Got Talent legend Susan Boyle’s been a public music figure for 15 years, and she’s had her fair share of pinch-me moments. There was the time she performed for Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2019. Or when she sang for the late Queen Elizabeth II at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Believe it or not, these instances weren’t even her first brushes with world leaders. In fact, four years before belting her heart out for Queen Elizabeth II, she did the same for King Charles (then Prince of Wales) and Queen Camilla (then Duchess of Cornwall).
Boyle was a featured artist in the annual Royal Variety Performance in 2010. For the occasion, she sang Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day”—something she’s mastered before, but this rendition was particularly special. Backed by a children’s choir, Boyle epitomized grace and divinity with each crystal-clear note. Of course, the performance was met with a rapturous applause from the audience, including King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Watch the performance here.
Susan Boyle: 15 years of music superstardom
Susan Boyle performs during Season 1 Episode 1 of America’s Got Talent: The Champions. Photo: Trae Patton/NBC
It’s been 15 years since Susan Boyle’s viral Britain’s Got Talent Audition, where she sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables and completely stunned the world.
“I’ll never forget this,” BGT creator Simon Cowell (who also was a Judge during Boyle’s Audition) said. “I was having a terrible, terrible day, and I remember saying, ‘I really, really hope she’s not gonna sing,’ because there were so many bad singers that day and I thought, ‘I just can’t take another one.’”
“Our expectations were quite low, but she is the perfect example of never judge a book by its cover,” Cowell continued. “She is just the most incredible person. This was a lady who lived on her own in Scotland, and she came on the show and everything changed. Because up until that point, there was a perception that you had to look this way, or be this age, and she just changed the rulebook. Full stop.”