Susan Boyle’s Dream in Her Own Words: Part 4
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After your first audition you became more famous than anybody could possibly have anticipated. How did that affect you?
I have no idea how that happened. Honest to God. It was absolutely unbelievable if I’m being honest.
How was going to America for you?
I went to L.A., and there were great crowds waiting for us at the airport. It was quite something — nothing that a woman like me was used to. … But I found Americans to be incredibly warm and friendly and very open about how warm and friendly they are. It was quite something to be in Hollywood. It’s like stepping back in time, to another time and place with all the movie stars gracefully walking about.
The hotel I was staying in? Apparently Frank Sinatra used to take his women back there! Talk about “Strangers in the Night,” eh? And I dipped my toes into the same pool Grace Kelly had been in. This is a world I’d never seen before and never dreamt that I would get to see. Everyone was so wonderful to me, and I can’t wait to visit again.
Do you think there’s something in your story that has changed the perception of fame in Britain?
No, but I think that I have turned the ordinary woman upside down. The wee wifey with the bottle of Flash doing her cleaning? She’s gone now.
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Will you ever lose her altogether?
No I won’t. That’s what keeps me grounded: remembering that I am just that wifey. What you see is what you get. There’s no airs and graces with me.
How proud do you think your parents would be of you now?
I think they would be very proud of me. I hope they would. I’ve done a lot of wrong with my parents; there’s no one around that hasn’t, frankly. But hopefully I’ve made up for that now and they’re smiling down on me. I can feel it, sometimes.
What’s the dream now, Susan? Would you like a boyfriend?
There’s no time for that now! I’m far too busy! What a laugh. No, 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.
Piers Morgan to host TV Guide Network’s exclusive Susan Boyle concert special
How does it feel to be Susan Boyle now?
I feel very content within myself as I’m finally achieving my dream. I feel so lucky and very privileged, actually.
What is your biggest fear?
Well, everybody has fears, but mine is probably that this will all disappear. I want it to keep on going as long as possible. If it did all go away tomorrow, I know that I’ve enjoyed every moment of living the dream now.
The girl that dreamed a dream, what does she dream about now?
I dream about security. I dream about one day finding the right person and continuing to make people happy with my music. My advice to those who dare to dream is don’t give up. If I can do, it anyone else can too.
Susan Boyle’s Dream in Her Own Words: Part 3
By · CommentsAt what point did you know you were going to make a record?
I wasn’t sure until after the show. I had a meeting at the record company. They asked me if I wanted to make a record, and I was a wee bit nervous. Simon Cowell knew my dream was to make a record, and he said if I still wanted to do it, then he would offer me a deal. You don’t get that every lifetime, do you? After 23 years of waiting and wanting to make a record, it takes your breath away really. There aren’t really words to describe it except… wow. It didn’t feel real. I kept asking myself, “Is this really happening?” I kept expecting someone to say, “Ha ha, love, we’re kidding.”
Describe the feeling the first day you walked into the studio?
When you go into the studio, you see all these plaques on the walls of different artists, and I said to myself, “You’re going to make an album and eventually if you’re good enough you’ll be there.” I felt quite shy, but I was determined to do my best. The album was so important to me, and it was very important to have songs that personally appealed to me. I sat and listened to music and heard songs and thought about things that would suit my voice and songs that meant something to me when I heard them.
You mentioned listening to The Rolling Stones as a kid, and you chose “Wild Horses.”
I just hope that I can do it justice. The words are great. They take me back to where I lived. It’s a very powerful song.
Piers Morgan to host TV Guide Network’s exclusive Susan Boyle concert special
What was the first song you recorded for the album?
It was “I Dreamed A Dream” first and then “Cry Me A River.” I remembered it being the theme tune from the TV show McCallum. I’d been through to Edinburgh to a wee studio to see how my voice sounded on tape, and that was the song we’d sung there. I went into the booth and sang the song and that was that. I found it easier than you’d think. It’s a Julie London song, with a lovely 1950s feel about it. I like that era. It seems so tame and innocent now.
Obviously “I Dreamed A Dream” had to be on the album.
Obviously. But a lot of the ones that moved me surprised me a lot. “Wild Horses” was a song like that. I just didn’t expect it to suit my voice as much as it did. I’d never tried singing that song before. It was all new territory for me. I’m used to singing music from the musical theatre, and this was rock music. But the lyrics drew me into the song, and as the story unfolded, I got it. I felt drawn in by the words. The same thing with “You’ll See.”
