Susan Boyle gains the world

Susan Boyle always wanted to have a singing career and it never worked out. She sang in school and in the church choir, she sang karaoke at the local pub, she sang in local competitions, she won trophies, she even cut a couple of records, one at her own expense, but none of it brought her the career she wanted. Then two years after her mother's death and in honor of her mother's encouragement she applied for Britain's Got Talent and there is now no doubt she will have the career she's always wanted. She showed she has the voice for it, which she always knew.

She doesn't even claim that her voice is particularly outstanding, just that it's a good voice and should be her career. Most of the rest of us do think her voice is outstanding. When I went to other You Tube videos to compare her sound to various singers who were mentioned in comparison to her I didn't think any of them measured up, except Vera Lynn who was famous during World War II. On one of the many TV interviews about Susan Boyle, Amanda Holden, one of the judges at BGT, said what I thought too, that Susan's voice is actually better than Elaine Paige's, the singer Susan said has the success she'd aim for. Ms. Paige's voice is beautiful, but Susan's is extraordinary. Is it as good as Streisand's or Dion's? I can't really judge that because I don't really like their music overall, but I'd have to say it's in that general category of superstrong voices. In any case I'd enjoy hearing Susan sing more than either of them myself.

What about her being such a simple dowdy unattractive woman? That's what got her all the attention. If she'd had the spectacular voice but also the glamorous image of a singer she'd no doubt have received less attention.

But Susan is now famous for her personality as much as her voice. "Guileless" someone rightly described her. She seems to have no interest in living the life of a big star, in doing anything but singing for her living while living the life she's always lived. She's not much interested in having a makeover though she leaves open the possibility. "What's wrong with looking like Susan Boyle?" she asks. Her ambition goes as far as singing for the public, period.

Of course she's in for so many new experiences in the next months and years you have to expect her to rethink things as time goes on. We'll see if things look different to her down the road a ways.

She's thrilled and amazed at all the acclaim but all she really wanted to do was "show them" she could sing and that her appearance didn't matter. "It's not a beauty contest" she said. Well, she showed them. She showed the whole world.

I like a Cinderella story, we all do. I'll be watching for her next appearance on BGT, which I've heard is scheduled for May 23rd, which of course will be immediately all over YouTube and the news headlines.