Susan Boyle Confirmed To Join Donny And Marie Osmond At London O2 Arena Gig

graysea

Susan Boyle Confirmed To Join Donny And Marie Osmond At London O2 Arena Gig

Wednesday, 09 January 2013

Written by Elliott Batte

Susan Boyle Confirmed To Join Donny And Marie Osmond At London O2 Arena Gig

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle will be joining Donny and Marie Osmond when they
perform at the London O2 later this month, as their hugely-anticipated UK tour creeps closer and closer.

Boyle performed alongside Donny and Marie in Las Vegas, where they sold out shows in
October last year. Now, they are set to share the same stage once again at a gig in London
on January 20th, the first concert of their UK tour.

The O2 tweeted earlier today:

It’s unknown whether she’ll be joining them at any of their other UK tour dates -
so stay with Stereoboard to stay up-to-date. You can find tickets to their shows
by checking the dates and details below.

Boyle is a massive fan of Donny Osmond and said prior to their Las Vegas
performance: “I've said since 2009 that I'd love to sing in Vegas and now singing with
Donny in Vegas well, I'm over the moon.”

If you’re a fan, check the dates and details of the tour below and snap up your tickets quick
- they won’t be around forever!

Source: http://www.stereoboard.com/content/view/176755/9#ixzz2HVn4tal0

graysea · 22 Dec 2012 07:55

Last month this article came out. It is good to see it again.

Susan Boyle: I use God as a companion

22 Dec 2012 07:55

SINGING star Susan Boyle has told how she turns to the Church for help in coping with the pressures of her musical career.

DEVOUT Roman Catholic SuBo said the Church is her “safety net” and revealed she even attended mass once in the Spanish party resort of Benidorm.

In a BBC Radio Scotland interview with Cathy Macdonald and Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross, which will be broadcast on Christmas morning, Susan, 51, said: “Church is the backbone of my life and it always has been.

“It’s a kind of safety net. You like to feel you’ve got somebody to talk to and I use God as a companion.

“Sometimes, when I get a quiet space, it’s good to meditate. I like to meditate on where I am and who I am – things like that.

“I went to church once when I was in Benidorm. I couldn’t understand it because it was all in Spanish but I got the gist of what it was all about.”

SuBo, from Blackburn in West Lothian, sang for Pope Benedict XVI at an open-air mass in Glasgow during his visit to Scotland in 2010. Her performance included the song which launched her on Britain’s Got Talent – I Dreamed a Dream.

In the interview, she tells how she took “a weak turn” when she was told she would meet the Pope after her performance at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park.

She said: “It was rather nerve-wracking. When they told me I was going to meet His Holiness, I had a wee bit of a weak turn.

“It was quite something, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You don’t know how you feel at the time because you’re too numb. It was very humbling.”

SuBo is planning to spend Christmas with family and friends.

She added: “This year I’m going to take time off – no gigs.

“In 2013, I’m playing the O2 with Donnie Osmond and also plan to go to Australia with the musical I Dreamed a Dream.”

graysea


	Theatre reviews for you, by you. If you would like to review for us, please contact us including a short review of what you have seen recently.

I Dreamed A Dream – Southend Cliffs Pavilion : chosen by Maureen Hylands

Most shows of any genre are an unreal, fake world to be lost in. I Dreamed a Dream is a real, humane telling of a warm, down to earth lady who has beaten the odds and won the hearts of millions with her stunning voice and genuine pleasure in the love she receives from her audience. Revelling also in what she gives. The show is simply told and presented, yet the complicated aftermath of its ‘nothing fake’ story leaves one in awe. A magical biography. What better to offer those who believe?

http://www.thepublicreviews.com/the-public-reviews-the-best-of-2012/

graysea

In case you missed this message, here it is.

Personal Message from Susan

from Susan Boyle

Well to say I have had the time of my life would be an understatement. I can’t quite believe how much was accomplished in such a short space of time.

As you may have heard getting to LA on Sunday had it’s problems thanks to a cancelled flight in Scotland which meant we missed the plane to LA. So Monday we boarded the plane to LA and sat back for a relaxing 11 hour flight. Landed in LA and found that my case had gone missing. Deja Vu of last November. Luckily I had two cases and the dresses I needed were packed in the second case.

I met my wonderful fans at the airport and it was great to see familiar faces, smiling and happy. They spoilt me as usual and gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and See’s Candy.

Tuesday morning was an early start, heading to the Dancing With The Stars studio for rehearsals. They went without a hitch and it was wonderful to see Donny again. He is so professional and supportive. The plan was for me to walk on to the stage, but I chose a pair of heels that made that impossible. I was so nervous that I’d topple over and make a spectacle of myself!

