Competition: Win pair of tickets to Susan Boyle

graysea

Competition: Win pair of tickets to Susan Boyle

'I Dreamed A Dream' live at Liverpool Empire

by Angela Johnson. Published Wed 11 Apr 2012 22:13

I DREAMED A DREAM - the musical based on Susan Boyle’s incredible life story - arrives at Liverpool Empire next week and Click Liverpool are offering one lucky reader a pair of tickets to opening night (Tuesday 17th April.)

Susan herself will join the cast onstage for the show’s finale in what is the first opportunity for people to watch this global singing sensation perform in the UK on stage since the Britain's Got Talent tour in 2009.

Susan Boyle says; “I am thrilled to be a part of the musical about my life story and very much looking forward to stepping on stage and performing with the cast. It is an honest portrayal of my life and has been a cathartic process to be involved in.”

Leading an outstanding cast and orchestra and taking on the lead role of Susan Boyle is Elaine C Smith, star of the hit West End stage play Calendar Girls, and who is best known for her portrayal of Mary Doll in Rab C Nesbitt on BBC Television.

The musical tells the story of Susan Boyle’s life, from her birth and the hand which life dealt her up to the present day. From her humble beginnings of being born into a large working class family in central Scotland, sharing a three-bedroomed council house with a family of ten, to where she is today - a global star and an inspiration to millions. A woman who beat the odds and changed the way the world looked at people.

An orchestra, a multi-talented cast, and cutting edge multimedia technology, along with many of the well-known songs from Susan’s record-breaking albums, will take audiences on Susan’s journey for what promises to be a magical theatrical experience.

In order to be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets simply answer the following question: Name Susan's hometown in Scotland.

Email your answer along with your name, age, address and telephone number tocompetitions@clickliverpool.com

Hurry, the competition closes at 9am on Monday 16th April. You must be aged 18 or over to enter, and please ensure you will be available to attend the performance on Tuesday 17th April prior to entering. Good luck!

Performance Details:
I Dreamed a Dream
Liverpool Empire Theatre
Tuesday 17 - Saturday 21 April 2012
Tickets £14 - £38

Tickets available from Liverpool Empire box office, or by calling 0844 871 3017 or book online atwww.atgtickets.com/liverpool

http://www.clickliverpool.com/culture/culture/1215796-competition-win-pair-of-tickets-to-susan-boyle-i-dreamed-a-dream-live-at-liverpool-empire.html

graysea · Wednesday, April 11 2012

Susan Boyle fan Meryl Heasman speaks to her heroine

by Lauren Fruen

lfruen@thekmgroup.co.uk

A Susan Boyle superfan and musician tracked down her idol after getting her home telephone number from directory inquiries.

Meryl Heasman then told the singing superstar how she had written songs especially for her to record.

The mum-of-three, who lives in Station Road, Teyhnam, has been a huge fan of the singer since her first show-stopping appearance on Britain’s got Talent in 2009. Her dream is that the Scottish star will one day sing her songs.

She said: "It took me months to track her down. Luckily there was a mistake with the ex-directory and I was able to contact Susan directly through that. I just asked directory enquires for her number. It was pure luck they gave it to me.

"But I spoke to her and she asked me to send the songs over. She said she liked them but that it was not her decision on what songs she records. So I sent them to her management.

"Eventually they replied that they normally focus on already established songwriters. But I spoke to Susan again and she said don’t give up on your dream, just keep trying."

She added: "Since I first saw Susan on Britain’s Got Talent I realised a lot of my material would suit her. I am a big fan, she has a brilliant voice.

"I wrote a song with her in mind and sent it to a woman in Scotland. She then recorded it so it sounded close to how it would sound with Susan singing it."

Undeterred, Meryl continued to search for ways in which she could make Susan’s record label take notice of her work.

She said: "I saw there was a competition on YouTube to sing with Susan. It was a worldwide competition so I uploaded a video of my song alongside my entry. I didn’t win but the song received about 3,000 hits and an American singer showed interest and sang it.

"That raised my profile in the States and on American radio. I also joined a fan club. This all meant I was invited to the premiere of 'I dreamed a dream’.

I got to meet Susan the next day and she remembered my songs. She told me I had to just keep plugging away.

