Cowell warns Susan Boyle
2009-04-25 14:14
Los Angeles - Television's Simon Cowell said on Friday he was embarrassed at his initial reaction to British singing sensation Susan Boyle, but warned
that just because she is a hit with fans, she is not a winner
yet.
Cowell, the creator and a judge on Britain's Got Talent,
said he was fed up with stories about the hair, eyebrows and
cats of the never-married 47-year-old Boyle, and he urged her
to focus now on winning the television talent competition.
"She has got four weeks to prepare for the biggest night of
her life, and she has got to sing better than she sang before
with all those expectations on her. But it could all go
horribly wrong for her because there are so many other
distractions," Cowell told TV reporters in Los Angeles.
"Get yourself together sweetheart for the big one - the
semi-final. Shut the door, choose the right song and come back
as who you are, not who you want to be," he said.
Boyle, a spinster who lives alone with her cat, became one
of the world's hottest celebrities last week after surprising
judges with her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream on the popular
talent show. Her performance has been watched over 50 million
times on YouTube.
Judging her before she sang
"We were all guilty on the panel of judging her before she
sang, and we got it utterly wrong. You watch it back and it
is embarrassing," said Cowell, who is well-known as the
acid-tongued judge on TV talent contest American Idol.
Britain's Got Talent is open to anyone regardless of age
or performing skills. It has 40 versions worldwide and the
fourth season of the US version, America's Got Talent,
kicks off on NBC on June 23.
"I am seriously thinking now we should hold two more open
auditions (of America's Got Talent) off the back of Susan
Boyle. You don't have to be a singer who is 47 and never been
kissed, but just someone who says 'I think I am talented, and I
don't think people are going to judge me because of the way I
look'," he said.
Recording executive Cowell, who has an option to sign Boyle
if she wins the British talent show, shuttles weekly between
Los Angeles and London as the judge on American Idol and
Britain's Got Talent.
But he dismissed suggestions that his life was stressful.
"It's only stress when it doesn't work," he said.
"I don't feel under any stress whatsoever when something like the Susan Boyle
thing emerges. It is honestly the best feeling in the world."