The performance went well in the afternoon and I was nervous, but who wouldn’t be. I was not only singing with my childhood idol but a legend who has been in the business for 50 years. I’m an amateur in comparison to him! I was incredibly shy and nervous as I didn’t want to mess up the performance and let Donny down.

We did a press call after the show which was an experience. I had not done one of those before, but it was fun to talk to the different media although I felt like I was repeating myself as we worked our way down the line.

Wednesday morning it was off early to the airport for our flight to Vegas. We arrived safe and sound, all bags with us, and made our way down the Las Vegas strip to the Flamingo hotel for rehearsals with Donny for his show and meet his sister Marie.

The show itself was great, watching them perform was amazing. They have such a great energy and so enthusiastic, I can understand why their show has just been voted the best show in Las Vegas. It was brilliant. Performing in Vegas was an honour and something I never for a second imagined I would do. In fact I’m still having to pinch myself now that it all really happened. I sung the duet with Donny and then Who I Was Born To Be on my own. Again, I was nervous as it’s such an accomplishment to be on a Vegas stage, I almost felt like I didn’t deserve to be there. Then before I knew it, my two songs were over- it went by in a flash. I really did have the best time ever up on that stage with Donny. Marie and Donny made me feel so welcome.

After the show, we did another lot of interviews and I was also able to give Donny the “Susan quilt” which the wonderful Carol Rand made. He loved it and was thrilled to receive such a gift. That was a highlight of the trip for me.

Thursday morning we made our way back to the Flamingo for an interview with Ross King who had flown to Vegas to interview us for Daybreak. Ross is a great man and we had a real giggle filming that interview. After that it was back to the theatre which was our base for the day as I had a shoot with Hello Magazine. That was a blast- the photographer was wonderful, as was my stylist who found the most stunning dresses (which I ended up buying as they were so fantastic!)

After finishing a successful shoot- it was back to the airport to fly back to LA. Except the plane was delayed- so we found a spa and sat and got pampered for a couple of hours waiting for the plane to arrive. That was one way to kill time.

Friday morning I had a lie in, it was much needed after everything we had accomplished during the week, then I sat down with Weekend Magazine for another interview and photo shoot. By the time we got over to the beach the weather had turned and you would have thought we were back in Scotland. It was so cold and overcast!

After a few quick pictures it was back to the hotel, were we spotted Ashton Kutcher checking in, then up to the roof terrace for a lovely lunch with my friend Lorraine, Nic and Michelle where we giggled as we recounted the tales from the week and had a look through photographs that had been taken. It was so cold they ended up with dressing gowns over them and I had a blanket round my shoulders but we persevered and had a delightful time.

The flight home was uneventful, we all slept soundly and before I knew it I was back home in Scotland. The past week was so busy it flashed by and I still can’t quite believe that I performed in LA and Las Vegas with my childhood hero Donny Osmond. It was a dream come true and something I shall never forget. I am incredibly lucky and fortunate.

I’m looking forward to the next few weeks- I have a few more surprises for you all, so be sure to keep checking for updates from myself and my team and I also look forward to answering your Twitter questions tonight.

Thank you all for your messages of support and to those of you who came to Dancing With The Stars and Las Vegas, I always keep a look out for the red scarves!

graysea

Above photo shows the excitment of Susan after
singing IDAD once on BGT 2009. She nailed it!
Susan above on September 30,
2012 at a M&G with fans.

Anne Hathaway inspired by Susan Boyle for Les Miserables performance

Sunday 6 Jan 2013 9:36 am Film

Anne Hathaway has admitted she checked out Susan Boyle’s rendition of I Dreamed A Dream before singing the track in a new film version of Les Miserables.

The actress, who plays tragic prostitute Fantine in director Tom Hooper’s upcoming blockbuster, reveals she sat down to watch Boyle’s famous performance on Britain’s Got Talent.

She told OK! magazine: ‘I think she’s adorable, and her story was so heart-warming. Before I knew I was going to play Fantine, I’d watched that clip (of Britain’s Got Talent), when I was having a low day, and it just made me feel so wonderful.

‘The thing about it was of course her, but the thing that’s also fun is to watch Simon Cowell’s mind racing, as a producer and an adding machine! I just loved that clip!’

Susan Boyle shot to fame with her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream (Picture: PA)

Hathaway has won praise for her own version of I Dreamed A Dream in Les Miserables, in which she stars opposite Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe.

She added: ‘It was really exciting to take this iconic song, which is so beloved, and find a way to put it through the prism of film – and that meant having to go very, very, very deep inside myself to some uncomfortable places.

‘But that’s what we do, and those are the jobs that you remember and those are the ones that make you grow.’

Former American Idol star Adam Lambert recently criticised the vocal performances of the cast of the new movie.

He tweeted: ‘Les Mis: Visually impressive w great Emotional performances. But the score suffered massively with great actors PRETENDING to be singers.’

