Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Susan Boyle's 'Good Day New York' appearance shows how hard the singer works


Susan Boyle's 'Good Day New York' appearance shows how hard the singer works

BY MARIANNE GARVEY, BRIAN NIEMIETZ AND LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT

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GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 20:  Susan Boyle attends an album signing at HMV on November 20, 2012 in Glasgow. Dozens of fans queued to get signed copies of her new album titled Standing Ovation.  (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES

Susan Boyle proved she's a trouper on "Good Day New York."

While Susan Boyle ’s music may sound effortless, Confidenti@l has learned it’s everything but.
Following Sunday’s confession that she suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, it’s now clear just how hard the Scottish singing sensation works to perform live.
Boyle was at the WNYW/Ch. 5 studios on the Upper East Side just days before the shocking revelation and relied on her manager to help her keep time and soothe her anxieties while she performed for the “Good Day New York” episode that aired Monday.
While she seemed like a natural on TV, her ever-present minder was there to pepper her with directions throughout the segment, which seemed to calm her nerves.
“She was singing Christmas songs, but there was no music playing. It was only playing on a track in her ear, so no one could hear any music — only Susan’s singing, which made her nervous,” an insider tells Confidenti@l. “She was tapping her foot to keep along with the rhythm, and it was so silent you could hear a man behind a curtain behind her talking to her.”
We’re told that while Boyle was placed in front of the festive curtain decorated with twinkling lights, her manager remained behind it, telling her to remember to “smile, move your hands more, put your hands down, raise right hand, keep smiling, smile, hands up,” and so on, making Boyle’s appearance appear effortless, according to our spy.
“Everything he said, she would then do it. It looked hard because it’s one thing to not hear the music and to be singing along to a track, but another to do it to a silent room,” says our tipster. “There were long, silent pauses, but her coach told her how to move, which camera to look at, how to smile.”
Boyle told the U.K.’s Observer newspaper that a specialist in Scotland diagnosed her Asperger’s a year ago, and that she’s relieved to finally be able to talk about it.
“I have always known that I have had an unfair label put upon me,” she explained. “I have Asperger’s.”
The inspirational singer — who was discovered in 2009 when she knocked Simon Cowell ’s socks off on “Britain’s Got Talent,” belting out “I Dreamed a Dream” — has a new album out called “Home for Christmas.” It’s a compilation of favorite holiday songs from her youth, including “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “Little Drummer Boy.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/good-day-new-york-appearance-shows-susan-boyle-trouper-article-1.1544075#commentpostform

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/good-day-new-york-appearance-shows-susan-boyle-trouper-article-1.1544075#ixzz2nAnbt7Lj

Susan Boyle sings on 'Loose Women' 2013

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Susan Boyle "I Have Aspergers Syndrome"

Simon Cowell Talks Susan Boyle Aspergers Diagnosis

VIDEO: Simon Cowell Talks Susan Boyle Aspergers Diagnosis on LENO (TV Content)

Simon Cowell stopped by THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO last night and spoke about the recent news that Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle had been diagnosed with Aspergers. Later, Cowell admitted his biggest regret of his career was failing to sign the Spice Girls.


http://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay.php?colid=640490#

SB - National Slipper Day in aid of Help for Heroes!

Thank you supporting National Slipper Day in aid of Help for Heroes! RT

Piers Morgan about Susan Boyles Aspergers

'Amazing Woman': Susan Boyle Praised By Charities After Revealing Asperger's Syndrome Diagnosis

BY ALICIA ADEJOBI ON DECEMBER 9, 2013

'Amazing Woman': Susan Boyle Praised By Charities After Revealing Asperger's Syndrome Diagnosis

Fans have also flooded Twitter praising Susan for her braveness
Susan Boyle has been praised by various charities for opening up about her Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis, with many of her fans also crediting the former Britain's Got Talent contestant as “brave” for admitting to her syndrome.
The 52-year-old explained how she came to be diagnosed with the form of autism more than a year ago after fearing that she was suffering from a more serious illness, even believing that she was possibly brain damaged, and went to seek answers from a specialist.
Susan Boyle has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (WENN)
“It was the wrong diagnosis when I was a kid,” Susan told the Observer. “I was told I had brain damage. I always knew it was an unfair label. Now I have a clearer understanding of what's wrong and I feel relieved and a bit more relaxed about myself.”
Following the revelation, Susan has been flooded with praise from a number of Asperger's Syndrome charities, including Mark Lever, chief executive of the National Autistic Society who said according to The Mirror: “Asperger’s is a form of autism which affects the way a person communicates and relates to others.
“Diagnosis, as Susan said, can be a relief, providing an explanation for years of feeling ‘different.' It can also offer a gateway to identifying appropriate support and, without it, many people may find it difficult to access the help they need.”
He added: “By revealing her diagnosis, Susan has played an important role in bringing the issue to the nation’s attention. Autism can have a profound and sometimes devastating effect on individuals and families but public understanding and support can make a huge difference.”
Robert MacBean from NAS Scotland also commented: “Huge strides have been taken in changing attitudes towards autism and increasing understanding of the lifelong disabling condition that touches the lives of 58,000 Scots.
“But there is still a tendency to think of autism as a condition that just affects children. By revealing her diagnosis, Susan Boyle is helping to highlight that there are older people who need our support and care. Too many adults with autism are missing out on diagnosis entirely and too many are still waiting for their needs to be assessed.”
He added: “And all too often, it’s unclear what support will be available for them as they get older. This must change.”
Hundreds of Susan's fans have also flooded Twitter with compliments for the 'I Dreamed A Dream' singer, including @IamRonDavis who said: “@SusanBoyleHQ bravo for being brave and talking about her Asperger's diagnosis. Sing, sell MILLIONS of records and march on!” @jrjaxster also tweeted: “I give thanks I'm alive every time I see @SusanBoyleHQ's audition for Britain's Got Talent. Asperger's did not stop her. Amazing woman.”

