Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

Do you remember the woman in the photo? I want to bring you up to date on a piece I did back on April 17th called “A Little Hope.” It was when we all first heard about Susan Boyle. Born in Scotland, she was the youngest of four brothers and six sisters. Her mother was 47 when she gave birth to Susan, who was briefly deprived of oxygen during the delivery and was later diagnosed with learning difficulties. She would be bullied as a child and was nicknamed “Susie Simple” in school.

According to her bio on Wikipedia: “After Boyle won several local singing competitions, her mother urged her to enter Britain’s Got Talent and take the risk of singing in front of an audience larger than her parish church. Her former singing coach Fred O’Neil said she almost abandoned her plan to enter the televised talent show. He persuaded her to audition despite her believing she was too old and that it was a young person’s game. Boyle said that her mother’s death in 2007 at 91 motivated her to go on Britain’s Got Talent and seek a musical career to pay tribute to her mother. Her performance on the show was the first time she had sung in public since then.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been crucial in facilitating Boyle’s lightning success. The YouTube video of her audition got 2.5 million view the first 72 hours after its posting. Within a week, it had been viewed more than 66 million times. Over 100 million video views on 20 different web sites was achieved within nine days. She came in second on Britain’s Got Talent. Few people know who the first place winner was.

Ms. Boyle’s new album, “I Dreamed a Dream”, according to Billboard, could sell as many as 600,000 or more units, and if so, will be the biggest opening of any album this year, beating Eminem’s “Relapse.” According to The New York Times, her album is the largest ever global CD pre-order on online retailer Amazon.com with sales estimated in excess of 100,000 and is the bookmakers favorite to top the charts over the lucrative Christmas period. The other day she was featured on the Today Show in NY and certainly will be more welcome in American homes this holiday than Adam Lambert. Ms. Boyle is managed by Simon Cowell.

She’s had some journey the past eight months. Boyle is quoted in The Washington Post as saying: “Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances. There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example.”

Her first appearance on Britain’s Got Talent – 79,276,487 views – can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY