She made her name by dreaming a dream but it appears Susan Boyle’s singing career is set to reawaken spectacularly in 2025 after a health nightmare.
Nearly three years ago, the songstress from Blackburn in West Lothian suffered a stroke which left her struggling to speak or sing.
Yesterday she spoke for the first time of her lengthy battle back to fitness – a devastating period which left her having to undergo arduous vocal training exercises.
Now the 63-year-old Scot says she is looking forward to one of the most exciting years of her life – there’s a forthcoming documentary, a drama and a cameo role in a Rupert Everett movie due for release next year.
She has even personally selected Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman to play her on screen, although it is understood her choice is still something of a pipe dream.
Ms Boyle said: ‘I’m back alright. I’m feeling OK and ready to go.
‘I had a major stroke and I’ve had to fight my way back. It’s taken me three years and it’s been hard – I’m not going to pretend otherwise – but it’s made me determined to keep going.’
Showing off the cheeky sense of humour she has become famous for, she joked: ‘Ye cannae keep an auld wummin doon!’
The singer made rare appearance during her recovery on Britain’s Got Talent last year
Susan Boyle rose to fame after appearing on the talent show in 2009
It’s 15 years since she was catapulted to world stardom by the TV show Britain’s Got Talent.
The album named after her breakthrough song I Dreamed a Dream became the world’s best-seller of 2009.
Ms Boyle also made UK music history by having three successive albums debut at No 1 in less than two years. To date, she has sold 25 million records.
Ms Boyle went on to achieve personal highlights such as singing for Pope Francis during the Vatican’s Christmas concert in 2019.
But her world came crashing down in April 2022 when a stroke left her unable to speak and sing properly, with significant muscular weakness down one side.
Having suffered one stroke, it meant she was vulnerable to another, so her management team had to carefully manage the pace of her return to public life.
There were intensive vocal coaching lessons, which helped restore her speech and singing voice.
Her remarkable recovery should be evident next year when she embarks upon a full schedule of singing engagements and a host of TV and film appearances.
Ms Boyle told STV’s Laura Boyd: ‘There’s a documentary and I’ve got a drama coming up. Hopefully, a tour – my feet won’t touch the ground, really.’
Speaking of the drama that’s in the pipeline, Ms Boyle said: ‘I don’t know who’s going to play me. I’d like Olivia Colman to play me. She’s a laugh as well and she seems like a happy kind of person.’
Ms Boyle is also happy to have landed a cameo in a new Rupert Everett movie due for release next year, proudly explaining: ‘I’m singing the song for it, too.’
Friends say it is lovely to see the star looking and sounding so well after an incredibly difficult period for her.
But they say she is used to handling life-changing moments, none more so than her I Dreamed a Dream moment 15 years ago.
It took her three minutes and 40 seconds to get a standing ovation from the astonished judges, a moment captured on a YouTube video which has 100 million hits.
Yet she only came second on the leading talent show. Recalling the period, she said: ‘It was overnight because one minute I was watching it with my brother, and the next, there were these screaming kids at the door.
‘I opened the door, and they were asking for my autograph.
‘It was a bit of a whirlwind because you never think you’re going to get anywhere, and then all of a sudden, bang!’
