Read Online Susan Boyle by Alice Montgomery - Free Book Online

audition for My Kind of People . When I saw her on Britain’s Got Talent , I couldn’t believe it was the same Susan . . . I was gobsmacked and I had my hand up to my mouth.’
    Barrymore’s loss was Simon Cowell’s gain. Not that Susan was too worried about that: she had gone into hiding again, after the war of words intensified between her brothers and Cowell. Gerard had already had his say; now it was John’s turn, and his view was much the same as his brother’s.
    ‘Just let her sing,’ he said. ‘We’re pleading with Simon Cowell to loosen the reins. The hype and celebrity don’t mean anything to Susan - she just wants to sing. It is all she has ever wanted to do. Finally she has the chance to show the whole world her amazing talent, but she isn’t being allowed to. The whole world is crying out to hear Susan sing again - they want a product, be it an album or a single - but they want it now. We are more and more worried about her health. She is not used to all this and when I speak to her she sounds exhausted. When Susan signed a contract tying her to Britain’s Got Talent before her audition, no one could have predicted what a phenomenon she would become. The normal rules don’t apply any more - and I think Simon Cowell knows it, too. This is a unique situation and needs a unique solution.’
    Both brothers clearly had their sister’s wellbeing at heart, and it must have been extremely frustrating for Susan not to be able to show the world what she could do. But a public spat between her family and her mentor was most certainly not going to do her any favours.
    It didn’t help that Piers Morgan had now stepped into the row, appearing to play down the depth of Susan’s talent at a press conference in California. The worry was that Susan would become too big for her boots, but what no one seemed to realize was that, far from becoming big-headed, she was finding it increasingly difficult to cope. While her brothers might have been able to trade blows with Cowell and Morgan, Susan was not. What she needed was for all of them to shield and protect her, not start behaving like stags clashing antlers. None of this was in her best interests and it wasn’t surprising that she felt increasingly stressed.
    At least Ant and Dec were being supportive, although even they expressed doubts about Susan’s changing appearance. ‘I don’t know about her makeover - she wants to look and feel good and that’s her prerogative,’ said Dec. ‘But she doesn’t have to do it ’cos the whole world fell in love with Susan as she was. I can’t wait to see her again. I can’t wait to see how she is feeling and to see what more she can do. We have only heard the one song from her and I want to hear more.’
    ‘We knew there were some crackers in the auditions, ’ added Ant. ‘Susan is the favourite, but as the weeks go on you can see there’s more talent out there. It is not a one-horse race.’
    What the other talent didn’t have, however, was Susan’s international appeal. Over in the States, where Piers and Simon were doing their bit, fascination for Susan continued to grow. Ryan Seacrest, the host of American Idol - another of Simon’s many projects - revealed that a follower on Twitter had asked when Susan would be a guest on the show, which he called a ‘genius idea’. The chances of it happening right then, of course, were pretty low given that Simon wanted Susan to concentrate on Britain’s Got Talent , but it was an indication of the level of interest in America - interest that would only grow.
    All this interest provoked a rash of stories suggesting that Susan was on the verge of quitting Britain’s Got Talent . In actual fact nothing could have been further from the truth. The show had given her the most fantastic opportunity, and she wasn’t going to blow it now, even if she did have to wait weeks before she could sing again. People might have made comments about Susan’s mental ability, but she