Susan Boyle

Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer.

In 1995, she auditioned for Michael Barrymore's My Kind of People.

In 1998, Boyle recorded three tracks—"Cry Me a River", "Killing Me Softly", and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"—at Heartbeat Studio, Midlothian.

She used all her savings to pay for a professionally cut demo, copies of which she later sent to record companies, radio talent competitions, local and national TV.

The demo consisted of her versions of "Cry Me a River" and "Killing Me Softly with His Song"; the songs were uploaded to the Internet after her BGT audition.

In 1999, Boyle submitted a track for a charity CD to commemorate the Millennium produced at a West Lothian school.

Only 1,000 copies of the CD, Music for a Millennium Celebration, Sounds of West Lothian, were pressed.

An early review by Amber McNaught in the West Lothian Herald & Post said Boyle's rendition of "Cry Me a River" was "heartbreaking" and "had been on repeat in my CD player ever since I got this CD..."

The recording found its way onto the internet following her first televised appearance.

Hello! said the recording "cement[ed] her status" as a singing star.

After Boyle won several local singing competitions, her mother urged her to enter Britain's Got Talent and take the risk of singing in front of an audience larger than her parish church.

Former coach O'Neil said Boyle abandoned an audition for The X Factor because she believed people were being chosen for their looks.

She almost abandoned her plan to enter Britain's Got Talent, believing she was too old, but O'Neil persuaded her to audition nevertheless.

Boyle said that she was motivated to seek a musical career to pay tribute to her mother.

Her performance on the show was the first time she had sung in public since her mother died.

In August 2008, Boyle applied for an audition for the third series of Britain's Got Talent (as contestant number 43212) and was accepted after a preliminary audition in Glasgow.

She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of Britain's Got Talent, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables.

As of 2021, Boyle has sold 25 million records.

Her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream (2009), is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, having sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and it was the best-selling album internationally in 2009.

Boyle's debut studio album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released in November 2009; it became the UK's best-selling debut album of all time, beating the previous record held by Spirit by Leona Lewis, and set a record for first-week sales by a debut album, according to the Official Charts Company.

In her first year of fame, Boyle made £5 million (£ million today) with the release of I Dreamed a Dream and its lead-off singles, "I Dreamed a Dream" and "Wild Horses".

The success continued with her second studio album, The Gift (2010), where she became only the third act ever (and the first woman artist) to top both the UK and US album charts with two different albums in the same year.

In 2011, Boyle made UK music history by becoming the first female artist to achieve three successive albums debut at No.1 in less than two years.

It was followed by Boyle's third studio album, Someone to Watch Over Me (2011).

She subsequently released the studio albums Standing Ovation: The Greatest Songs from the Stage (2012), Home for Christmas (2013), Hope (2014), and A Wonderful World (2016).

On 13 May 2012, she performed at Windsor Castle for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant singing "Mull of Kintyre".

However, she was told in 2012–13 that she had been misdiagnosed and is on the Autism spectrum with an IQ "above average".

Boyle says she was bullied as a child.

After leaving school with few qualifications, Boyle took part in government training programmes, and performed at local venues.

Boyle took singing lessons from vocal coach Fred O'Neil.

She attended Edinburgh Acting School and took part in the Edinburgh Fringe.

She also long participated in her parish church's pilgrimages to the Knock Shrine, County Mayo, Ireland, and sang there at the Marian basilica.

On 23 July 2014, she performed "Mull of Kintyre" at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in front of the Queen.

To date, Boyle has released eight albums, including two Christmas releases, The Gift and A Wonderful World.

In 2019, Boyle celebrated ten years in show business, with a compilation album titled Ten and a tour.

Boyle was raised in Blackburn, West Lothian.

Her father, Patrick Boyle, was a miner and veteran of the Second World War who also worked as a singer at the Bishop's Blaize; her mother Bridget was a shorthand typist.

Both her parents were born in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, but also had family links to County Donegal in Ireland.

Born when her mother was aged 45 years, Boyle was the youngest of four brothers and five sisters.

She was raised thinking that she had been briefly deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth resulting in a learning disability.