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It’s a song about determination. I am a determined woman, despite the bullying I’ve had in the past. It’s a song about proving yourself as your own woman. I instantly loved that song. It’s a song about knowing that whatever happens to you, you’ll be alright.
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What about the new song: “Who I Was Born To Be”?
This is fate telling me what I should be doing with my life. I heard that song, and instantly I knew. It’s a brand-new song. A very powerful song. It was a very moving song to sing.
How pleased are you with the album?
The whole thing has come together so well — beyond my wildest dreams, really. I had a great producer. Steve [Mac] was so kind to me. He was brilliant to work with, and he got the best out of me. The album itself is like a reflection on my whole life. I’ve waited so long to become a professional singer and now it’s become real.
Susan Boyle Songwriter Audra Mae Is Suddenly Famous
By · Comments‘It’s just a crazy twist of fate,’ says Mae, who wrote only original song on Boyle’s album.
Most of the world has never heard of 25-year-old Oklahoma singer/songwriter Audra Mae. But thanks to a little song called “Who I Was Born to Be,” she’s worked her way into at least 3 million homes almost overnight.
“Born” is the only original song on the smash debut album from “Britain’s Got Talent” runner-up Susan Boyle, I Dreamed a Dream, and the enormity of having a track on a release that sold more copies in its first week in the U.S. than any other this year is just starting to sink in for the grandniece of famed Hollywood icon Judy Garland.
“Honestly, I haven’t wrapped my brain around the whole thing yet,” Mae said on Wednesday (December 2), just hours after sales figures for the first week of Dream were released. “I knew the song would be on there, but I had no idea what would happen [with the album] and that it would be like this. It’s just a crazy twist of fate. I was just stoked that she liked it.”
Mae, the oldest of six kids from a musical family — which includes an uncle who helped pen a song that was on the reissue of Michael Jackson’s Thriller — left home at 19 to seek her musical fortune in Los Angeles. She’s been slogging away ever since, writing more than 100 songs, playing endless showcases and eventually scoring a publishing deal. She hooked up with the little-known Swedish production/songwriter trio Play Production about a year ago, and this summer they sent her the chords and melody for a song they said was intended for Boyle’s album.
Though she’s landed songs on albums by Canadian and Japanese artists and the Dutch “X Factor” winner, this seemed like the break Mae had been looking for all along. “I knew it needed to be a song that made sense for her to sing, so I went online and researched her and her life and found out how she got to be where she is, and it came from that,” Mae said of the gentle piano ballad with the inspirational chorus “And though I may not know the answers/ I can finally say I’m free/ And if the questions lead me here/ Then I am who I was born to be.”
“I knew it needed to be something that she could be proud to sing,” Mae explained. “Almost like a mantra — and I’m thrilled that she liked it enough to put it on the album. The cool thing is that she symbolizes real talent above anything else, above a show with pyrotechnics, a hot body … she’s f—ing talented and it’s really awesome to be a part of that.”
Mae hasn’t met Boyle, but she’s clearly humbled and grateful for the one-in-a-million chance she’s gotten. And, after watching the struggles of some friends and fellow hungry songwriters who’ve been at it for a quarter century or more with little to show for their toil, she said she feels like her six years of grunt work is actually just a blink of an eye in the songwriting world.
Plus, the timing couldn’t possibly be better. Mae, who is signed to the punk label SideOneDummy, recently released her five-song debut EP, Haunt, which features moving acoustic covers of the Decemberists’ “Eli, the Barrow Boy” and Marilyn Monroe’s version of “One Silver Dollar,” in addition to the evocative K.D. Lang-like country-folk originals “The River,” “The Fable” and “Sullivan’s Letter,” which is based on a famous letter from Civil War major Sullivan Ballou.
She’s also working on her debut album, due in March, and she’s sure the Boyle fame — as well as continuing interest in her haunting a cappella cover of Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young” that appeared on a 2008 episode of the FX biker drama “Sons of Anarchy” — will help get her career kick-started. “I think it’s not going to hurt it,” she laughed. “I have no way of knowing what will transpire, so the fun for me is watching it unfold. Logically, it will attract more attention to my album and I hope it keeps people interested.”