Although he did add: ‘Anne Hathaway as Fantine and Enjolras were the exceptions for me.’

Les Miserables is out on January 11 in the UK.

For full story, go to link below:

http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/06/anne-hathaway-inspired-by-susan-boyle-for-les-miserables-performance-3339720/

graysea

graysea

More tweets from Aberdeen, Scotland...

"Subo is at the panto ha"
"Ta dah! Me and Susan Boyle."

Photo taken today (January 5, 2013) and posted on twitter. It appears Susan has attended the 'Snow White' panto in Aberdeen, which stars Elaine C. Smith. Elaine played Susan in her Musical 'I Dreamed A Dream'.

http://www.qdospantomime.com/aberdeen.php

graysea

LUCY PEDEN ON JANUARY 5, 2013

Anne Hathaway Was Inspired By Susan Boyle For Les Miserables Role

Actress reveals that she checked out the BGT queen for ideas!

Anne Hathaway is definitely one of the most famous people to publicly sing 'I Dreamed A Dream' - but it's an honour she shares with Britain's Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle. However, she says that she's inspired by Su-Bo - and even enjoyed watching the clip before she knew she was going to play Fantine.

Anne told OK! Magazine "I think [Susan] is adorable, and her story was heart warming.

"Before I knew I was going to play Fantine, I'd watched that clip when I was having a low day, and it just made me feel so wonderful."

She added "the thing about it was of course her, but the thing that's also fun is to watch Simon Cowell's mind racing, as a producer and an adding machine. I just loved that clip!"

Anne revealed that being involved with Les Miserables was challenging and rewarding, but extremely tough. "It was really exciting to take this iconic song, which is so beloved, and find a way to put it through the prism of film - and that meant having to go very, very, very deep inside myself to some uncomfortable places."

However, she explains that acting is a difficult business. "That's what we do, and those are the jobs that you remember and those are the ones that make you grow."

We wonder what's scarier - playing a dying prostitute, or being told what to do by Simon Cowell! Could Anne make a cameo on America's Got Talent, and would she hold her own? Tell us what you think!

Go to link to see video:

http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/100118/Anne-Hathaway-Was-Inspired-By-Susan-Boyle-For-Les-Miserables-Role

graysea

SUSAN BOYLE - STANDING OVATION - AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION COMMERICAL http://goo.gl/Uj98u

graysea

The Stage 100 2013: the full list by category

By:

The Stage

PART OF OUR HOT TOPIC THE STAGE 100

The Stage 100 is our annual power list, detailing the theatre and performing arts industry's most influential individuals.

Michael Harrison

Michael Harrison’s standing within the industry grows with every passing year and in 2012, he’s had two major breakthroughs. The first was with the tour of I Dreamed a Dream, the Susan Boyle Musical, which looks set to be a huge commercial hit. The second is The Bodyguard musical, Harrison’s first foray into the West End. He’s also a major player come Christmas-time as MD of the Qdos panto division.

To see the list, go to link below:

http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2013/01/the-stage-100-2013-the-full-list-by-category/

graysea

Julie Walters - Julie Walters keen to play Susan Boyle

02 January 2013

Julie Walters keen to play Susan Boyle

Julie Walters would be ''really honoured'' to get the chance to play Susan Boyle in a movie of her life, a role which the singer is keen for her to take.

Julie Walters would love to play Susan Boyle in a movie.

The 'Harry Potter' actress has been named by the 'Wild Horses' singer as her first choice to portray her life on the big screen, and the British star says she would be ''really honoured'' to take on the challenge.

She told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: ''I'm really honoured, because I'm massively touched by her and she's got a gorgeous voice.''

While Julie, 62, is favourite to win the role of Susan, she insists she hasn't yet been offered the job.

She said: ''Nobody has actually asked me to do it, just yet.''

Susan - who shot to fame after competing on UK TV talent show 'Britain's Got Talent' in 2009 - has previously spoken of her belief that no one could play her in film as well as Julie would.

''There's only one person I'd love to play me - and that's Julie Walters.

''She would do the job and you just know she would do my story justice.''

The 51-year-old star has also admitted she would love George Clooney to be on board to play her manager.

She said: ''It's wishful thinking. But it's Hollywood... anything can happen.''

http://www.contactmusic.com/news/julie-walters-keen-to-play-susan-boyle_3432415

graysea

‘SuBo: The Movie’ Takes A Step Nearer Becoming A Thing

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

Susan Boyle

Hey world? You know Susan Boyle? You know how her rise to international fame is based on a commonly-understood joke, one that states that people who are not attractive can’t sing well, or usefully contribute to society, and she doesn’t appear to have got that memo and yet insists on being good at singing anyway? Well, having already converted that ugly duckling narrative into a stage musical, it seems plans are being drawn to convert this into a movie, just likeLes Miserables!

