Susan Boyle beats out Michael
Dec, 24 2010
Released this week to both fanfare and skepticism, Michael Jackson’s first posthumous collection of unreleased tunes, Michael, was held at bay by Taylor Swift’s Speak Now and Susan Boyle’s The Gift, both of which kept up momentum going into Christmas, according to Billboard.
Swift’s Speak Now, released in October, sold 259,000 copies last week and knocked down SuBo’s The Gift (254,000) to the No. 2 spot on the chart. Michael debuted at No. 3 with 228,000 units sold.
Still, the King of Pop’s latest trumped new releases from animated artists.
R. Kelly’s tenth album, Love Letter, entered the chart at No. 6 (154,000), while Diddy-Dirty Money’s Last Train To Paris got to the station at No. 7 (101,000).
The diminutive starlet with the large voice, Jackie Evancho, saw her album, O Holy Night, at No. 4 followed by the Glee Cast’s Christmas Album.
Record-buying Gleeks also helped the Cast remain in the Top Ten with the Glee: The Music, Vol. 4. Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday and Kid Rock’s Born Free were at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.
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-Court
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Lou Reed Crafts A Perfect Day For SuBo
Nov, 9 2010
For her premier music video and the first single off her new album, The Gift, out Nov. 9, Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle selected a cover of rocker Lou Reed's classic 1972 ballad “Perfect Day.” The accompanying video is one of serene natural beauty having been filmed at Scotland’s Loch Lomond.
Conceived by Reed himself, the video was a way of supporting the singer after reports suggested he wasn't a fan of her version of the track. Reed was allegedly involved in holding up Boyle’s live performance on America’s Got Talent, but the delay was later blamed on licensing glitch. Reed told the Sunday Mail: "I wanted to create a beautiful and intimate piece shot in Susan’s native Scotland and she quickly agreed."
The original song was produced by David Bowie for Reed’s Transformer album, and has been covered, rearranged, and licensed extensively since its release. Notably Duran Duran reached No.28 on the UK Singles Chart in 1995 with “Perfect Day,” and Patti Smith covered it in 2007. It was released as a star-studded charity single in 1997, and featured in an AT&T commercial that ran during the 2010 Olympics.
Ms. Boyle had the highest selling album of last year with her debut, I Dreamed a Dream, which sold 8.3 million copies.
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SuBo's 'The Gift' is No.1 Six Weeks Before Release
Sep, 27 2010
Eighteen months after Susan Boyle's breakthrough television show appearance on Britain's Got Talent and its subsequent YouTube explosion, there's still an incredible appetite for her music. Earlier this month she performed for the Pope when he visited her native Scotland, and last week her sophomore release The Gift hit No.1 on Amazon within 24 hours of being announced.
"It's pretty significantly No. 1," Amazon's director of music Craig Pape told Billboard. "It's a relative ranking, and a lot of it depends on the release schedule and what else is in the market." The Gift currently sits ahead of other big selling pre-releases by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Taylor Swift, as well as current Billboard chart-toppers Linkin Park. "Looking at this list, you can see that it's a pretty strong slate of releases," Pape said, "so it's a non-trivial position to take the top slot during this release period."
SuBo's debut album I Dreamed A Dream broke records on its release last Christmas, selling 701,000 in its first week in the US -- a record for a debut from a female artist since sale counts were computerized in 1991 -- and an even more impressive 411,000 in the UK, a much smaller market. The Gift will include a version of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day," despite claims that Reed was refusing to license the song to be covered.
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Susan Searching For A Star
Jul, 12 2010
Susan Boyle’s rise to fame since her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent was posted on YouTube has been spectacular. Though she didn’t win the series finale, the public across the world took the middle-aged Scottish singer to their hearts, and her debut album I Dreamed a Dream sold in huge numbers. Fans can now look forward to her sophomore release The Gift, due in November, which will feature the debut performance of another talented singer.
‘Susan’s Search’ is a newly launched competition to find a singer of sufficient caliber to join Susan for a duet on her forthcoming album. “When I did Britain’s Got Talent, I was given a chance by Simon Cowell to show what I could do, and this got me thinking about people who maybe missed that opportunity,” she said on a video introducing the competition.
Hopeful fans are encouraged to submit a video of themselves singing to Susan’s official website. Given the continuing interest in the singer, it’s a big opportunity for an unknown singer to appear on an album which will probably sell millions.
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SuBo Asked To Sing For The Pope
Jun, 11 2010
Susan Boyle's breakthrough won a lot of fans last year, but some particularly influential fans are now helping SuBo to perform some especially important honors.
Last week the Vatican asked Boyle to sing at a ceremony to honor Italy's most popular saint, Padre Pio. This week, Catholic church officials have been in touch again, requesting that Boyle perform at an open air mass due to be held by Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the UK later this year.
A spokesman for the Bishops' Conference of Scotland said: "Negotiations are still under way but we expect Susan Boyle to perform as part of the Papal Mass at Bellahouston Park." The Papal visit will be the first to Boyle's native Scotland since 1982, and as a devout Catholic, Boyle will be deeply honored to perform. There's no word from the lady herself, but a spokeswoman confirmed: "Susan’s management are currently looking at the possibility of this happening."
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SuBo Snubbed By Brits
Jan, 20 2010
She had the biggest selling album in the world in 2009, but the nominations list for the U.K.’s biggest commercial music award show, the Brits, has no place for Susan Boyle. The gala ceremony, which will take place in London next month, is the closest British equivalent to the Grammy’s, and is organized by senior figures in the U.K. music industry. But despite selling an estimated eight million albums worldwide in under two months, SuBo will definitely not win any prizes.
What explains the omission? Boyle’s dedicated fans often say that they love her authenticity: she isn’t part of the pop machine, they say, which manufactures pop idols based on image and glamor rather than talent. This omission seems to confirm her ‘other’ status; that she’s an outsider who isn’t invited to this kind of party. The nominations list is overwhelmingly young, thin, attractive and good at dancing. But a BBC reporter who was part of the initial voting panel suggested the oversight might be rectified in 2011. Ian Youngs said Boyle “could well be nominated next year as she would still be eligible under Brits rules.”
She may still be eligible, but she won’t be any younger, and that seems like part of the problem.
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Susan Boyle's Dreams Come True
Dec, 2 2009
It’s official: 48 year old Scottish spinster Susan Boyle is the biggest international pop star of 2009. Since her Britain’s Got Talent rendition of Les Miserables’ “I Dreamed A Dream” was posted on YouTube in April, Boyle’s popularity has stretched far beyond the few million who watched the show. Despite finishing second in that series, there was never any doubt that her fabulous voice would lend itself to a successful album, and now that’s been emphatically proven. Her debut release, appropriately titled I Dreamed A Dream, sold 701,000 copies in its first week on sale in the U.S., making it comfortably the fastest selling record of the year, almost 100,000 sales ahead of nearest rival Eminem. On the subject of superstar rappers: no debut album since Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle (1993) has sold as many copies in its first week. In her native U.K., where the music market is a quarter the size of the American market, she sold 410,000 copies in her first week, breaking the record held by Leona Lewis for fastest-selling debut album ever. When she first auditioned, Boyle said she aspired to become a musical theatre singer “as successful as Elaine Paige.” Now, there’s no need to put a limit on it.
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