IWBU - re Susan Boyle.

[Sparrowlegs248]

I posted a few weeks ago. I saw an ad for her christmas album and thought 'jesus. Give up with bland versions of nice songs' (and stop giving my tone deaf mother something to wail along to)

So i got flamed. I knew NOTHING about her. Hadn't even seen her original x factor audition (or BGT?) i don't watch much telly.

I'm watching the documentary about her. And yes i see now that iwbu.

@stickysausages. I'm originally from the area too. My dad and his brothers were let down by the education system, even though my dad made it to grammar school in Bathgate. Decades later we realised he was dyslexic and dyspraxic.

I'm sure I remember hearing that a lot of chat shows won't let any singers perform live?

I know nothing about singing technique or what makes a good singer. Some voices I enjoy listening to, some I don't, but there seems to be a fair consensus on here that Susan Boyle is an 'average' singer. Two questions from that:

• Does 'average' mean in the context of signed artists who sell loads of records? (because if not, then I don't think there are words to describe my singing level!)

• If SB is average, then who is very good? Genuine question!

most singers dont sing live on chatshows it isn't unusual you are right, and these ones who sing like a lark on Daybreak can't be singing so well so early

sparklymomma I think SB's problem with 'consistency, is linked to her Asperger's. To do what she does, given her disability is phenomenal. It seems very harsh to judge her as you do.
Muppet Did Elain Paige really say SB had an 'average' voice? I can't find reference to that. I'd be interested to see that.
As for the poster who said all the people looking after SB are being paid, I'd sau that doesn't make them any less caring. Like NHS nurses who show compassion, being paid doesn't make a person a mercenary

being a nurse is exactly like the music industry

Sorry, that just made me laugh.

You misread the post if it made you laugh SB has a team of people around her to deal with her disability (therapists, psychiatrists etc). I was talking about them.

Well in that case its quite clear I misinterpreted it as I did say "the music industry" in my post. People were talking about syco not looking after her upthread, you said "people looking after her" its not exactly clear that you meant her MH team, is it.

So less faces please.

It's an open forum. I'll if want to.

It was a request based on my explanation, I wouldnt want to stop you expressing yourself in free speech.

I just think you did a piss poor job of doing it :)

I don't really follow anything about SuBo but I did see her O come all Ye Faithful video on a music channel the other night.

I must admit I am a bit Meh about her voice. (possibly because I am another girl from the Valleys, immersed in choir culture here)

I am just a bit confused as to how she managed to do her first audition on BGT as surely she would have been unsupported completely then?

Also I have to say on first impressions of that audition it wasn't her looks that prejudiced any viewpoint. Personally I don't get bogged down in age/hairstyle/size of performers. It was her strange behaviour - flirting awkwardly with SC, jiggling her breasts etc that I found a bit cringeworthy. If she'd just come on and sung the song it would have been different from the outset.

I don't think she is R2 material - that tends to be Leona Lewis, and no doubt Sam Bailey will be a huge R2 phenomenon. I think she is more BBC Outer Hebrides type material.

"If SB is average, then who is very good? Genuine question!"

Lots of people you've never heard of and will never hear of either. :) That's showbiz. Technical ability is important - and SB clearly has quite a lot of it - but success & stardom is a complex weave of luck, talent, promotion, fashion, 'right place, right time' etc. You've only to look at the careers of Maria Callas or Mario Lanza to see that dodgy personal lives and various technical limitations don't necessarily hold a singer back

Just look at some of the West End performers who you may never have heard of. But who have great voices.

Given that the concerts are selling out across the UK and the US, and she has plans to tour Oz and Asia I think she's slightly more than BBC Outer Hebrides (I presume you're aware that there is no such organisation? )

Colm Wilkinson..... Listen to his recording of Bring Him Home and you'll get the difference between a good singer and a great singer.

They wrote that song for him. Lea Salonga as well.

Phillip Quasts "stars". Hell, all of the 10th anniversary cast of les mis

Beyond

Agree with you there

YY Lea Salonga

Beyond You've now got me listening to them on YouTube

Just listened to Colm Wilkinson - agree he's obviously a great singer, but he didn't really 'grab' me, iykwim? I would hear him on the radio and it would either fade into the background or I would switch over. I completely agree with your earlier points about 'success & stardom is a complex weave of luck, talent, promotion, fashion, 'right place, right time' etc', but I think it's also just about simply what we 'like' or the kind of music that we're attracted to, just in the same way we find our partners attractive. It's a subjective, rather than objective choice we make although anyone who likes Miley is just brain dead rather than subjective or objective

Didn't grab you? Maybe I'm biased because I saw him live on a few occasions. I was not only grabbed, I think I stopped breathing...

Colm Wilkinson is fantastic - but if you don't like the music, I suppose you might not listen.

But I love the music. Bring him Home is perfect and brings tears to your eyes. I saw him as Valjean in the original production cos I'm old

No - sorry! Maybe he's better live?

Colm plays Judas