Susan Boyle, Scottish singing sensation from Blackburn, West Lothian, who took the world in just few days with her BGT U.K. television show rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" has become a symbol of hope in this difficult economic upheavals.
Susan Boyle as Professional Singer
Her dream of becoming a professional singer is secure. She has over 100 million hits at YouTube alone, while adoring fans and admirers have already been queuing to reserve for her first CD album at amazon.com. There's no stopping now for Susan Boyle the megastar.
To her fans and millions of global admirers, she remains on top despite garnering second place in Britain's Got Talent, and they are determined to follow her through undeterred by the ebb and flow of tabloid coverage or fickle supporters.
Susan Boyle's Voice
The first impression of the audience as contrasted to the overwhelming ovation she first received after singing "I Dreamed a Dream" and her extraordinary solid voice keep lingering.
Susan has been gifted with a beautiful voice, the oldest of all musical instruments. Since life began, the voice as a musical instrument has had a considerable effect on listeners. The millions who break into tears just watching her first performance many times over prove this.
Without being too technical about dissecting her voice, that is, delving into techniques in breathing, resonance, vibrato, and the larynx mechanism, Susan Boyle created an unprecedented global sensation with her performance, through her singing voice.
Granting she is not in the professional league of Maria Callas nor Luciano Pavarotti, this down-to-earth, witty, and funny lady with a wonderful voice took the world in just few days like a pro. No, there has never been a phenomenon with such a huge impact. Amateur singer Susan Boyle has amazingly proven that it is not necessary by which a singer develops the vocal technique for the voice to be affecting, rather, it is the quality of emotional expression that is more important.
The comment from Cameron Mackintosh, producer of Les Misérables upon hearing Susan, eclipses any doubt as to her singing capability: "Vocally it is one of the best versions of the song I've ever heard. Touching, thrilling and uplifting." Coming from him, one is rendered speechless.
Trivia Insights on Susan Boyle
If the composer and greatest melodist of all time, Franz Schubert, is around today, he'd probably compose for Susan some beautiful song cycles like Die schöne Müllerin, or Rodgers and Hammerstein might have produced another blockbuster. Who knows, perhaps, another Andrew Lloyd Webber West End musical?
Susan Boyle, for whatever her detractors and critics might say, is a lovely lady who has become an inspiration for translating an "impossible dream" into reality. With a voice supposedly untrained and coming from obscurity, hers is an extraordinary lovely contralto with a beautiful tone. What a voice!
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Reference:
Latham, Alison, ed. The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford: OUP, 2002
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