Susan Boyle’s voice soared, captivating the audience with its raw emotion and undeniable power. Every lyric carried a depth that sent shivers down the spine, drawing the crowd into a spellbound silence before erupting into thunderous applause. However, behind the scenes, Elaine Paige had a different perspective. Calling Susan Boyle “a virus,” Paige’s revelation about their duet was unexpectedly blunt, revealing a mix of admiration and resentment. While fans saw a magical moment of two powerhouse voices uniting, Paige’s words hinted at an unspoken tension beneath the surface.
Susan Boyle is a virus’ claims Elaine Paige as she reveals her true feelings about their duet
For years she idolised Elaine Paige, singing along to her songs in her bedroom with a hairbrush for a microphone.
But it seems Susan Boyle’s admiration for the 61-year-old diva may not be a mutual affair.
Miss Paige, who boasts 40 years in showbusiness and a £12million fortune, has haughtily dismissed the instant success of the Britain’s Got Talent runner-up as ‘a virus that swept the world’.
Speaking at the South Bank Awards, she added: ‘It’s all about turning someone into an immediate celebrity at the expense of longevity and working hard and experience.
‘Susan Boyle is doing terribly well considering she literally came to the attention of the world overnight with the advent of YouTube.
She dreamed a dream: Susan Boyle with her idol Elaine Paige in the ITV special I Dreamed A Dream: The Susan Boyle Story
‘She was like a virus really that spread across the world in a nanosecond.
‘She is a girl with no experience of anything to do with theatrics, the music business, or art in any way.
‘She has done terribly well to be a major star overnight with YouTube.’
But Miss Boyle’s popularity on the Internet has translated into three million album sales, making I Dreamed A Dream the fastest selling debut album for a female artist.
She also has a huge following in the U.S.
Asked if she thought her success would last, Miss Paige replied: ‘That’s a good question. She is a major star because of YouTube. Longevity is gained through knowledge, experience and effort so it will remain to be seen.
‘When I started, YouTube didn’t exist but even then with 15 years of experience prior to my success with Evita it was difficult, so I admire the way she handled her sudden success.
First meeting: The pair met on television in the U.S. in July after Susan said she wanted to be ‘as big as Elaine Paige’ during her now-iconic audition
‘Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor just take a bunch of people from real life who think they can sing and try and turn them into overnight “stars” with a couple of songs.
‘Ha ha. It’s not entertainment.’
Last night Elaine Paige apologised for her comments saying she had not meant to offend Susan Boyle.
She said: ‘I am a huge supporter of Susan Boyle and admire what she has achieved.
‘I have always said it’s very hard for someone to be fast-tracked to stardom without any prior experience – I know this as it happened to me when Evita opened and I found it extremely difficult in the beginning.
‘Today, of course, it’s much harder with the phenomenon of the internet – Facebook, YouTube etc – it seems it only takes minutes for fame to spread around the world – and that’s why I used the word ‘virus’!
‘I wasn’t referring to Susan herself; I was referring to the speed of her fame spreading as fast as a worldwide viral marketing campaign.’
