Before I give you an update on my week I firstly want to say thank you to all of you who bought my album. I really appreciate your support and I hope you enjoyed this album as much as the other three. I’m immensely proud of this album and hope you are as well.
It’s been another great week for me. I’ve been very busy with this new album and it has been a lot of fun.
Last week I was able to meet some wonderful fans at Glasgow and Edinburgh when I went to HMV to do some album signings. I am not the fastest writer in the world but I certainly learnt how to pick up the pace a bit. It was great being able to meet people and sign albums and also have pictures with them all. It was a fun few hours and I was pleased to be able to do it in my home country. There were people of all ages who turned up on the day and some very thoughtful children who were thinking ahead and buying Christmas presents for family.
On Sunday I invited friends and family to a party to celebrate my new album and also to say thank you to them all for their unwavering support. My friends have been so very supportive of everything I have done over the past few years and it was a good excuse to hold a party. I enjoyed my 50th so much I wanted to recreate that so held it at the lovely Houston House Hotel in Uphall again and it was a splendid evening.
We had a band, beautiful sit down dinner and I was honoured that the Lisbon Lions wanted to attend, being such a huge Celtics fan I was over the moon. It was a really fun evening, lots of dancing and laughter and we all had a great time, which was the whole point of the evening.
Monday was a nice quiet day before heading down to London on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning I met with Steve Wright and recorded an interview with him for his BBC Radio 2 show before heading to Parsons Green for a photo shoot and interview for Celebs on Sunday Magazine in the Sunday Mirror. I’m not going to give too much away but it was a burst of Christmas spirit that was much needed. Be sure to read it when it comes out on the 9th December.
On Wednesday I flew over to Holland to perform Somewhere Over The Rainbow on ‘The TV Show’ which airs this Sunday. I also did a couple of interviews for Belgium TV and a print interview with a Dutch newspaper.
It’s been a really enjoyable week and I’ve had a wonderful time meeting so many different people and spending time with the people who mean the most to me.
I for one can’t wait to see what next week brings….
'Internet dating? Knowing my luck I’d get murdered!' Susan Boyle talks love and having confidence to tour
The Scottish singer with the angelic voice is worth £22million, has sold 18 million records and has just as many fans across the globe
Britains Got Talent star Susan Boyle
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Almost everything in Susan Boyle’s superstar life can be counted in millions.
The Scottish singer with the angelic voice is worth £22million, has sold 18 million records and has just as many fans across the globe.
Yet single Susan is still desperately seeking her one-in-a-million – a man to share all her success with.
The 51-year-old admits she wants to find love with her soulmate, but the no-nonsense star won’t be signing up to modern ways of finding romance.
In fact, SuBo insists she will never look for love online, because she thinks she might get murdered.
“Internet dating? Are you having a laugh?” she scoffs at the suggestion. “Knowing my luck I’d go out on a date and you’d find my limbs scattered around various Blackburn dustbins!
“I believe in letting things happen naturally and not shopping for a man on the internet.
“If my soulmate is out there then I will find him but it won’t be on a computer.”
Chatting after a CD signing session in Glasgow, Susan is a woman more at ease with her success than ever before.
How it began: On Britain's Got Talent in 2009
And while she’s hoping to find love, she’s certainly not putting life on hold in the meantime.
She says: “Of course I’d like that special someone in my life, but I’m not going to let a man define me.
“I’ve done pretty well over the past 51 years without one but it would be nice.”
Susan is talking as a car drives her back home to Blackburn, West Lothian, following another day of promotion for her new album Standing Ovation, which has just been released.
It is only three years since she rose to fame on Britain’s Got Talent singing I Dreamed A Dream in the audition that changed her life.
While she is now set for life and need never work again, Susan is still ambitious.
“I’m hoping for the album to be No1 on Sunday but I think it might take a miracle,” she admits.
“There is a huge amount of competition from some talented artists. Will I be disappointed? Of course but I’d like to beat Little Mix.”
Baby SuBo: As a child
Susan has recently returned from a trip to America, a country where she also has a huge fanbase, to perform with her hero, Donny Osmond.
“Going to Vegas was a whole new adventure,” she says. “I performed on stage with Donny at the Flamingo.
