Susan Boyles idol Elaine Paige makes nasty comments about her

The Daily Mail has some incredibly bitchy, rude comments that Susan Boyle’s idol, Elaine Paige, made about Susan’s rise to success and talent. Susan of course mentioned Elaine Page, known as the queen of musical theater in the UK, as the singer she emulated during her audition on Britain’s Got Talent. Paige was previously very supportive of Boyle. She made an surprise appearance on the Today Show last July to congratulate Boyle and even performed a duet with her for the British TV special “I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story.” The claws are out now, though, and Paige is incredibly dismissive of Boyle, her singing ability, and her massive rise to fame. Jealousy is not an attractive trait:

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’.

When asked if she was happy about what the 48-year-old Scottish spinster had achieved, Miss Paige replied: ‘I don’t particularly feel any pride for her – I’m sure she is proud of what she has done.’

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 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.

‘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.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Paige has responded to these quotes, which she claims were taken out of context. The Daily Mail can really warp and twist people’s words, so that’s entirely possible. It doesn’t sound like she’s denying saying this at all, just that she’s saying it wasn’t as harsh as it seems. It sounds like backtracking to me. Here’s Paige’s response from her Facebook page. (Incidentally, her website launches her version of “I Dreamed a Dream.”)

“I was dismayed to read the remarks attributed to me today in the Daily Mail which were incomplete and misinterpreted.

I am a huge supporter of Susan Boyle and admire what she has achieved; she has handled the extraordinary situation of being catapulted to worldwide stardom with tremendous strength, charm and dignity and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her on the ITV special we recorded together only last month.

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.”

[From Elaine Paige’s Facebook]

Susan received a rumored $10 million advance for her CD, and she had the top selling music album on Amazon this entire holiday season. Her album is still number two on Amazon’s charts and has been on the charts for 150 days. She’s raking in the dough, and Paige might resent the fact that Boyle has earned more money in months than she has in years. This is a simple lady who doesn’t deserve to be trashed for her success. I understand that Boyle can sometimes be grumpy and a pain to deal with – she’s having some trouble coping with the pressure and demands of fame – but she has a beautiful singing voice and real talent. If Paige did say these things – taken out of context or not – t’s a shame that she would be so convinced of her own self worth that she can’t see the value in others.

In related news, Boyle received a shock when she returned to her modest home in Scotland and found a teenage intruder. She said she’s not going to move, though and that “I think he got more of a scare than I did because he ran off.”

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