And they’re pretty heady plans too, the names of various A-list talents are being bandied about like nobody’s business, including George Clooney as her manager Andy Stephens, and (perhaps slightly more realistically) Julie Walters as SuBo herself.

I say realistically because Julie has admitted that, should an offer be forthcoming, she’d be very keen to take on the role, not least because she’s a big fan.

She told the Telegraph: “I’m really honored, because I’m massively touched by her and she’s got a gorgeous voice.”

However, there are still one or two contractual issues to sort out, not the least of which is a lack of an actual contract. Or even a formal offer. Or an informal one: “Nobody has actually asked me to do it, just yet.”

Susan herself is adamant that Julie – who starred in Calendar Girls, Educating Rita, and all of those Victoria Wood comedies – is the person for the job, telling the Sun in November: “There’s only one person I’d love to play me – and that’s Julie Walters. She would do the job and you just know she would do my story justice.”

By which she probably means “Julie Walters does not mind appearing to be unattractive in her acting work, and can probably mime pretty well.”

And as for that George Clooney idea, Susan’s basic attitude there is that stranger things have happened: ”It’s wishful thinking. But it’s Hollywood… anything can happen.”

Which leaves the part of Simon Cowell open for Alan Rickman, naturally.

http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/01/subo-the-movie-takes-a-step-nearer-becoming-a-thing/

graysea

SusanBoyle Fansinternationalinc

13 hours ago

"Great Day yesterday!Drink flowed,great laugh ......and an impromptu turn on Karaoke by Susan Boyle"
".....it was New Years Day.She sang 'Whistle down the wind'.The pic is a screenshot from a video I took in the Family Pub."

Photo taken yesterday (January 1, 2013) and posted on twitter. It was taken at Moran's Bar in Blackburn...
http://www.moransbar.com/

graysea

Julie Walters "honoured" to be wanted for Susan Boyle film

Published Wednesday, Jan 2 2013, 11:36 GMT | By Hugh Armitage |5 comments

Julie Walters has said she is "honoured" to have been connected to the Susan Boyle biopic.

The Britain's Got Talent runner-up previously said that she wanted the Mamma Mia! actress to portray her in her biopic.

"I'm really honoured, because I'm massively touched by her and she's got a gorgeous voice," Walters told the The Daily Telegraph.

She added that her role in the movie is far from confirmed. "Nobody has actually asked me to do it, just yet," she said.

"There's only one person I'd love to play me - and that's Julie Walters," Boyle previously told The Mirror.

"She would do the job and you just know she would do my story justice."

Watch Susan Boyle perform 'Mull of Kintyre' below:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a447952/julie-walters-honoured-to-be-wanted-for-susan-boyle-film.html

Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a447952/julie-walters-honoured-to-be-wanted-for-susan-boyle-film.html#ixzz2GqShCPhp
Follow us: @digitalspy on Twitter | digitalspyuk on Facebook

graysea

Julie Walters keen to play Susan Boyle

Wednesday 2 January 2013

Julie Walters has said that she would love to play Susan Boyle in a movie.

Julie Walters keen to play Susan Boyle

The Educating Rita actress has been named by the I Dreamed a Dream singer as her first choice to portray on the big screen, and the 62-year-old star explained that she would be "really honoured" to take on the challenge.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Walters said: "I'm really honoured, because I'm massively touched by her and she's got a gorgeous voice."

While Julie is the favourite to win the role of Susan, she insists she hasn't yet been offered the gig.

She added: "Nobody has actually asked me to do it, just yet."

Susan, who rose to fame after competing on UK TV talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2009, has previously voiced her belief that no one could play her in film as well as Julie would, saying: "There's only one person I'd love to play me - and that's Julie Walters.

"She would do the job and you just know she would do my story justice."

http://www.rte.ie/ten/2013/0102/waltersj.html

graysea

graysea

The collage below is of pictures I took of Susan when I was in Scotland.

graysea

Susan Boyle Gets Some Fresh Air

POSTED ON JANUARY 01, 2013 AT 9:15 AM

The paparazzi caught up with Susan Boyle outside her home in Glasgow. The ‘I Dreamed a Dream‘ singer was simply going for a stroll. Susan looks like she’s doing well. She seemed to take the paparazzi in stride.

At one point, she even stopped and posed. Go Susan! Fame isn’t easy to handle. She seems to be coping better these days. Maybe she’ll have a new album in 2013? Her fans would be thrilled.

http://www.imnotobsessed.com/2013/01/01/susan-boyle-gets-some-fresh-air/exclusive-susan-boyle-goes-for-a-stroll-2/#.UOM5GG_s4y4

graysea

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