“It was a hell of a difference on stage there, much more glitzy than I am used to in the UK. It tends to be more subdued here.
"Donny has been my hero since I was 13 so it was a real thrill.”
During the trip Susan was spotted with armfuls of Tiffany bags, with some reports saying she splashed out $19,000 on jewellery.
But Susan says: “Are you kidding? Have you seen the prices for that stuff?”
In the past, such a trip to the US would take months of planning for Susan, as she suffered with stress and found performing difficult.
She was born with mild learning disabilities after being deprived of oxygen at birth.
And her sudden rise to fame led to her spending time in the Priory rehab after she finished as a runner-up in the Britain’s Got Talent finals.
Susan admits she was nervous in Vegas but Donny helped her through by holding her hand.
In a huge step for Susan, she now wants to go on tour next year, playing concerts for the first time.
“It would be exciting to go on the road,” she says. “I’m more relaxed about being a singer. I know what I am doing and the path I want to follow.
“In the beginning it was tough but now I can handle things better. I don’t feel under any pressure, the record team have been good like that.
“I think I probably can do a full show, it would be very exciting to go on the road.
I will also go to Australia with the musical which will be exciting. I started at 47, there is plenty of life in me yet.”
And there is more proof of her new-found confidence in her latest album.
It even contains the song Memory, which she sang in the BGT final – something she may previously have struggled to return to.
She says: “I made the album in Glasgow which was new territory for me. I could work all day and go home afterwards because it was near.
“I did some things in one take and we finished six weeks ahead of schedule. I was very happy with it.
“I have always loved musicals so the album is a reflection of that.
“I know I’m not alone and feel more confident of the team around me.”
A day in the life of Susan Boyle Part 2: SuBo admits she prefers cuppa from local caff rather than fancy restaurants
THE Scots singer is sitting on a fortune since she coming second on Britain's Got Talent but she insists she's happiest having a chat with her pals over a cup of tea.
Susan Boyle enjoys a cup of tea at her local cafe
SHE could have breakfast at Tiffany’s, lunch in the Ritz and even dinner at the Savoy if she wanted to.
But instead Susan Boyle is enjoying her favourite cuppa, a mug of milky tea with two sugars, in the Mill Cafe just around the corner from her family home in Blackburn, West Lothian.
While her job requires that she hobnob with people such as Whoopi Goldberg on American TV and share a Las Vegas stage with Donny Osmond, the humble and friendly caff, where jokes and homespun advice are served up alongside sausage rolls, is where she heads when she gets the chance.
A deep mug of tea costs a pound, a cream bun just £1.20 and a roll ’n’ square £1.40, so the bill would never dent the singer’s multi-million-pound fortune. But the peace, quiet and friendly chit-chat with her old pals is priceless for 51-year-old SuBo.
Over a milky brew, she told me: “I like to come here for a good cup of tea. It’s where I would go to get away from it all at the start. I love to go in for a nice cuppa but it’s mostly for the blether.
“It’s one of the things I miss when I’m not here. I can just get on with my life. I don’t get stopped much here because everyone is used to me. But outside of Blackburn that can be different.”
Susan’s balance between the glitz of her job and the calm of her home town is her greatest achievement. Even sitting with the Daily Record is a big change for the woman who used to see her miner dad Patrick read the paper every day.
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A day in the life of Susan Boyle
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Susan, who wanted to be a journalist as a young girl, recalled: “In our house we used to get the Record every day, straight from Anderston Quay, all the time. The first time I saw myself in the Record it took a while for me to realise it was actually me.
“When I was at school, I wanted to be a journalist and I also considered being a music or drama teacher.”
Having hit the big time in 2009 after auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent, her successful career has come relatively late in life.
But with her stunning voice heard all around the world, journalism’s loss is the music industry’s gain.
She admits she took a while to get used to stardom but as her fourth album Standing Ovation dominates the charts, she has found a happy balance.
And she says a huge part of any of her success is thanks to her home comforts, and, specifically, her beloved late parents.
Susan Boyle picture
Her dad was a talented singer, while her mum Bridget filled the house with music from the piano, encouraging all nine kids – and especially the gifted Susan – to join in.
The thing she remembers very clearly from her mum, who died in 2007, is that she always told her how good she was but constantly reminded her to keep her feet on the ground.
