Susan Margaret Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer who came to public attention when she appeared as a contestant on the third series of Britain's Got Talent, and ended up the runner up of the 2009 edition of the show. Boyle became known when she sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables in the competition's first round, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2009.
Boyle attended Edinburgh Acting School and also took part in the Edinburgh Fringe. Prior to her appearance on Britain's Got Talent, her main experience had come from singing in church and karaoke in the local pubs in her village. She had also tried out several times for My Kind of People.
When she appeared on the Britain's Got Talent stage, the audience and the judges appeared apprehensive and judgmental of her unpolished appearance. Upon finishing her song, she received a standing ovation from the live audience and unanimous praise from the judges. She has been dubbed "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell".
The contrast between the audience's first impression of her when she appeared on stage compared to the ovation she received afterwards triggered global interest. Articles about her appeared in newspapers worldwide, while the numbers who watched videos of her audition have set an online record. Within nine days of her televised debut, videos of her audition, subsequent interviews of her, and her 1999 rendition of "Cry Me a River" had been viewed a combined total of over 100 million times on the Internet. Cowell is reported to be setting up a contract with Boyle with his Syco Music company label, a subsidiary of Sony Music.
She was one of 40 acts that were put through to the semi-finals. She appeared last on the first semi-final on 24 May 2009, performing "Memory" from Lloyd Webber's Cats in front of a global audience of millions. In the public vote she was the act to receive the highest number of votes and go through to the final, along with dance group Diversity. In the end, however, she ended up in second place to Diversity.