Susan Boyle has revealed that she underwent “a lot” of speech therapy after suffering a stroke four years ago – but her singing voice still hasn’t fully recovered.
The Britain’s Got Talent star made TV history in 2009 when she auditioned for the ITV show, taking the judges and viewers by surprise with her stunning rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from 1980 musical Les Misérables. The Scottish singer went on to sell over 10 million copies of her debut album and perform at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant before suffering a minor stroke in 2023.
While Boyle, 65, returned to the BGT to perform just months after the stroke, she has now admitted that her singing voice is yet to return to normal.
“I never thought I would be able to come this far. I’ve had a lot of encouragement and the public have been so loving to me,” she told The Sun. “I have had a lot of speech therapy. It was difficult at first, but after the first few weeks, my voice slowly started to come back. I have been having a lot of vocal lessons, too, for my singing.”
She added that her singing voice “still needs some work” but she’s sure it “will come back”. Boyle continued: “I am taking wee baby steps. If you go too fast, too soon, you go down a hole. It took a while for my confidence to come back with my music. But I am getting there. Slowly.”
The singer previously revealed that she was left unable to speak or sing properly after the stroke, which left her with significant muscular weakness down one side.
Boyle made a comeback of sorts last month with a glamorous new look – complete with blonde bob and fur coat – for a collaboration with ice cream brand Cornetto, but said that she hopes to fully return to music at some point.
“One day I would love to go back on tour. It is something I am thinking about in the future. It really is baby steps. We’ll see where I play,” she said, adding: “I think I have got another album in me, for sure. It is something I do want to do, so I say, ‘Bring it on.’”
Her return to the spotlight comes after BGT judge and creator Simon Cowell admitted that Boyle’s audition was a “wakeup call” for him on how he treated contestants, saying that his reaction to her appearance was “awful”.
“We do look disgusting, but you got to hold your hands up at that moment,” he said on a podcast in May. “A lot of people are going to realise in about 24 hours that we're just horrible. And so we're going to say sorry. And that's what we did,”
In a later interview, he praised Boyle for making the ITV show a success, telling Extra earlier this month: “She did more good for our show than probably any other contestant.”
Addressing Cowell’s recent comments about her treatment, Boyle insisted that there’s “nothing there for me to forgive” and that the talent judge is “a good man”.
BGT recently wrapped its 19th series, with Saturday’s final seeing Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone Farmers Choir win the £250,000 cash prize and a slot at the Royal Variety Performance.