"I still hope that one day she will sing my song. I will not give up, I hope that one day they will take a chance on me."

Wednesday, April 11 2012

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2012/april/12/susan_boyle_fan_meryl_heasman.aspx

graysea

Bathgate Cats Protection store makes over £2,000 and attracts support from SuBo

by Rebecca Garrett23 March

Volunteer David Cochrane meets Susan Boyle at the temporary shop

The local Cats Protection has raised over £2,000 after setting up a temporary shop in Bathgate – and superstar Susan Boyle popped in for a nosey.

The charity rented out the shop for one week at Home Aid on George Street and the volunteers were touched by the generosity of the local community.

David Cochrane, a volunteer with West Lothian Cats Protection, worked in the temporary store. He told s1bathgate: “It’s amazing how kind people are.

“Susan Boyle popped in to see our shop and she told us she supported our cause. She’s a feline lover too. She was a lovely lady. It gave our volunteers a boost.”

The George Street store is occupied by Home Aid for six months of the year. For the remaining 26 weeks, it is rented out to 26 other charities. West Lothian Cats Protection set-up shop for six days at the premises but the charity hopes to acquire a more permanent store in the future.

David said: “The charities involved only have six days to raise as much as possible. We sold anything and everything - ladies, gents and children’s clothing, books and CDs and bric-a-brac. We even sold a lilo and garden hoses; anything we could turn a penny on! There really was a lot of good quality clothing and items.

“We raised £2,008 and that will be spent on the cats and kittens that we have in our care. We have got to support every cat before it is rehomed, as well as having it neutered and microchipped. Any cat that comes into us with a pre-existing condition, we will subsidise for the rest of its days.

“If we manage to catch just one female and neuter her then that prevents a lot of unwanted kittens. In 20 years just one queen can have over 20,000 descendants. They’re worse than rabbits! But to see a mother and her kittens – that’s the little perks.”

West Lothian Cats Protection are planning on having a pie, peas and bingo night in the near future. HSBC has pledged to double any money raised at the event if they make a minimum of £500. Keep an eye on s1bathgate for more details later on.

http://www.s1bathgate.com/news/bathgate-cats-protection-store-makes-over-2000-and-attracts-support-from-subo-.html

graysea

Today, April 11, we celebrate Susan Boyle's third anniversary as a professional singer,

just who she always wanted to be.

Susan has been a smashing success ever since she performed on BGT.

Keep on singing with your magnificent, amazing voice Susan.

Wishing you much success in the years ahead.

graysea

Susan Boyle to play for Queen at Jubilee Pageant

added: 11 Apr 2012 // by: Music-News.com Newsdesk

Celebrating the 250 plus Commonwealth and State visits The Queen has made during Her Reign, the acts will include military and equestrian displays, musicians and dancers from six continents.

Confirmed music artists, who will be performing with the horses to provide a specially choreographed piece, have been chosen to represent different countries in the show and include Grammy nominated Susan Boyle, world renowned American classical violinist David Garrett, critically acclaimed Nashville singer and banjo player Abigail Washburn, legendry Australian entertainer Rolf Harris, metropolitan Indian folk legend Raghu Dixit and leading South African actors from the West End smash hit Lion King who will be joined on stage by the Nairobi Chamber Chorus & Watoto Children's Choir and classical maestros Il Divo. Confirmed narrators also include Dame Helen Mirren, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Omid Djalili, Martin Clunes and Alan Titchmarsh.

The 90 minute theatrical show will highlight The Queen's passion for horses and everything equestrian. Involving over 550 horses and 1,100 performers, the show will take the audience on a journey 'around the world in 60 years'. The four day event will be attended by members of the Royal Family throughout, with Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh in attendance on the Sunday evening,

As a ticketed public event, the Diamond Jubilee Pageant is expected to attract over 15,000 visitors.

Despite selling out within three days of tickets going on sale, a limited number of hospitality options in the Jubilee Pavilion are still available, which allow guests to enjoy a full luxurious hospitality experience with the most fantastic views of the event. For further information and bookings please email info@hpower.co.uk or visit www.diamond-jubilee-pageant.com or telephone +44 (0) 844 581 4970
.http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=50732&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

graysea

Life of Susan Boyle makes for dream of a show at The Alhambra

11:39pm Tuesday 10th April 2012 inReviewsBy Emma Clayton

Elaine C Smith, who played Susan Boyle, with the singer

I Dreamed A Dream

The Alhambra

I admit that when I heard there was a Susan Boyle musical, I feared the worst.

