Susan Boyle by Alice Montgomery Read Free Book Online Page A

everyone.’
    Shortly afterwards the number rose to 116 million. ‘She is very close to becoming the most popular internet hit in history,’ Cutler said. ‘We are watching closely and counting how many people are logging in on over 150 websites, not just YouTube.’
    Susan had started to appear in public again, and for the first time there was the hint of a change in her appearance. Her hair, although still grey, had been trimmed, and her clothes were starting to appear a little smarter. Susan had been adamant that there would be no Hollywood-style makeover, but anyone who appears regularly on television is aware of their appearance, and Susan, while not yet a regular performer, had attracted more attention than almost anyone else on the planet. It was hardly surprising that, despite Amanda’s rather patronizing plea that Susan stay the way she was, a slight change began to occur.
    Susan even acknowledged as much. ‘I will need to sort out my dress sense and my weight,’ she told one of the numerous journalists who hung on her every word. ‘It wasn’t until I saw myself on TV that I realized how frumpy I was. It’s not a big thing, it doesn’t worry me too much, but I will be doing a bit more exercise to help me sort it out.
    ‘When there is this much attention on you, you have to plan what you wear every day and look your best. I just want to look nice and smart.’ It was a typically modest assertion and didn’t suggest anything too extreme.
     
    By now, Susan was beginning to get offers to make a record, which she duly turned down. Under the terms of Britain’s Got Talent , she was not allowed to sign up with anyone else, but she was also aware that it was too soon. The video clip of her audition might have been a sensation, but the fact remained that she had been on the show only once. She had to go back, prove it wasn’t a one-off and that she could take the pace. She was also going to need professional help. No industry has more sharks than the music industry, and Susan had become a highly marketable commodity. As such she was going to need people around to protect her from making a bad deal.
    Susan certainly hadn’t seen a penny yet. By this stage in any series of Britain’s Got Talent , none of the contestants would have earned a thing, but Susan found herself in that odd space between the very famous and the very rich. While she was certainly becoming the former, she was nowhere near the latter. She had the Britain’s Got Talent team to look after her - although it wasn’t yet clear quite how much she was going to need it - but she had no money to lavish on makeovers and security. She was already in an extremely pressurized position and this just added to everything she had to worry about.
    The internet hits reached 130 million, at least 80 million more than the viewings for President Obama’s inauguration speech. ‘I am truly gobsmacked,’ said Susan. ‘This is unbelievable. The reaction has been amazing.’ She celebrated by having a slight eyebrow trim - an altogether sleeker Susan was beginning to emerge.
    And still the celebrity endorsements continued. It seemed as though the most famous and blessed people on the planet wanted to be sprinkled with the gold dust that had transformed Susan’s life.
    ‘She gave me the chill bumps when I heard her,’ said Sheryl Crow.
    ‘I got emailed the link and was most impressed,’ said Billy Zane. ‘I enjoyed the comeuppance the audience got. It was a milestone in compassion.’
    ‘My fifteen-year-old son said, “That makes me so happy,”’ said Anthony Edwards.
    The performance was ‘warm and friendly’, said Sidney Poitier.
    Even Tony Blair got in on the act: ‘Susan is certainly unofficially probably doing more good than most of the official channels of diplomacy,’ he said. And where Blair was to be found, so was his erstwhile spin doctor, Alistair Campbell, who thought politicians could take a leaf out of Susan’s book: it was her