SHE has spent the past six years holed up in her modest childhood home in Scotland, but on Wednesday Susan Boyle emerged with a very glam new look.
Kitted out in a fur coat, velour tracksuit and with a blunt blonde bob to rival fashion exec , the reclusive 65-year-old sparked a frenzy of excitement as she teased a major comeback.
Dressed in a fur coat and velour tracksuit, Scots singer Susan Boyle was spotted near Metropolis Studios in London on Wednesday Credit: Supplied
In a glittering brocade dress, Susan amazed the Britain’s Got Talent crowd at her 2009 audition Credit: Handout
The singer, who found fame on in 2009, has been working on her return , which left her unable to speak and sing properly.
As images of her in the hefty coat — in the middle of a — went viral, excited fans rushed to comment.
One said: “That’s a diva if I’ve ever seen one”. Another gushed: “You’re such an icon, SuBo.”
Now, with , a public under her belt, and the team behind and Alicia Keys working with her, she is back in the limelight and ready to find her voice.
The singer became a global phenomenon after stunning the BGT panel with her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream, and is now worth £22million.
One insider explained: “Fame has never been easy for Susan and she felt she needed time away from the limelight after such a meteoric rise.
“Before she became BGT’s biggest success story, she was a trainee cook in a local college, living alone with her cats.
“After her stroke she took time to think about what she really wants in life and has been waiting for the right time to make a comeback. Now she has found her voice.
Susan at the modest childhood home in Blackburn that she has finally moved away from Credit: Andrew Barr – The Sun Glasgow
Susan with music mogul Cowell backstage at Britain’s Got Talent
“She has an incredible team behind her — they have worked with some of the world’s biggest stars like , , Alicia Keyes and now Susan.
“She looks like an A-lister and they are going to make sure she goes down in history.
“She’s kicking things off with a huge brand deal for ice-cream firm Cornetto. Fans might have to wait a little longer for new music but the wheels are in motion.”
Susan launched into her “new era” last month when she finally left her “special” house in Blackburn, West Lothian, with her beloved cats and moved 20 miles to an unassuming £245,000 bungalow in Larbert, near Falkirk.
Just two weeks later she was spotted at a studio in Glasgow , before wiping her and unveiling her new look on Wednesday night.
It was a textbook move, often used by the likes of Taylor Swift, and to announce a change of direction musically — and it shows her team mean business.
Susan uploaded a carousel of five snaps — including one of her in the recording studio and another of her in the back of a car. She added: “A new era starts tomorrow.”
Gone are her wispy curls and floral frocks and in their place a cut to rival that of Vogue’s former editor-in-chief Wintour. Fans went wild. Even US chart queen approved, commenting: “I dreamt this dream.”
Susan’s new style looks like fashion icon Anna Wintour’s hairdo Credit: Supplied
Fashion exec Anna Wintour looks stylish while in Rome Credit: Getty
But for Susan, who has never been married, the approval of pop sensation Katy may fall down her list of compliments.
In December, while promoting his movie Marty Supreme.
He layered praise on the star, saying she “dreamt bigger than all of us”.
Susan said she was “truly humbled” and “incredibly touched” by his words.
The mutual admiration continued when Chalamet sent her a custom Marty Supreme jacket, which she proudly posted a snap of on her Instagram.
At her now legendary BGT audition, judges , and had initially dismissed her chances based on her shambolic appearance — until she amazed them with her vocals.
Despite finishing runner-up to street dance troupe Diversity, Susan began turning her dreams into reality.
Her debut album, I Dreamed A Dream, sold 25million copies and the clip from that first BGT audition has had 100million views on .
The star on America’s Got Talent: The Champions in 2019 Credit: Getty – Contributor
In a Marty Supreme jacket gifted by Timothee Chalamet Credit: Supplied
Our insider said: “When she first became famous she was a bit of a laughing stock. It was amusing to everyone that a woman who looked so normal had such a big voice.
“And then there was her crush on Piers, which was amusing for everyone. America adored her straight away and saw her as a rags-to-riches story but she’s ready to shed that all now.
“No one can forget her disastrous hashtag #susanalbumparty in 2012 — which was meant to promote ‘Susan Album Party’. The team will make sure nothing like that happens again.
“She wants to be taken seriously and it looks like for the first time she will be.”
Only a couple of weeks ago Simon Cowell said he felt ashamed watching her audition back and admitted the panel were even ruder to her in scenes that did not air.
He said: “I look back and I just think, ‘My God, we look so awful, horrible.’ I actually don’t think we look bad enough. I think we were even worse than that and they went, ‘You look awful.’ And I said, ‘We are awful!’ All of us. I mean, that look Piers gives me. I was just as bad.”
Referencing the show’s editing process, he added: “Of course I had the ability to cut all of that stuff out but it was a bit of a wake-up call.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
The singer spotted outside a Glasgow recording studio this month
Susan’s hit debut album I Dreamed A Dream
Susan found it painful to look back at the audition, once revealing: “Everyone was laughing at me; they wondered who this daft woman with the crazy hair was . . . and I had made a bad choice in clothes, so no one had high expectations.”
In 2012, at the height of her success, Susan was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, which she said came as a “great relief” after being incorrectly told she had brain damage as a child.
But the condition threatened to derail her career as she struggled with fame and touring.
In 2016, she said: “When you sing, you put on a persona. I hide behind that person on stage. You can feel like death, but you have to put it on. The audience wants to see someone smiley.
“There are no firm dates for another tour. I’ve decided to record and see how it does first.”
And discussing how she felt about fame, in 2019 she said in an interview: “It felt quite suffocating, almost as though I was an act in a freak show, and that hurt. It was incredibly difficult to come to terms with for a time, but the positives have far outweighed the negatives.”
A year after BGT, she bought the council house where she lived from West Lothian Council.
In 2011, she moved to a plush £300,000 five-bed property nearby but couldn’t settle and returned to her original pad. Four years later, she bought the house next door for £110,000, later combining the two.
She finally left for good last month to move closer to her manager and close friend Geraldine Easton.
She told The Scottish Sun: “The old house will always be there. It’s good to try something new, like a new chapter. You outgrow places but you say you can return to them later. You take your memories with you. My cats Mr Beaux and Ms Celine love it too.”
Susan is using her new surroundings as motivation to also give her career a fresh start.
She last toured the UK in 2020. Since then she has battled conditions that included Type 2 and the stroke.
She took a break but is now fighting fit and ready to take on the world, shelving plans for retirement.
This week she was snapped near the Metropolis Recording Studios in Chiswick, West London, where and have recorded record-breaking albums.
Susan said: “I’m due to retire in two years but I’m not sure musicians ever do. Just look at Sir Paul McCartney — he’s still touring and making new music at 83.
“I’m fine, I am surviving and thriving. I’ll be on stage in front of a live audience soon.
“It takes a lot of preparation but when the right time comes I’ll be there. I’ll go on with a bang. It’s not a job — you do it because you love it.”
To mark her 65th birthday last month, she launched a range of classy merchandise — hinting at the new direction she is going in.
We’re told her team plan to continue with the “diva” vibes, with our insider saying: “It’s all going to be very cool, but will still feel like Susan.”
Move over , it looks like it’s going to be a SuBo summer.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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