It could have been unbearably naff, in a mid-afternoon TV movie kind of way.

When last night’s performance opened with a dream-like sequence drenched in dry ice, I made the kind of assumptions I once made about Susan Boyle when she walked on stage for that now world-famous Britain’s Got Talent audition.

And, once again, I was wrong.

This is a surreal show, but also moving and uplifting, not least when the lady herself appears to a standing ovation.

By the time Miss Boyle gave her pitch perfect performance of I Dreamed A Dream, we’d been on quite a journey through her life.

It was an effective device to have ‘Susan’ as our narrator, looking back on the people and events that shaped her.

Her early life unfolded in touching scenes, from the moment she was starved of oxygen at birth – “the doctors said not to expect anything of me” – through a loud, loving childhood in an overcrowded council house in West Lothian, to the quiet agony of losing her parents.

A quality cast was led by the excellent Elaine C Smith, giving a cracking performance as Susan, capturing her vulnerability, her humour and her dream.

With a striking set of countless TV screens reflecting the passing years, the first act delivered an impressively authentic depiction of working-class life in the 1970s and 80s.

As Susan shuffled onto a social club dance floor, women in baggy cardigans and men with bad perms cackled while someone belted out Una Paloma Blanca.

A clever use of timeless pop songs, including At Seventeen, Daydream Believer, Mad World and a fabulous rendition of Stuck In The Middle With You by assorted BGT characters awaiting their fate lifted the action along nicely.

The second act followed Susan’s rise to fame, and its pressures, revealing more about her than any brutal tabloid headline ever did.

A sweet, honest and surprisingly soul-stirring show.

Runs at the Alhambra until Saturday.

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/leisure/tatheatre/theatrereviews/9641009.Life_of_Susan_Boyle_makes_for_dream_of_a_show_at_The_Alhambra/?ref=la

graysea

Bradford Theatres Review

I DREAMED A DREAM THE NEW MUSICAL BASED ON THE LIFE OF SUSAN BOYLE

The global singing sensation Susan Boyle is set to make appearances in I DREAMED A DREAM the musical which charts her rise to fame. This brand-new musical arrives at the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford on Tuesday 10 - Saturday 14 April 2012.

Susan's appearances in the musical will be the first opportunity for people to watch her perform in the UK on stage since the Britain's Got Talent tour in 2009.

Susan Boyle says; "I am thrilled to be a part of the musical about my life story and very much looking forward to stepping on stage and performing with the cast. It is an honest portrayal of my life and has been a cathartic process to be involved in."

Leading an outstanding cast and orchestra and taking on the lead role of Susan Boyle is Elaine C Smith. The roles of 'Pat' and 'Bridie Boyle' (Susan's parents) will be played by James Paterson and Karen Mann; the role of 'Lorraine Campbell', Susan's childhood friend, will be played by Ashleigh Gray; Susan's manager 'Andy Stephens' will be played by Jeffrey Harmer, and Liz Ewing will take the role of 'Mrs Johnstone', Susan's school teacher. All other roles throughout the production will be played by Gordon Cooper, Anne Smith, Frances Mayli McCann, David Haydn and Alan McHugh, who co-wrote I DREAMED A DREAM alongside Elaine C Smith. Susan Boyle will be making special guest appearances.

The production is directed by Ed Curtis, choreographed by Nick Winston, designed by Morgan Large, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Richard Brooker, video design by Jack James with musical supervision and orchestrations by Kennedy Aitchinson. I DREAMED A DREAM is produced by Michael Harrison.

The musical tells the story of Susan Boyle's life, from her birth...and the hand which life dealt her...up to the present day. From her humble beginnings of being born into a large working class family in central Scotland, and sharing a three-bedroomed council house with a family of ten...to where she is today - a global star and an inspiration to millions - a woman who beat the odds and changed the way the world looked at people.

