Susan Boyle on Britian's Got Talent

[MajorDad]

This is one of the most incredible performances I've ever heard or seen!

Don't judge a book by its cover!

I was driving to work yesterday and the morning show had a segment on a show called “Britain’s Got Talent”; a British version of “American Idol.” I won’t go into details because the video speaks for itself, but you really have to see this! This is the voice of an angel! I didn’t see her face the first time I heard it because I was in my truck, but I had chills the moment she opened her mouth until she finished singing! I’m buying her first album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY As of early morning on 16 April, the video is up to 11 million hits and as of Thursday evening, 16.5 million!!

Just five days into her discovery, she already has a significant fan base and it has been predicted that when her album is released, it’ll be number one in America!! Wikipedia already has a page with lots of background info on her. The best part is, we won’t have to worry about her doing a Playboy spread!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Boyle

[techman05]

holy crap, that was impressive wasn't it. It was cool how the whole audience and judges just let all sense of propriety go. They loved it.

[GatorDawg]

Britain has a ton of ugly people that are good singers. Remember this guys?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

[champion110]

Definitely oustanding. I caught a segment on CNN last night about her, so I went to youtube to see the performance. It will be interesting to see if she can do that with some other songs, though. I think she probably had been practicing that her whole life. Great natural talent, though.

[Soonerdawg]

My wife, who is trained in music, showed this to me, and like the rest of you, she was very impressed. I, who have absolutely no training in music, was somewhat impressed, but not awed. They got me the first time with Paul Potts, but they won't get me this time.

That piece she sang was from Les Miserables, which, by far, is my favorite musical. I take that back, it is my favorite music of any kind. It is by far my favorite book as well. The author/composers of both the book and the muscial understood the plan of salvation and present it in the most beautiful way imaginable.

In the muscial, this song is sung by the person playing the part of Fantine, who had just lost her job because some legalistic, meddling women ratted her out about having an illegitimate child. From a human view point, that job was her last hope to support her child. This song is so powerful it will knock you down. It is also a beautiful song standing alone, and not really that difficult to sing and it sill sound good. But, to get the emotion and meaning of that song takes a lot more, in my opinion. I've been spoiled by peformances like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jo4FvpN3_g

I believe it is the song that is taking your breath away. I'm very biased though. I will say this, the producers of that show seem to know how to stage emotion.

[HoDo-Tech70]

That piece she sang was from Les Miserables, which, by far, is my favorite musical. I take that back, it is my favorite music of any kind. It is by far my favorite book as well.

Andrew Lloyd Webber compositions are my favorite kind of music too but, IMO, Phantom > Les Miserables . And don't forget Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and on and on. Most of the great musicals of the last 20 or so years have been written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

[Soonerdawg]

Andrew Lloyd Webber compositions are my favorite kind of music too but, IMO, Phantom > Les Miserables . And don't forget Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and on and on. Most of the great musicals of the last 20 or so years have been written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I'm a huge Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, and he is unquestionably the best of our time. Phantom of the Opea is nothing but genius. Webber wrote Joseph in college. How can a mortal professor grade that? Evita is also a favorite of mine.

I certainly won't argue with you about Phantom. However, for me personally, Les Mis is by far the best. Movie producer after movie producer has failed to capture the essence of the book, Les Miserables. The musical not only captured the essence of the book, but in some intances surpased it. I didn't think it was possible.

Phantom and Les Miserables both probe into the dark side of human life. The difference is Les Miserables lets us know where the light is and how the light will and does prevail.

[RhythmDawg]

I actually think it is somewhat sad. She did an outstanding job on the performance, considering she apparently has no training. However, there are thousands of more technically skilled vocalists in the world. IMO, it is only a story because of her singing in combination with her appearance. Had she been even remotely a looker, we would have heard nothing of her.

[JuBru]

Andrew Lloyd Webber compositions are my favorite kind of music too but, IMO, Phantom > Les Miserables . And don't forget Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and on and on. Most of the great musicals of the last 20 or so years have been written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I'm a huge Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, and he is unquestionably the best of our time. Phantom of the Opea is nothing but genius. Webber wrote Joseph in college. How can a mortal professor grade that? Evita is also a favorite of mine.

I certainly won't argue with you about Phantom. However, for me personally, Les Mis is by far the best. Movie producer after movie producer has failed to capture the essence of the book, Les Miserables. The musical not only captured the essence of the book, but in some intances surpased it. I didn't think it was possible.

Phantom and Les Miserables both probe into the dark side of human life. The difference is Les Miserables lets us know where the light is and how the light will and does prevail.

I have to agree with Sooner, Les Miserables is better than Phantom of the Opera, but it's close.

Looking forward to Phantom: Love Never Dies?

[MajorDad]

IMO, it is only a story because of her singing in combination with her appearance. Had she been even remotely a looker, we would have heard nothing of her.

In the opening post, I stated that I was "in my truck" when I first heard it. I wasn't swayed one way or the other by her voice or the crowds reaction or "staged emotion." Personally, I was overcome by the shear beauty of her voice, which gave me chills.