Susan Boyle’s Dream in Her Own Words: Part 2
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A lot of the music on your album has a religious flavor to it.
There’s a couple of hymns on there. It seemed right. “How Great Thou Art” is a song that takes me right back to my childhood. On a personal level, church is very important to me; it’s the central point of my faith, and I recognize that God gives you gifts that you have to use to the best of your ability. I hope I’ve got the right professionalism to do that now. I know that I’ve got the right people behind me to bring it forward. I just hope that I can.
The church has always been my friend in the times where I was being bullied, where I felt lonely. When I lost my mother, it helped me through it. … My faith gives me an inner strength and helped me through the periods of self-doubt. I will always continue to keep that kind of linkage. It’s not just about being an entertainer. … Another part of it is being connected with someone else, and that someone else is my faith.
Do you understand why your tremendous story has connected with so many people?
I don’t know, really. It’s an unusual story. I was often left behind at school because of one thing or another. I was a slow learner. I’m just a wee bit slower at picking things up than other people are. So you get left behind in a system that just wants to rush on, you know? That was what I felt was happening to me, and this feels like a good way of making up for that. A very, very enjoyable way of making up for it as well.
Piers Morgan to host TV Guide Network’s exclusive Susan Boyle concert special
How do you feel about the worldwide reaction?
I didn’t know what YouTube was until I was in the record offices and saw the clip and the number of hits. I’m still trying to come to terms with it. The fans have been amazing, and the mail I have received: phenomenal. I have been sent beautiful gifts, including books, toiletries and a vintage dress from the 1950s that had been in a family for generations and they wanted me to have it. It’s indescribable that someone would want me to have something so precious. Everyone has shown me such kindness and support. I’ve even had offers of dates!
What do you think it was about you that people became so instantly fascinated by?
A woman who went on with mad hair, bushy eyebrows and the frock I was wearing had to be noticed. Come on! That particular frock was a good choice at the time, I thought. I’d bought it for my brother’s wedding. It was a dress to impress. But I don’t know. … It’s a hard one to put into context. [It's] probably the fact that I’m an ordinary person who came from a poor background, and through fate and the help of a great team of people, I was able to rise up from that. I know it’s a cliché but it’s a bit of a Cinderella story.
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Some of the newspapers were less than lovely. How did that feel?
You can’t really get annoyed by it. People will write things about you. It is part of the territory you’re in. It felt a wee bit hurtful, and I’m sure if I read everything I would’ve become a wee bit paranoid. But you have to take it all with a pinch of salt. I’m getting used to it now, and I get lots of advice. Back then we all were a bit shocked by the interest, but I had a good team to get me through that unexpected patch.
Do you think it was hard for the media to deal with your instant fame?
I’m the wee wifey with the mop and the cat next door. I went from being an unknown [with] nobody bothering me on the streets to all these headlines with things like “the hairy angel.” The pressure of that I found a bit suffocating because it all happened in such a short space of time.
You had a short spell in the Priory. Why?
I don’t really remember much about it. After the finale, I went there with extreme exhaustion. I hadn’t slept properly for about a week, and I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was in there for three days, and I’ve never felt so tired. But I look back on it now, and it was a necessity. I wanted to get a rest and a break at the time without all the cameras.
You’ve undergone a bit of transformation — when you look in the mirror now what do you see?
I brush up quite well! It’s a bit like a signet to a swan. Now I see a sophisticated lady. Even though the outwardness has changed, inside I’m still the same, but a bit more refined now in some ways. The whole process has been good for me. I keep reading that I’ve had all this Botox, and the teeth whitening, but I haven’t had that at all! I’ve been working hard and lost a bit of weight which has been good for me.
Susan Boyle’s Dream in Her Own Words: Part 1
By · CommentsSusan Boyle may be a worldwide phenomenon now, but she once was the youngest of nine children, a shy, bullied girl, who used music as an escape. As she gears up for her exclusive TV Guide Network concert special, I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story (Sunday, Dec. 13 at 8/7c), Boyle sat down with the creators of the special to relive each step of her inspirational journey. In Part 1 of the interview, Boyle discusses the Britain’s Got Talent audition that changed her life forever, and how her closeness with her mother was a driving force behind her success.