I DREAMED A DREAM takes the audience through the experiences which have made Susan the woman she has become; the pain of lost love, the heart-breaking tragedy and loss of the anchors in her life, and
being cut adrift in a lonely, threatening world, then finding strength and solace in her faith, to the life changing experience of Britain's Got Talent.

An orchestra, a multitalented cast, and cutting edge multimedia technology, along with many of the well-known songs from Susan's record-breaking albums, will take audiences on Susan's journey for what promises to be a magical theatrical experience.

http://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/news/148

graysea

Susan Boyle enjoys Scottish Easter day out

The former Britain’s Got Talent star took time out from I Dreamed a Dream to visit Drum Castle and enjoy a tasty chocolate treat.

10 April 2012 09:54 GMT

Susan Boyle enjoys Scottish Easter day out

A day out fit for the queen of music: Susan Boyle visits Drum Castle Pic: © The National Trust of Scotland

Susan Boyle delighted staff and visitors at Drum Castle on Friday, when she popped in for an Easter visit.

The Britain’s Got Talent star was enjoying some well earned time out from wowing the crowds in I Dreamed a Dream – the musical based on her life – and headed off to do a spot of sightseeing at the stunning castle, near Banchory.

Susan loved looking at the historic property (The National Trust Of Scotland’s oldest property) and took time out to chat to fans and the delighted tour guides.

Property Manager Alison Burke said: "Drum worked its charm on Susan Boyle, as it does all its visitors, and she left having thoroughly enjoyed her visit.”

Alison added: “We presented a gift of a Drum Castle and Estate guidebook and a Cadbury Easter Egg."

Susan is a big chocolate fan so she is sure to have enjoyed that tasty treat.

Ms Boyle has been winning rave reviews for her appearance at the end of I Dreamed a Dream, which last week opened at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen.

http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/303086-susan-boyle-enjoys-scottish-easter-day-out/

graysea

John and Lorraine meet star at HMT - News - Donside Piper and Herald

graysea

On the forum today

Title:Also showing
Author(s):
Source:Sunday Times (London, England). (Apr. 8, 2012): News: p18.
Document Type:Article
Full Text: Sunday Times
Full Text:
Byline: Jane Edwardes, Maxie Szalwinska and Lisa Verrico

I Dreamed a Dream Theatre Royal, Newcastle ****

The only moment of suspense came after the curtain call, when an audience heavy on white hair wondered aloud whether the real Susan Boyle would step on stage and sing. She did, as she hopes to at every performance of this musical based on her life, blowing kisses and belting out two of her hits, in a sparkly dress, to a standing ovation.

That there was no suspense in the previous two hours was scarcely a surprise. The Susan Boyle story is a modern fame fable, and a script based on the singer's bestselling autobiography (cowritten by Elaine C Smith, who plays Boyle brilliantly) reveals nothing new. Yet this feelgood musical is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, steeped in Boyle's self-deprecation and excellently acted by a compact, versatile cast -- playing parts running from the classmates who bullied the dowdy "dafty bird" to hapless fellow contestants on Britain's Got Talent.

A simple set suits the gutsy, glitz-free production. A bank of bulky old televisions serve as both a backdrop and a constant, looming reminder of how the misfit Boyle broke out of Blackburn, in Scotland. The same stairs work in every scene. The costumes could have been bought at Bhs.

There is a lovely symmetry to the script. The heartfelt first half deals with Boyle's dark pre-fame days, albeit dancing around her depression with jokes about eating biscuits; the second looks at her overnight celebrity, including a fabulous, fantastical set piece at the television auditions, when the contestants become a dancing band singing Stuck in the Middle with You. Yet both describe a woman desperate to fit in, whose lack of ordinariness has made her extraordinary.

The songs -- about two dozen of them, few sung in full -- never sound shoehorned in, whether well-known Boyle covers (Perfect Day, Wild Horses) or not (At Seventeen, Paper Roses). Smith doesn't sing like Boyle, but boy, does she look like her. When the pair hug and high-five at the show's close, it's like seeing double.

That Boyle appears every night sums up the anti-star quality that her fans love her for, and that this new show captures from start to finish. LV

graysea

I Dreamed A Dream

10 - 14 April 2012
Alhambra Theatre
Susan Boyle will make a guest appearance on the Alhambra Theatre stage in this new musical that charts her extraordinary story. Don't miss your chance to see this amazing production featuring a special performance from Susan herself.

