It’s an odd thing that my parents blessed me and my sister with androgynous middle names. In our day, it was common to be named after a male ancestor but with a female twist..in our cases, being female.
Mine connects me to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. My horse, Skip, was basically, a ‘son of Trigger”…and did tricks like Trigger.
Now I’m thinking about how Susan Boyle’s voice is an original sound. Her Scottish heritage and Aspergers brain and obvious exceptional musical voice box are our basic American prairie pioneer woman sound.
Paula Abdul’s voice has similar ranges to Susan Boyle’s. Neither are essentially gusty musty cello level sound which makes it hard to believe a soul-wrencher song. In their ranges, they have similar sweetness and earnestness. I’m sure Paula’s is from the heart. I have a lot of respect for her as a singer/performer. But Susan Boyle’s music has all that with absolutely no attachment. She seems to breathe life into the words only as she’s singing them. Apart from that, she’s unaffected. That’s Aspergers and absolutely brilliant.
I adore that Susan Boyle had that natural stubbornness borne out of the formerly-considered-retardation. I can relate! I’ve got a stubbornness which makes me succeed between me and the mule.
When she needed to retreat from the spotlight, she had no grief about it…she has her ancestral home. And it isn’t necessary to upset what works. Money or no money.
Reading about her recording industry is very positive news for Special Ed students. Students on the Spectrum have such unusual gifts that their work, visually revealed, is quite the intense experience. I recommend following such artists of all styles. It’s where newness and true originality is springing from these days.