Her Dreams Came True

This has been the year of Susan Boyle. Without question, hands down, this simple Scottish lady captivated the entire world with her audition for Britain’s Got Talent and she, along with everybody else out there, watched her star rise into the stratosphere. Her performance of I Dreamed A Dream was absolutely stunning and it propelled her to international stardom the likes of which most performers can only dream of achieving. What a fitting song for her to have chosen to sing on that auspicious day she first knocked ‘em dead.

Now Susan Boyle has the Number One album in the world as well. She set a record at Amazon.com for the most pre-orders of any product in the history of the website and in the week and a half since her debut CD went on sale it has sold over 700,000 copies in the United States alone. Right now it is number one in twenty-seven countries. Twenty-seven countries. Can you imagine that?

The album is called, aptly, I Dreamed A Dream. This has become Susan’s anthem. A song originally from the Broadway hit Les Miserables, it embodies the spirit of Susan Boyle, and really of anybody who has a dream they would like to see come true. This splendid album also contains a breathtaking rendition of Ella Fitzgerald’s Cry Me A River, not to mention a fantastic version of the Stones’ Wild Horses, and there’s a pleasant surprise in her treatment of Madonna’s You’ll See as well. A couple of gospel standards and the old Skeeter Davis hit The End of the World really give this exceptional product all the pizzazz it needed to get to where it belongs. And that is the top of the world.

I remember the first time I saw the You Tube clip of Susan’s audition for BGT. Like everybody else, I really expected this to be one of those novelty fun segments that Simon Cowell productions are known for. You know, the ones where mostly likeable people make merry fools of themselves as they succeed in getting on television because of how bad they are. Yet Susan was about anything else other than that. After she had made everyone laugh with her witty answers to Simon’s questions, she proceeded to launch into I Dreamed A Dream and take the roof off the house. In just a few days she had taken the roof off every house where the video was watched. People were stunned that this frumpy looking middle aged lady from a more than modest background had the pipes that she does. It was a wonderfully sensational surprise and it perfectly set the stage for the frenzy that followed.

In the weeks thereafter, Susan went on to cause a media blitz like nothing else 2009 had to offer. When she came in second on Britain’s Got Talent, losing out to dance troop Diversity, the loss catapulted her into a hospital for exhaustion but she recovered in plenty of time to make a few dates of the show’s obligatory tour. Then she began showing up on American television on programs like Dancing With The Stars and America’s Got Talent. She performed at the White House and many other high profile venues around the world. With exposure like this, not to mention the fantastic makeover she got, she positioned herself in the most opportune place to make her flight into history complete.

I haven’t met anybody yet who doesn’t like Susan. Everyone is absolutely in awe of her. She is without question one of the greatest vocalists of our time and her story is inspirational. The youngest of nine children, she was born with a learning disability and she endured bullying when she was in school because she was slower to learn than the other children. A lifetime of moving from one low paying job to the next has followed, and during the last few years she took care of her ailing mother until Bridget Boyle’s death. Susan has lived in the same house where she took care of her mom, volunteering at her church, and working at what she could find until last spring when she decided to give her dream of becoming a professional singer a shot. I think it’s safe to say that this indeed became the shot heard around the world.

Susan had been recognized as a talented singer for years. Having performed in clubs and small venues around her hometown in Scotland, she recorded a few demo tracks about ten years ago that went unnoticed by record companies at the time. It wasn’t until the massive exposure on Britain’s Got Talent that people sat up and were knocked off their feet by this little lady with the powerful voice. Her presence is undeniable and even though she continues to take all this in her stride, with nothing but humbleness, her bubbly personality always shines through. In fact, this is what really endears her to people around the globe. Her ability to come off as the same low key lady from a small village who just happened to hit it big makes her beloved by millions.

With I Dreamed A Dream outselling every other album on the market right now, and with a tour schedule quickly filling up, Susan Boyle is likely to see her star continue to rise as her career unfolds. We’ll all be watching as she claims this prize too. This is a woman who undoubtedly deserves every accolade and every success that comes her way. Her exquisite talent is practically unrivaled right now and the warmth with which she is always received all but ensures her place at the top for a long time to come.

Her dreams came true. What a fantastic thing to behold. Not only has she captured the glory she always longed for, but the financial consequences of her sudden fame will surely make it possible for her to never again have to worry about making ends meet. Hers is a tale that people will be talking about a century from now. Susan Boyle is finally a star. I can think of few other people in recent memory who deserve it more.

And that is my sole focus for now.