"Sheer theatrical magic...a hugely uplifting evening."
Daily Express

Tickets £14.00 - £39.50

Book now

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Further info

"I am thrilled to be a part of the musical about my life story and very much looking forward to stepping on stage and performing with the cast. It is an honest portrayal of my life and has been a cathartic process to be involved in." Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle will make a guest appearance on the Alhambra Theatre stage in this new musical that charts her extraordinary story.

Starring Elaine C Smith, best known as Mary Doll in BBC TV's Rab C Nesbitt, the musical follows Susan Boyle's meteoric rise from humble beginnings to global icon and features signature songs from her multi-platinum selling albums.

Don't miss your chance to see this amazing production featuring a special performance from Susan herself.

This astounding musical will make you laugh and cry but most of all dream. If she can dare to dream so can you.

Although the Producers of I Dreamed A Dream cannot guarantee the appearance of any artiste, Susan Boyle is expected to appear at all performances subject to unforeseen circumstances.

http://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/event/i-dreamed-a-dream

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk: Elaine C Smith plays Susan Boyle on Bradford stage

Susan Boyle: Singer and Now Businesswoman

By Marie Sheahan Brown

Who can forget the YouTube masterpiece? She strode and sashayed onto the stage with golden stature and confidence. She sparred wittily with the three famous judges, wearied by their long day of auditions in Glasgow, Scotland. She didn’t look the part of a “professional singer,” although one might perceive that being “currently unemployed” at forty-seven left little extra for beauty-shop pampering. Was she, rather, a comedienne? Susan Boyle audition

Then she sang. The formerly skeptical audience stood enraptured, tears welling as she belted out “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Misérables with stunning clarity and passion.

More than five years after the seven-minute audition video aired on Britain’s Got Talent on April 11, 2009, and promptly hit worldwide news feeds, multitudes in America and beyond remember Susan Boyle. Since she first broke Amazon pre-sale records in September 2009, millions have bought her albums. Each year, a new carefully crafted album has been released in time for Christmas. Since 2009, five albums have garnered sixty-three gold and ninety-four platinum sales levels in forty-two countries. Her sixth album, Hope, will be released on October 21 in the United States.

Scottish and United Kingdom audiences thrilled to Miss Boyle’s first full-length concert tours in 2013 and 2014. Now she’s coming to America—home of an immediate and strong support base—starting in San Diego on October 8, and singing her way across the southern half of the United States at venues in twenty cities. A sweep through the northern states could likely follow in the future.

See http://www.susanboylemusic.com/us/events

Many have written about Susan Boyle’s difficult and graced life. Her 2010 autobiography, The Woman I Was Born to Be, is a good source. Now fifty-three, she carefully revealed late in 2013 that, after decades of mistaken assumptions, she had finally been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. The relief of self-knowledge strengthens and encourages her after a lifetime of dealing with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks, and some difficulty in handling emotions and relating comfortably to people.

“This is a point: People may have problems,” she states in a documentary, “but they’ve got other things as well. And they’ve got a lot more to offer.” (Gammon, Lottie, produced, filmed, and directed. “There’s Something About Susan.” Firecracker Films Ltd. for ITV, 45:37 minutes. 2013)

Fewer analyses have considered her role as a small businesswoman and philanthropist whose personal success has enhanced the lives and small businesses of countless others not only in her native Scotland but also in, for example, America.

Miss Boyle, easily mistaken for a stately five feet ten in the famous video, is, in fact, barely over five feet tall with soft, dainty hands and feet—a huggable China doll. So she does qualify as a smallbusinesswoman despite her multimillions in sales, which also benefit business giants like Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited; SYCOmusic (Simon Cowell); Simon & Schuster, Inc.; Amazon; and, more recently, concert tour bus companies. In significant other ways, she retains her focus on the little ones.

The woman who had “never been married, never been kissed” and remains a virgin has, since 2009, given birth with astonishing fecundity. Lewis Hyde well describes her kind of gift and fertility in his 1983 classic, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property: “I have hoped . . . to speak of the inner gift that we accept as the object of our labor, and the outer gift that has become a vehicle of culture. I am not concerned with gifts given in spite or fear, nor those gifts we accept out of servility or obligation; my concern is the gift we long for, the gift that, when it comes, speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us.”