Sometimes "ignorance is bliss." I've never heard Les Mis, so I can't compare the two. Nor have I lived in the Queen's Royal Palace, so my current home seems like a palace to me. I have no desire to convince anyone that she is a great vocalist. Obviously, I'd be wasting my time doing that. I just wanted to share it with ya'll. I'm glad there are many different types of singers, actors, cars, houses, pets, wine's, cigar's, etc. To each his own.

I will concede one thing....I could be biased because of who she is and her background. I was told about this before she sang. Perhaps I'm comparing apples to apples. In other words, let's compare ugly 47 year old woman that have never been kissed for obvious reasons, with little formal training, and put them on stage in front of a national audience to see who can sing better. It's not unlike Jim Morris coaching high school baseball at the beginning of a season and pitching in the Major Leagues by mid-summer--or like Fresno State winning the CWS--or Rudy playing in a game for Notre Dame. That took more guts than I have! Americans love the underdog! Knowing who she is probably has me distracted. We'll see how I feel when she has to do it again. I EXPECT her to do well this time! If she doesn't then I'll be singing a different tune - no pun intended.

[RhythmDawg]

I'm not saying she wasn't great. I am simply saying the story is such a sensation...in fact, the reason it is a story period outside of Great Britian...is because of what I posted. I think it would be a greater story if the motive behind all the attention was actually her voice...not the fact everyone is so surprised that SHE has that voice.

[MajorDad]

I'm not saying she wasn't great. I am simply saying the story is such a sensation...in fact, the reason it is a story period outside of Great Britian...is because of what I posted. I think it would be a greater story if the motive behind all the attention was actually her voice...not the fact everyone is so surprised that SHE has that voice.

I agree...If she was young and beautiful, we (all people I mean) wouldn't be so surprised. Again, I am probably somewhat biased because of her background, and now by her looks. Time will tell how "great" she is. In pop culture, greatness is measured in record sells and YouTube hits. BUT, as long as I, John Wilkerson aka MajorDad, believe her voice is awesome, then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, right? The quality of anything is in the eye of the beholder. I can't stand piss beer like Coors Light, but that's the only beer some folks will drink :-)

[MajorDad]

RhythmDawg: Here's the opposite situation--Instead of an ugly 47 year old, how about a young hottie....Let's take Shakira for example. She's got a smoke'n body, but her voice is annoying to me. I shut her off every time I hear that fake english accent. She could sing about "pancake batter" and people would swear she's got the greatest voice ever. I can watch her videos, but only with the sound turned down.

Enjoy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8QH93jWZbk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jttOuBjGhnM

She's good for one thing...Evidence for "roughing up a suspect" :-)

[Brian96]

Andrew Lloyd Webber compositions are my favorite kind of music too but, IMO, Phantom > Les Miserables . And don't forget Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and on and on. Most of the great musicals of the last 20 or so years have been written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I'm a huge Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, and he is unquestionably the best of our time. Phantom of the Opea is nothing but genius. Webber wrote Joseph in college. How can a mortal professor grade that? Evita is also a favorite of mine.

I certainly won't argue with you about Phantom. However, for me personally, Les Mis is by far the best. Movie producer after movie producer has failed to capture the essence of the book, Les Miserables. The musical not only captured the essence of the book, but in some intances surpased it. I didn't think it was possible.

Phantom and Les Miserables both probe into the dark side of human life. The difference is Les Miserables lets us know where the light is and how the light will and does prevail.

For the record, Webber had nothing to do with Les Miz. It was written by a couple of French guys (based, of course, on Victor Hugo's classic novel). Their other well-known work is Miss Saigon. In another life I wanted a career in musical theater, and my dream role was Marius (mainly because I am too small to play Valjean).

As for Ms. Boyle, part of it is definitely her looks, but there are other factors, like age, station in life, etc. I mean, if she were a frumpy old music teacher it might not be that surprising.

As for the hype, she definitely nailed that song, and like Champ said, it will be interesting to see how she does on other songs. In terms of pure technique, what Paul Potts demonstrated with Nessun Dorma is more advanced than what she demonstrated with the Les Miz piece, but his song is also more technically difficult.

[Soonerdawg]

For the record, Webber had nothing to do with Les Miz. It was written by a couple of French guys (based, of course, on Victor Hugo's classic novel). Their other well-known work is Miss Saigon. In another life I wanted a career in musical theater, and my dream role was Marius (mainly because I am too small to play Valjean).

As for Ms. Boyle, part of it is definitely her looks, but there are other factors, like age, station in life, etc. I mean, if she were a frumpy old music teacher it might not be that surprising.

As for the hype, she definitely nailed that song, and like Champ said, it will be interesting to see how she does on other songs. In terms of pure technique, what Paul Potts demonstrated with Nessun Dorma is more advanced than what she demonstrated with the Les Miz piece, but his song is also more technically difficult.

Who said Le Mis was written by Webber?