Piers Morgan to host TV Guide Network’s exclusive Susan Boyle concert special
What was it about Britain’s Got Talent that made you want to apply for it?
Well, I’d watched the show on television like everyone. And I had promised my mum that I would do something with my life just before she died. So I applied for it, filled out the application form, went through the preliminaries, went before the panel and then was lucky enough to be picked by them.
Who had you enjoyed on the show before?
I liked the Glaswegians on it when I saw it on the TV. But it was when I saw wee [choir singer] Faryl [Smith] that I thought “I could do that. I fancy that.” Paul Potts was exceptional too. He was an inspiration to everybody, all the ordinary people like me that just enjoy singing. If you can do it when you’re working in the Carphone Warehouse you can do it from anywhere.
What were your nerves like at the audition?
Pretty jangled, you know? I was all over the place. I went on stage and my knees were knocking, but I decided you either show nerves or you get cheeky with it. I said, ‘Right, the cheek’s the thing.’ I introduced myself as Susan Boyle and that I’d like to be a professional singer like Elaine Paige. … Everything I said to the judges was completely unplanned. The Elaine Paige thing I’d thought of before because she’s always been a favorite, but the carrying on and the swagger? I had no idea where that came from.
Why did you choose the song “I Dreamed A Dream”?
It was just a song I loved from a musical I loved. I’d seen a production of Les Miserables in Edinburgh, and I liked the mother figure. It was after my mother died that I’d seen the show, and I loved the song and what it meant. I’d sort of regressed after she’d died, if you like.
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Can we talk about your mother?
Of course we can. It was life-changing not having her to depend on so much. I had to learn to do things for myself. … 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. … We’d seen a soloist singing on the TV just before she passed, and I said, “Is that what you want me to do, mum?” And she said, “Yes,” and I said, “Are you serious?” And she said, “Of course I am.” So, I decided to do something about it. I couldn’t straight away because the bereavement hit me hard. But I’m getting over that slowly and putting my promise into practice.
How did you cope with that bereavement?
After mum died in 2007, it didn’t fully register until maybe six months after, when the loneliness set in and there was nobody around except my cat. When you lose someone as powerful as your mum, you feel as if a part of you is taken away and that does things to your confidence. My confidence was pretty down at that time. A good way of leveling it out, I found, was to tell myself that even though she’s not here physically, mentally and spiritually she is. That’s what keeps you going. I have my faith, which is the backbone of who I am, really.
What was it like growing up in such a large family?
Oh, we were quite a squad, all with different abilities, but all very musical. My brother Joe was a songwriter, too. My dad used to sing. My mother sung and played piano. I have two sisters that are very good singers. We were a wee bit like the Von Trapps! There were guitars sitting about in the house and a piano, and we’d all experiment with them. We loved The Beatles in the ’60s. I was just a wee lassie and we’d sit and watch Top of the Pops and wait for them and The Rolling Stones come on. My dad hated that program, so he used to turn it down. I used to turn it up just for devilment.
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Outside of music, are your memories of growing up happy?
They’re mixed, like everybody else’s. The majority of my childhood was quite happy until I started getting bullied at school. They used to knock me about a bit and try and make me cry. There’s nothing worse than another person having power over you by bullying you, and you not knowing how to get rid of that thing… 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 my enemy. I didn’t make friends very easily. I did try [to] speak to people, but they made fun of me. I often felt pushed aside.
Was music a release from this?
It was a complete emotional release. I had a slight disability… and I had to find my abilities and concentrate on that instead. Singing was the one thing that I was good at. Music was my escape, and my brother bought me lots of LPs. I was daft about the Osmonds at the time. I used to go up to my bedroom and play records. I could be who I wanted to be. I used to imagine myself singing to an audience. It was my safe haven. Even at 13, I would see people singing on the TV and wanted to be in that position and entertain people.
When did you first discover that you had a powerful voice?
I’ve sung since I was about 9. I’d do theatrical stuff and join choirs. I was picked for a solo once, but choirs for me were about hiding behind other people. They were about taking comfort in letting other people take the lead. I was quite shy back then. Hard to believe after everything that’s happened this year, I know! But I was. By the time you get to my age, you lose that shyness.
If you’d told the young Susan, at 12 years old, that this was what was going to happen to her, what would she have said?
She wouldn’t have said a word. She would’ve been too shy to say anything.