Mr. Hyde first explores traditional “gift economies,” in which citizens are considered wealthy not according to how much they acquire but how much they give. In fictional form, Jean M. Auel’s well-researched Earth’s Children series (The Clan of the Cave Bear and five sequels) describes the creativity and ingenuity that led people to survive, to form communities, and to work cooperatively for mutual benefit. Goods, services, storytelling and musical talents, art, and many other gifts were appreciated in deeper ways than they might be in a typical “market economy.”

According to reviewer JoAnn Schwartz, “Above all, Hyde is interested in examining the effect our current immersion in the market economy and the myth of the free market has both on our view of gifts and on our ability to give and receive them. The market economy is deliberately impersonal, but the whole purpose of the ‘gift economy’ is to establish and strengthen the relationships between us, to connect us one to the other. It is this element of relationship which leads Hyde to speak of gift exchange as ‘erotic’ commerce, opposing eros (the principle of attraction, union, involvement which binds together) to logos (reason and logic in general, the principle of differentiation in particular). A market economy is an emanation of logos.

“In a market economy,” Ms. Schwartz continues, “one can hoard one’s goods without losing wealth. Indeed, wealth is increased by hoarding—although we generally call it ‘saving.’ In contrast, in a gift economy, wealth is decreased by hoarding, for it is the circulation of the gift(s) within the community that leads to increase—increase in connections, increase in relationship strength. Through this book, Hyde helps us focus on the importance of gifts, their flow and movement, and the impact that the modern market place has had on the circulation of gifts.” (http://southerncrossreview.org/4/schwartz.html)

Susan Boyle does appreciate the financial security that she had never known, especially in the fearsome years after her mother died in 2007, when Miss Boyle kept her house cold so that she could afford the heating bill. Yet more important, Susan Boyle has said all along, “I sing to make people happy.” When she was a girl, the gift spoke “commandingly to the soul”—her soul. She honed, honed, honed the gift to perfection over decades of world obscurity. She sees with gratitude and humility the effects of this gift on people worldwide. When this gift is pointed out to her in personal conversation, she bows her head and lowers her eyes shyly. “Thank you.”

Miss Boyle’s fame and financial success have boosted tourism modestly in West Lothian, Scotland, with its pastoral more than spectacular scenery, a region that has suffered from bouts of economic depression and unemployment over the past few centuries. In February 2013, for example, following a centuries-old pattern, the main employer in the area—Halls of Broxburn meat processing plant—was closed by foreign owners, leaving 1,700 unemployed.

Lorraine Campbell co-owns and manages The Balbairdie—a nicely refurbished old hotel and pub in Bathgate, West Lothian. When the economy suffers, The Balbairdie feels it. Asked how she copes, Ms. Campbell replied, “You just keep going.” Happily, the local economy has improved some since 2013, according to Ms. Campbell in April 2014.

Miss Boyle has engaged experts like Andy Stephens, manager; Nicola Phillips, publicist; and Andrew Panton, creative and vocal director, to name a few. She has provided jobs for local personal assistants who handle correspondence, scheduling, wardrobe consultation, and myriad other details; gardeners; carpenters to renovate the council house she grew up and still lives in (her first big post-Britain’s Got Talent purchase); a housekeeper; women who fix her hair, do her nails, and apply her makeup for special public appearances and photo sessions; and others who tend to basic needs of a now-busy celebrity who still prefers to live in her home village, stop in at her favorite small shops and establishments, and take the bus.

Miss Boyle has also given seed money and sponsorship for creative business and charitable ventures in her local community and beyond. One start-up, Boyle’s Boutique, is an extended-family cottage industry that sells, among others, products featuring the new Boyle Tartan created for the family. Products may be ordered online.

Susan Boyle’s very capable personal assistant Sadie Boyle (no relation) says Miss Boyle gets about four hundred emails weekly, many requesting her generosity. This kind of response to another’s fame and fortune is not uncommon.

