Susan Boyle’s triumph on Britain’s Got Talent has led Elaine Paige to suggest a collaboration.
As global media phenomena go, little could surpass Boyle’s stratospheric rise to superstardom. So, what better high note to end an extraordinary week, one that has seen the 47-year-old Scottish singing spinster win plaudits from around the world, than the prospect of a duet with her heroine, Paige?
It was just before her life-changing performance on Britain’s Got Talent on April 18 that Boyle revealed her dream: to become a professional singer as successful as Paige — with whom she has sung along countless times, alone, in front of her bedroom mirror, equipped with a hairbrush for a microphone.
Now, in a message of support, Paige, the original Evita in London’s West End, has punted the idea of the pair singing together. “Ever since Susan’s appearance on Britain’s Got Talent my Radio 2 inbox has been flooded with
e-mails,” she writes on her Web site.
“It seems her performance has captured the hearts of everyone who saw it, me included ... It looks like I have competition! Perhaps we should record a duet?”
But then anything, it seems, could happen now in the incredible brave new world Boyle inhabits. As Paige puts it: “She is a role model for everyone who has a dream.”
Paige is just the latest of a string of celebrity endorsers since Boyle’s jaw-dropping performance of the Les Miserables song I Dreamed a Dream on the ITV talent show, which has so far attracted 25 million YouTube hits, and helped her do what few British A-listers can: crack the US market.
Appearances on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, NBC and CBS, and the prospect of Oprah, have fuelled demand for an album, something of which Britain’s Got Talent supremo Simon Cowell and his record label are no doubt aware.
The father of Slumdog Millionaire child actress Rubina Ali tried to sell his nine-year-old daughter for adoption in a bid to escape the Mumbai slums, a British newspaper said yesterday.
News of the World alleged that Rafiq Qureshi wanted US$400,000 for the girl, who played the young Latika in the British hit film set in India.
Slumdog Millionaire, a rags-to-riches tale of children from the slums of Mumbai, won eight Oscars in February, including the best picture Academy Award.
News of the World said its reporters posed as a wealthy family from Dubai, employing its regular “fake sheikh” sting tactic.
The weekly tabloid said an informant told them that Qureshi was touting for the highest offer, having already been approached by a Middle Eastern family.
The newspaper published pictures of the actress, her father and uncle posing with their undercover reporter, plus video clips of Qureshi and his brother-in-law during their meeting last week.
“Yes, we are considering Rubina’s future,” Qureshi was quoted as saying.
He put the reporter in touch with his brother-in-law Rajan More.
“We are interested in securing our girl’s future,” the star’s uncle was quoted as saying.
“If you wanted to adopt we could discuss this, but her parents would also expect some proper compensation in return.
“Whatever money is agreed by Rajan, I will accept.
“We can discuss everything about this deal when we meet. There’s a lot of interest in Rubina.”
Qureshi, Ali, More and some other relatives met the British reporters in a Mumbai hotel, the newspaper said.
“We need two or three months,” Qureshi allegedly said. More added: “Until then we can negotiate the amount. We’ll come to Dubai, the girl will come and go.”
“It’s 20 million rupees,” the uncle was quoted as saying.
“This discussion will not go beyond the three of us.”
Qureshi proudly carried Ali through the Mumbai slums in February after she returned from the Oscar glory of Hollywood.
Madonna took a tumble while horseback riding in the Hamptons on Saturday when her mount was startled by photographers, and she suffered “minor injuries” and bruises, a spokeswoman said.
Paparazzi had “jumped out of the bushes” to photograph her, spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said.
It’s at least the second fall from a horse in four years for Madonna, who recently turned 50.
The singer was treated at a Southampton hospital and was released, said Rosenberg, who wouldn’t disclose more details on her condition.
Chinese-American actress Bai Ling (白靈) really thinks she is from the moon, and that her grandmother lives there. Really, truly. The actress, who stars in the action movie Crank High Voltage that opened in the US on Friday, has made the admission before, and she insists she is not crazy — just inspired.
A vaccine to fight dementia? It turns out there may already be one — shots that prevent painful shingles also appear to protect aging brains. A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20 percent. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is part of growing understanding about how many factors influence brain health as we age — and what we can do about it. “It’s a very robust finding,” said lead researcher Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford University. And “women seem to benefit more,” important as they’re at higher risk of
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Eric Finkelstein is a world record junkie. The American’s Guinness World Records include the largest flag mosaic made from table tennis balls, the longest table tennis serve and eating at the most Michelin-starred restaurants in 24 hours in New York. Many would probably share the opinion of Finkelstein’s sister when talking about his records: “You’re a lunatic.” But that’s not stopping him from his next big feat, and this time he is teaming up with his wife, Taiwanese native Jackie Cheng (鄭佳祺): visit and purchase a
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
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