Monday, December 9, 2013

Susan Boyle Save The Children Press Launch Highlights

Amazing Susan!   I love how happy Susan is doing this charity event.  Wonderful!

Susan Boyle’s presence in popular culture is more important than ever...

This writer writes something you really want to think about and like to read. 

Sensible words from her point of view and a lot of others reading it. Thank you.

Susan Boyle’s presence in popular culture is more important than ever after revealing she has Asperger’s Syndrome

She’s not, and never has been, an ordinary woman to whom we can all relate



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By any definition Boyle has been very, very successful, despite the fact that she has always been “different”, in some unspecified, but much speculated-upon way. Her albums have sold 19 million worldwide and she was the first UK female pop artist to have a No 1 album in the UK and the US simultaneously. Her most recent single is a duet with Elvis Presley (albeit, posthumous), and Meryl Streep is rumoured to be in line to play her in the film version of her life. Boyle didn’t need to reveal her Asperger’s diagnosis to make people like her, but  by doing so she is sharing with other sufferers the acceptance that celebrity has afforded her. As the National Autistic Society (NAS) noted, she is to be praised  for “bringing the issue to the nation’s attention”
Susan Boyle is no ordinary pop star – but then you knew that already. In a newspaper interview over the weekend she revealed that she has Asperger’s Syndrome, a disorder on the autistic spectrum, and spoke of her relief at receiving the diagnosis. Asperger’s is characterised by difficulties with social interaction and non-verbal communication, but has no relationship to IQ which, in Boyle’s case, happens to be higher than average. “Asperger’s doesn’t define me,” she said. “It’s a condition that I have to live  with and work through, but I feel more relaxed about myself. People will have a greater understanding of who I am and why I do the things I do.”
For people who feel isolated or stigmatised, it is usually a comfort to know there is someone else in the same situation – especially a successful person. It’s now slightly less stigmatising to suffer from depression (Alastair Campbell, Stephen Fry and Rebecca Ferguson from The X Factor all have) or to go bankrupt (Miquita Oliver and Burt Reynolds know all about that) and we’ve been thanking Tom Daley since last week for making it that little bit easier for teenagers to come out as bisexual or gay.
It’s not just about the potential impact on the individuals affected, however. I suspect the NAS are equally excited about the way Boyle’s personal account can help broach the empathy gap for people who have no idea what it might be like to live with Asperger’s. An articulate Boyle described her own experience in the interview: “I would say I have relationship difficulties, communicative difficulties, which lead to a lot of frustration. If people were a bit more patient, that would help.” Thanks to these words, she and others are much more likely to encounter such patience.
In fact Susan Boyle has already done so much to make us all more kind, less superficial, more tolerant people. When she first walked on stage to audition for Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 with her grey hair and bizarre hip thrusts, Simon Cowell rolled his eyes and Piers Morgan scoffed and the audience laughed. She had already revealed in the VT that she was a 47-year-old, long-term unemployed woman who had never been kissed, and lived alone with a cat. Then she started singing a confident note-perfect and inspiring version of the Les Miserables standard “I Dreamed a Dream” and so began the perfect celebrity fable.
But what exactly is the moral of The Susan Boyle Story? At first she was celebrated as a victory for talent in a culture obsessed with physical attractiveness, and a reminder to not judge a book by its cover, but as she’s become more successful, the PR blurb has morphed into something more familiar and much less interesting. Susan is now a classic underdog, a rags-to-riches success and a reminder to ordinary people to dream their own impossible dream. It’s well-worn trope of reality TV, and in this case it’s more than just trite, it obscures the real triumph of SuBo. She’s not, and never has been, an ordinary woman to whom we can all relate; she’s a very unusual woman with an extraordinary talent and specific needs. Her presence in popular culture is a much-needed reminder to never underestimate people who, for whatever reason, don’t fit the mould.
It’s great news if Boyle’s diagnosis adds Asperger’s to that list of conditions the public are comfortable with, but the real challenge remains as it always was; to accept people who are different in ways we might not have a word for, whether they happen to be able to sing or not.

SB Poster by Canadian Bill.


Poster by Canadian Bill.

Beautiful poster!  Thank you CBill.