More unusual, and a clearer example of the fruits of the “gift economy,” is the generation of a worldwide community of Susan Boyle supporter-fans who have formed friendships, discovered or rekindled their own creative gifts, invested thousands of volunteer hours, spread financial generosity, and—to a small extent—started creative cottage enterprises for profit or merely to cover expenses.

Several unofficial Susan Boyle fansites live on the Internet. The first and largest, still flourishing, is www.susan-boyle.com. On April 11, 2009, Paul Wood, a London construction worker, watched Miss Boyle’s audition on TV and immediately put up a website. Starting within hours after the audition aired, people from many continents to whom Susan Boyle’s gift spoke “commandingly to the soul” were “irresistibly move[d]” to find out anything they could about her on the Internet. They frequently stumbled across Mr. Wood’s hastily launched site with its prolific discussion threads generating hundreds of written comments every day in the first two months of Miss Boyle’s fame.

To bring some order to the conversational chaos, Mr. Wood launched a companion Forum in June 2009 with more sophisticated software, accessed through the main website. Anyone could (and still can) join for free. The main rules are that one not be an Internet troll (a term and experience many had never heard of), that one behave reasonably civilly as outlined in posted guidelines, and that one not use the Forum itself for commercial purposes (more on that later).

Volunteer moderators and techies keep the discussions and online experience on an even keel. Online advertisements generated by Google AdSense and Amazon sales linked to the website (“SuBo Store”) help pay for the normal operational expenses.

In early 2010, Mr. Wood announced that he was going to auction off the website (some fifty thousand registered members) and its Forum (a few thousand registered members at the time). The worldwide member community could not bear the prospect of being taken over by some unknown commercial entity with other goals. So they decided to bid on the fansite themselves. A few members—by no means wealthy—each voluntarily loaned trusted fellow members a few thousand dollars to buy the fansite during the auction. The effort succeeded in July 2010.

Navigating through some tensions and hurt feelings (typical in any community anywhere), the worldwide Susan Boyle Fans International, Inc. (SBFII) community established itself as a non-profit corporation registered in Delaware, USA. SBFII elects a multinational volunteer board of directors; keeps meticulous financial records and files annual tax returns; maintains bylaws; and holds online annual meetings and elections engaging active members. Technically not a charity, SBFII uses AdSense and SuBo Store income to cover modest expenses and keep a healthy bank balance. Funds left over from voluntary collections (often for tasteful gifts for Miss Boyle for special occasions) are donated to a charity of Susan Boyle’s choice, frequently benefitting children in Scotland. By December 2011, SBFII repaid all interest-free loans given by members to buy the website; it remains debt free. No member gets paid for services to SBFII or personally benefits financially.

From the beginning, even silver-haired grandmothers proficient only with email learned to navigate the fansites in order to participate in a community of people who have experienced an inexplicable response to Susan Boyle—both her singing and her unique way of being—unlike their response to other favorite singers. Within months, members began gathering in person around the globe (often in restaurants, boosting local economies). They attended (and surreptitiously filmed and posted to the fansites for the enjoyment of those who could not attend) Miss Boyle’s performances in various cities (Britain’s Got Talent tour venues in the UK; Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tokyo, and more). Supporter-fans flocked to these events even though—until only 2013, when she first tried her own full-length concerts in Scotland—Miss Boyle was slated to sing just one, two, maybe three songs. These gatherings supported local hotels, B+Bs, restaurants, cab drivers, shops, and other travel-related businesses.

Miss Boyle and her team soon experienced that supporter-fans who came to these early events were older or at least more mature than stereotypical rowdies at, for example, Justin Bieber concerts. They saw that typical Susan Boyle supporter-fans are responsible, respectful, fun loving, generative. They include retired or active professionals—teachers, nurses, techies, writers, musicians, artists, farmers, truckers, businesspeople, social workers, radio hosts, professors, lawyers, homemakers, construction workers, postmasters, foresters.

To most gatherings (usually at restaurants) supporter-fans bring homemade memorabilia to share, including commemorative buttons and red scarves to identify themselves in various venues. The popularity of such items led SBFII to add another linked site, “Fan Creations,” linked in turn to the creators’ individual websites. Products include non-Susan-Boyle-related fan creations. Currently, three members offer SuBotique Hand Painted Apparel; Creative Images by tweek (Buttons, Mugs, etc.); and Susan Boyle Professional Singer chronicles gathered from news and other sources.