It’s those words that come to the multi-platinum singer’s mind when the glamour of chart stardom becomes distracting or confusing. It’s also part of the reason why she still lives in her mum’s humble semi in the middle of a quiet Blackburn street, instead of the large house she bought nearby after hitting the big time.
The comfortable home, which sits anonymously in row after row of similar properties, is decorated with family mementos, including photos and some of her mum’s paintings.
Tellingly, the framed gold discs and star photos detailing her success are all kept in the back room.
The lounge is all about her family and looks like it may not have changed much since her mum passed away – apart from the fact that on the living room shelf, sitting next to the well-loved and well-used Rod Stewart and Donny Osmond CDs, are copies of her own albums.
It’s a privilege to be invited into her front room as Susan recalls the influence and advice from her parents.
“I started singing at 12 but I didn’t realise what I could do until I went out for the big audition,” she explained.
“I’d sung in a lot of choirs and gone in for a lot of auditions, but I just kept going. I do come from a musical background. There’s nine of us.
“There were a lot of singers – my elder sister and brother were singers and my dad was nearly a professional singer.
“He had a very nice voice. My dad had tried to be a performing singer. He had gone down to London for a big audition but he was needed for the war effort.”
Susan is excited and confident about where her career goes from here. She’s clever enough to enjoy it but also to question it.
“It sits very firmly on my shoulders now and I’ve grown up a bit. At the very beginning, I didn’t know what I was doing but I have more of an idea and am more confident now.
“I find it very humbling that so many people have taken to me the way they have. But I’ve still got a lot to learn.
“I’ve got a great team and I have learned a lot from them.
“I also still have the same friends and it’s good to have my pals around me. They’re a good lot.”
Despite her hectic schedule, Susan makes sure to enjoy her own free time whenever possible. She spends a lot of time visiting friends and watching TV shows like I’m A Celebrity, while she has a keen record collection of her own, listing Rod Stewart, Paolo Nutini and Gary Barlow as her favourites.
With a huge family, she has also been getting a start on Christmas shopping.
She and a pal recently nipped around Manhattan for some shopping, visiting places like Bloomingdales, in between doing an interview for old friend Piers Morgan on CNN, and then appearing on Whoopi Goldberg’s talk show, The View.
It’s all in the name of promoting her new album, which she says is her most fun yet as she has recorded some of the musical numbers she loved as a child.
She stops for a minute to pay tribute to her beloved mother. “My mum was a very talented lady. She played the piano and enjoyed all different kinds of music for her own interests. She also painted and I love having lots of her paintings here. It’s like having something of her around the place.
“My mum really encouraged me to sing. She wanted to encourage my ability but also believed in being a quiet person.
“She was the type of person who would say, ‘You’ve done well but keep it under your hat’. Maybe she meant for all this to happen, you never know.”
With that, Susan takes a second out of our chat and looks wistfully to the sky to ask a heavenly plea of her late mum, saying: “I hope you’re proud of me?”
Then she quickly turns back to me and, with perfect comic timing, half-jokes: “I’d get a hell of a fright if I ever got an answer back.”
Susan might still be asking the question but everyone already knows the answer.
Susan's sleepover: Elton John invited her to stay in his hotel suite
Elton John invited Susan Boyle to stay at his Vegas suite. But the Britain’s Got Talent star turned him down.
Susan Boyle explained that she bumped into the Your Song superstar backstage in Las Vegas where she was appearing with Donny Osmond.
She told the Daily Record: “At a concert recently, I met Elton John backstage and he was really nice and friendly. “He invited me to stay in his hotel suites in Vegas.
“I never took him up on the offer, but he said that any time I ever go there, I can stay in his place at Caesar’s Palace. That was some invite to get.
“I’d love to play there myself, but I’m a long way off that.”
Of course, she had already played one of the glitzy venues with childhood heartthrob Donny Osmond.
She said: “The show was out of this world. You go up to the stage through a long bit in the middle and then see the audience on either side.
“At first I thought, ‘Oh my God, what’s this?’ But you get used to it.
“You’ve got to concentrate on the song. Once you do that, it’s fine.
“I do still find it a bit surreal and wonder who would want to sing with someone from Blackburn.”
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