle sings, and Simon Cowell and other celebrities sing her praises in a weekend TV special about the Cinderella story that has made her a best-selling recording artist. All that's lacking is a prince, but she says romance has to wait. "Och, there's no time for that now. I'm far too busy," Boyle said. "There was a TV company that wanted to set me up with a man. Apparently he was a nice man, but I've got my living to do now. I don't mind being friendly, but no marriage plans as yet."

"I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story," debuting at 8 p.m. EST Sunday on TV Guide Network, details her sudden burst of fame and includes performances by Boyle from her new CD and with Broadway star Elaine Paige, the London West End cast of "Les Miserables" and others. The hourlong show also airs Sunday on ITV1 in Britain. Boyle, 48, stole the spotlight on "Britain's Got Talent" last spring, although she lost out on winning the contest. She has had an at-times bumpy ride, including a brief hospitalization for exhaustion after the show's season finale.

But her "I Dreamed a Dream" CD debuted last week at No. 1 and her record label, Columbia Records, said that gave her the best first week sales of 2009 and the best-selling album debut by a woman in the Billboard SoundScan era. In comments released by TV Guide Network and in an e-mail exchange with The Associated Press, Boyle said she's delighting in her unlikely journey from a quiet Scottish villager to a star, but remains unaltered. "No, I am still the same person I always was — the wee lady from Blackburn. I still live in the same house, I still like the same things," Boyle said. "I have never wanted to change, I have only ever wanted to be a professional singer, and perhaps that's the only way in which I think differently of myself now: I feel like a professional."
Her image has certainly changed, with Boyle downright glamorous as she performs in the TV special. It's different from her original look that was routinely characterized as "dowdy." (She admits to "mad hair" and "bushy eyebrows.") "Well, it wasn't very nice," Boyle said of the description. "But then I had never really thought about how I looked until I saw myself on television. I think I scrub up quite well now!" Boyle sings "Cry Me a River" and the Rolling Stones tune "Wild Horses" in the TV special that includes interviews with her as well as Cowell, the "American Idol" judge who is executive producer of "Britain's Got Talent," Donny Osmond and others.

Her dreams now don't include a success-fueled shopping spree, Boyle said, but she is thinking of helping others. "I will probably be able to buy the house I live in, which was my family home, which is fantastic. I don't have any other big ambitions really. I have bought some new furniture. You've got to keep your house looking nice, haven't you"? "I would like to do something good with the money — be useful to other people, help them. I have a few ideas in mind," she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091211/ap_en_ot/us_tv_susan_boyle

Time to Take Susan Boyle Seriously

She should no longer be considered a sideshow. As she proved again, on 'America's Got Talent,' she should be appreciated for her singing ability.


Susan Boyle placed her hands on her abdomen as she sang the last note of the song “Wild Horses" Wednesday on the finale of “America's Got Talent," taking the familiar stance of a trained singer, carefully locating her breath. The pose concluded a performance that was exactly what Boyle's mentor, Simon Cowell, could have hoped for -- lovely, inspirational, free of surprises. Devotees of the original Rolling Stones version of this often-covered weeper might object to Boyle's stolid rhythmic sense, her utter lack of irony (irony is, after all, the essence of Mick Jagger), and her artistic choices, which transform “Wild Horses" from a complicated account of emotional confusion to a simple exclamation of longing. But mainstream America, at least as it's portrayed on prime-time television, adores Boyle's sunny vocal tone and her ability to turn even a song about a drug overdose into something worthy of church. No matter that her performance was canned (it was taped the night before the telecast, though made to look live), or that her nerves clearly planted her to one spot, vocally and physically. Boyle has something Americans have sought in popular music for more than a century, even as they also seek its opposite: the mask of sincerity.

Ever since she appeared on “Britain's Got Talent," the U.K. version of this global talent-show franchise, Boyle has become one of the world's most celebrated regular people. Her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream" from “Les Miserables" surprised reality-show viewers used to seeing performers' voices match up with their visages. Working class, average looking and too old even to join the cast of “Desperate Housewives," Boyle inspired many by pursuing her dream of becoming a professional in a field, entertainment, that mostly rewards the young and the beautiful. She's not the first star to defy beauty standards: there was Ethel Merman, Janis Joplin, heck, even “American Idol" had the chubby Christian rocker Chris Sligh. Perhaps because her voice is so pure while her chin is so wobbly, Boyle seems truly exceptional. To argue against her rise is, to evoke Dr. Seuss, totally Grinch-like. But let's not fool ourselves about Boyle's voice. It's as pretty as a winner on “America's Next Top Model," and it's standard fare for American pop lovers. The affect of sincerity, taken on by spaghetti tenors, crooners and balladeers since the days of Enrico Caruso, has nothing to do with genuine feeling, though Boyle certainly does seem to have access to plenty of that.

It's a theatrical approach with roots in bel canto singing and Broadway: the ingenue's wide-eyed way with a love song, devoid of the tics, blue phrasing and feel for conversation that we love in other kinds of singers, including Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Jagger. Boyle looks a certain way, and so she's been championed as more "human" than other singing stars. In truth, pop spent the last century developing a whole range of voices more individualistic and challenging than Boyle's -- Shakira's bilingual hiccup-growl or the nasal drone of Rascal Flatts lead singer Gary LeVox, or even the rich but untrained diva wail of Leona Lewis. These other stars also guested on "America's Got Talent," living out music's strange democracy -- as does Kevin Skinner, this season's winner, a former chicken wrangler with a distinct Kentucky twang. We root for Boyle for reasons that have nothing to do with the way she sings. It is heartening to see a not-quite-50-year-old woman who'd never previously caught a break find success, even if at times she seems more traumatized than fulfilled by fame. But to be surprised by her singing is, frankly, an unfair response. Boyle has trained hard to sing the way she does; she is as careful as a singer comes. We should stop being startled by her performances and respect her for the qualities she's cultivated: scrupulousness and dependability.

At 48, Boyle is old enough to have been a teen fan of the Rolling Stones. Perhaps the spunkiness that helped make her famous led her to choose a chestnut by those bad boys as the single from her debut album, to be released Nov. 24. Her rise has given the pop world an interesting new personality and music lovers a chance to embrace yet another very pretty voice.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-susan-boyle17-2009sep17,0,6866493.story

Susan Boyle

What a transformation: Susan Boyle shows off her Hollywood makeover, wearing a black Tadashi Shoji gown in a photoshoot for the U.S. edition of Harper's BazaarRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1204569/Susan-Boyle-transformed-gets-glamorous-Hollywood-make--loves-it.html#ixzz0NWlHoDSP

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1204569/Susan-Boyle-transformed-gets-glamorous-Hollywood-make--loves-it.html