SBFII members often post creative ideas and images to discuss in writing with one another. Memorably, in 2009, a member from Texas, one from Iowa, and other volunteers, coordinated an international quilting bee. Supporter-fans from every continent, including Antarctica, created and mailed squares for a handmade quilt presented to Miss Boyle at a brunch following her debut solo appearance on the Todayshow on November 23—the day her first album, I Dreamed A Dream, was released in the United States and quickly broke world records in several categories.

Members can upload Susan-related videos that they have created; share poems that they’ve written; upload posters that they’ve designed digitally to document Miss Boyle’s career and accomplishments; upload news reports of supporter-fan activities, complete with photographs; post fine pencil drawings or paintings displaying talent the artists had only recently discovered; and offer a place where members can contribute their own essays. These essays, sometimes written in French or other non-English languages, often try to explain how the wee singer with the big voice; the shy woman who communicates profoundly—cor ad cor loquitur—through music others have written; the multimillionaire who stays in her small lifelong home and still takes the bus—the essentially inexplicable Susan Boyle—“irresistibly moves” them.

SBFII and other volunteers take responsibility to daily and positively post or re-post Susan Boyle news, photos, and encounters on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. Their Internet involvement began immediately when Miss Boyle became famous—and once again experienced the bullying known since childhood, only this time inflicted by some members of the media and anonymous commentators. She writes in her autobiography, “What I didn’t know then, because I didn’t have a computer at the time, was that every time there was a mean comment about me in the press, a dozen messages of support would appear in response. On the Internet there was a growing community of fans. I had no idea how many people out there in the world felt moved to stick up for me, and I want to thank everybody for that.” (The Woman I Was Born to Be, pages 188–189)

Miss Boyle’s professional team also encourages creativity from fans. Starting with the first documentary of her life, Susan Boyle: I Dreamed A Dream, produced in 2009 by Talkback Thames, fans were invited via the official www.susanboylemusic.com site (picked up and promoted by volunteer sites) to send short videos of themselves saying “Hello, Susan!” with backdrops representing their locations. Several clips from around the world were chosen for the documentary. As a lead-up to Miss Boyle’s second album, The Gift, she held a worldwide “Susan’s Search” competition, inviting any amateur singer to upload a brief selfie singing “Silent Night.” The winner, Amber Stassi, a thirty-three-year-old paramedic from Brewerton, New York, sang “Do You Hear What I Hear?” with Miss Boyle on the album and at the 2010 outdoor Today show appearance in New York City.

In the 2013 and 2014 concert tours in Scotland and the United Kingdom, Miss Boyle and her team selected local choirs to serve as back-up choruses in every city, receiving standard financial compensation. Already individual choir members in the United States are tweeting: “Aaliyah Buchanan ‏@Itsuko_Sora I’m to pumped, i get to sing for Susan Boyle!!!!” and “Drew Mikuska ‏@DrewMikuska Hahahahaha I’m singing backup for Susan Boyle.”

Already in the twenty cities spanning the southern United States, supporter-fans from as far away as Australia and Scotland are buying tickets. They are organizing pre-concert dinner-camaraderie gatherings for supporter-fans, some of whom they have never met in person but know through their written posts on fansites. Restaurants, hotels, theaters, airlines, public transportation providers, cab drivers, and many small businesses will benefit. Susan Boyle, her team, and numerous music-related vendors will profit.

Yet in Susan Boyle’s “gift economy,” which she neither forecasted nor manipulated, money can facilitate but cannot possibly buy the greatest benefits to the community in which she finds herself to be the generator and principal member. In this higher economy, she is both blessed herself and a blessing to countless others.

As recently reported on her official website, Susan says about her upcoming United States concert tour: “This is a brilliant moment for me. The past five years have been incredible, and it just keeps getting better. I have spoken so often about wanting to tour America and be able to visit different cities for the first time—I’m so excited. This really will be fantastic, and I can’t wait for October. The US embraced and supported me from the beginning, and it really feels like a second home. So I can’t wait to get on the road and perform there.”

Source:Small Business Exchange Northeast