Susan Boyle the karaoke queen is now living the fame dream

Published on Saturday 18 April 2009 20:03

THERE is an empty chair in a corner of the lounge bar of the Happy Valley Hotel in Blackburn. It is not much to look at but, before too long, it is likely to have a gleaming plaque bolted to it or even be carted off to form the centrepiece of a museum.

That's because the indentations in the seat have been formed over the years by the woman behind the biggest media frenzy to hit Scotland since what appeared to be a Plesiosaur was photographed in Loch Ness.

Since her jaw-dropping appearance on Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle has become one of the biggest and most unlikely sensations of the YouTube era.

American chat show king Larry King this weekend described her overnight rise to fame as a modern-day fairytale and quipped: "Only in America, folks. Or should I say, only in Scotland."

His rival, Jay Leno, donned pearls and a curly wig to impersonate the West Lothian churchgoer, directors are clamouring to cast her in films, promoters are preparing bids to lure her to Vegas, Hollywood stars Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher Twittered about her and Russell Brand has even volunteered to relieve her of her virginity.

A sheepish Piers Morgan yesterday gave a public apology for initially treating Boyle with disdain and predicted: "Within a year, this woman is going to have a number one album around the world. We are going to see a world tour."

But who is this modest 47-year-old who looks like Bella Emberg, but sings like Billie Holiday? And what does the close-knit community where she has lived in relative obscurity for decades make of her sudden elevation from saloon bar karaoke queen to international celebrity who has made headlines from Reykjavik to Auckland?

On a grey lunchtime, a party atmosphere is brewing beneath Union Jack bunting at the Happy Valley and it stems from the fact that one of its number has now racked up more Google hits than Britney Spears. Everyone in the pub, and the whole of Blackburn it seems, knows Susan, and knows her well.

"Aye, well this time last year I wouldnae have given her a second glance," quips one drinker in between gulps of Guinness. "But noo I would marry her in a heartbeat."

The crowd gathered around the pool table roar their approval. Jackie Russell, the hotel manager, is delighted to show Boyle pilgrims the spot where their new idol is usually found.

She beams: "Susan comes in two or three times a week. She has her wee half pint of lemonade and sits quietly at her usual table. Susan always comes in by herself and leaves by herself. She is very much a loner, quite shy and ever so slightly eccentric.

"But she is a lovely girl who doesn't ask for much in life and, to tell you the truth, I don't think she ever expected much out of life."

The landlady chuckles at the suggestion that fame could turn Boyle's head. "I can't ever see her coming back in one day looking like Beyonc. The whole village is saying, 'They can try, but they'll never change her.'"

The devout singer is renowned for her karaoke versions of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On', a turn with which she dazzled Larry King. But for a while the voice which has echoed around the world was silenced by grief. Russell explained: "Susan was devoted to her mother and she didn't sing a note for a long time after she passed away a couple of years back.

"Now, we are all delighted that she reconsidered and, boy, did she come back with a bang.

"I saw supposed hardmen, who think they are the toughest of the tough, reduced to tears after watching Susan on TV."

At the nearby Mill shopping centre, its roof ringed with razorwire, walls are plastered with images of the local-girl-done-good. In the posters Boyle is posing, arms outstretched in a 'ta-da!' gesture, in a rose-pattern dress, beneath the slogan 'All the staff at Scotmid are backing Susan'.

The carnival atmosphere brings a smile to the face of one excited shopkeeper.

"I've just heard Susan is going to be on that big show. I can't believe it."

Larry King? Jay Leno? Diane Sawyer? "Naw. Steve Wright In The Afternoon."

His invitation to follow the satellite vans leads to Yule Terrace, a modest street where satellite dishes cling to grey, pebble-dashed walls.

A group of teenagers are keen to point out the residence of their hometown superstar. One girl rolls her heavily made-up eyes and laughs: "This is proper crazy. There are even more reporters here now than the time that Polish guy pulled out a gun."

Her pal points over a rickety wooden fence which is held together with string. Gracelands it ain't.

She giggles: "It used to be so overgrown we reckoned no-one stayed there so we used to play hide and seek in the garden. Then one day Susan came out with a broom and chased us away. We got the fright of our lives."

After struggling to prise open the rusty gate, I knock at the door and, to my surprise, footsteps approach.

Bracing myself for her trademark warm smile and caterpillar eyebrows, it comes as a huge surprise when an athletic young black man, who could pass as a TV Gladiator, peers round the door frame.

"Woah! Check out Susan's new boyfriend," shrieks an adolescent voice.

The warmth that radiates towards Boyle in the bars and shops of Blackburn is heartfelt, but is the saltwater that runs down the cheeks of Hollywood A-listers the result of real emotion, or merely crocodile tears?

Many in her home village wince at the condescending epithets aimed at her by showbiz pundits: "dowdy spinster", "never-been-kissed Scottish songbird", "frumpy smalltown singer", "double-chinned charity worker" and "plucky virgin". One US commentator even sneered: "How can such a beautiful voice come from someone who looks like that? It's like watching a ventriloquist act and wondering how they do it."

In this fairytale, West Lothian's supposed "ugly duckling" has already ruffled feathers, but will she ultimately be pressured into changing them? Back at the Happy Valley, Russell is reflecting on an extraordinary week.

"We were all annoyed by the ways the judges and the audience originally treated Susan and judged a book by its cover. We were protective and took it personally when they sneered."

"But I was thinking to myself, 'Just you wait until she opens that mouth of hers. Just you wait.'"

For one modest and resolutely normal middle-aged woman with dreams, and millions like her around the world, it has been a week to savour.