Returning to Britain’s Got Talent was a highlight. It was very exciting to be going back to the stage where it all began three years ago. Singing You’ll See from my first album, I Dreamed A Dream, well I felt it was quite apt. It was a really enjoyable experience and I’m very glad I did it. My highlight was meeting the gorgeous Pudsey. What an amazing dog and I’m very very pleased he won. Ashleigh was an absolute delight and so talented to be able to train her dog to that incredible standard.

On Sunday it was off to Windsor to perform for the Queen. Another dream ticked off my wish list! I performed Mull of Kintyre, written by Paul McCartney as part of the Jubilee celebrations. To say it was an honour was an understatement. I have such respect for our Monarch, she is the backbone to this country and to be a part of celebrating 60 years as our Queen, it’s a moment that I’ll never forget.

The best moment for me was meeting the Queen herself and Dame Helen Mirren, it’s a memory I shall cherish.

A special congratulations to my record label, Columbia in the USA for winning the Grammy with Tony Bennett’s album. They are a super team to work with, very talented and deserved to win this award.

I am so sorry that I have not written sooner and been delayed in wishing you all a very happy 2012. I’ve been quite busy over the past few weeks so let me begin where I left off, Christmas.

I spent christmas with my brother Gerry. I had a wonderful time and was very spoilt by everyone. My favourite gifts this year were a big teddy bear and a christmas jumper that’s a bit loud. Thank you so much to you all for the gifts and cards you sent to me. I was very touched by your kindness, sorry I can’t respond to each and everyone of you individually. I am trying!

Christmas isn’t Christmas without the Pantomime and Cinderella at the Kings Theatre, Edinburgh was great and extremely funny- Allan Stewart, Scotland’s most popular dame was hysterical and Grant Stott was great to. I always enjoy a good panto.

New Year’s Eve I spent with friends, we had a lovely meal together and waited for the bells at midnight. It was a great party and good to see in an exciting new year full of expectations with my oldest and dearest friends.

2012 has started off well. I’ve been choosing songs and ideas for the new album which I’m very excited about. So far I’ve come up with 86 songs that are personal favourites as well as looking at new material. I really enjoy the beginning of a new album, I like the creativity and team work as well as asking my fans opinion- your thoughts are very important to me.

Elaine C Smith and I have been discussing more of the musical, which starts in March and I’m really looking forward to the stage shows and being a part of a big ensemble cast.

At the beginning of January I was able to escape for a lovely few days to Ireland to visit friends. We had a really good time. I managed to visit the place, Lough Swilly, where John Newton was inspired to write Amazing Grace after being shipwrecked. This song was on my first album, I Dreamed A Dream and it was a really special day especially with my connection to that song. I had lunch at a lovely little country pub and what started with one person at the bar ended up with over 40 people joining us.

2012 is going to an exciting year and I will try to keep my updates as regular and interesting as possible, I don’t want to bore you all! I will definitely be writing once a fortnight but if there is any exciting news then I will write more and share it here first on the website.

Click here to read more about Kerry’s brave battle against cancer.

The global singing sensation is set to appear in the exclusive 11 week tour across the UK & Ireland which opens at Newcastle Theatre Royal in March 2012. Susan’s appearance in the musical will be the first opportunity for people to watch her perform in the UK on stage since the Britain’s Got Talent tour in 2009.

Susan Boyle says; “I am thrilled to be a part of the musical about my life story and very much looking forward to stepping on stage and performing with the cast. It is an honest portrayal of my life and has been a cathartic process to be involved in.”

Tour Dates:

NEWCASTLE, Theatre Royal
Friday 23 March - Saturday 31 March 2012
Box Office: 08448 11 21 21/theatreroyal.co.uk

ABERDEEN, His Majesty’s Theatre
Tuesday 3 - Saturday 7 April 2012
Box Office: 01224 641122/boxofficeaberdeen.com

BRADFORD, Alhambra Theatre
Tuesday 10 - Saturday 14 April 2012
Box Office: 01274 432 000/bradford-theatres.co.uk

LIVERPOOL, Empire
Tuesday 17 - Saturday 21 April 2012
Box Office: 0844 871 3017/liverpoolempire.org.uk

DUBLIN, Grand Canal Theatre
Tuesday 24 - Saturday 28 April 2012
Box Office: (ROI) 0818 719 377/grandcanaltheatre.ie

BRISTOL, Hippodrome
Tuesday 1 - Saturday 5 May 2012
Box Office: 0844 871 3012/bristolhippodrome.org.uk

SOUTHEND, Cliffs Pavilion
Tuesday 8 - Saturday 12 May 2012
Box Office: 01702 351135/southendtheatres.org.uk

CARDIFF, New Theatre
Tuesday 22 - Saturday 26 May 2012
Box Office: 029 2087 8889/newtheatrecardiff.co.uk

BIRMINGHAM, Hippodrome
Tuesday 29 May - Saturday 2 June 2012
Box Office: 0844 338 5000/birminghamhippodrome.com

INVERNESS, Eden Court
Monday 11 - Saturday 16 June 2012
Box Office: 01463 234 234/eden-court.co.uk

MANCHESTER, Palace Theatre
Tuesday 19 - Saturday 23 June 2012
Box Office: 0844 871 3018/manchesterpalace.org.uk

Read the full article on HuffingtonPost.co.uk.

An excited Susan said; “I am thrilled to have been nominated a second time for a grammy award. It is a real honour to be nominated at all but to be in a category with legends like Barbara Streisand and Tony Bennett, well I’m lost for words. It is wonderful.” ‘The Gift’ is the second album to have been nominated for a Grammy. Last Year ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ was nominated in the Best Pop Vocal category.

The 54th Annual Grammy Awards are being held in Los Angeles on Sunday 12th February 2012.

Track Listing
1. You Have To Be There
2. Unchained Melody
3. Enjoy The Silence
4. Both Sides Now
5. Lilac Wine
6. Mad World
7. Autumn Leaves
8. This Will Be The Year
9. Return
10. Someone To Watch Over Me

Not only did I get to meet the wonderful Ronan Keating (I’m a huge Boyzone fan), I also met Michael Bolton, wow, what a man! Performing Autumn Leaves on the show was a great experience and would have been slightly surreal in the hot spring weather in Sydney but I brought the Scottish weather with me as there was an almighty thunderstorm just before i went on stage, with torrential rain and gale force winds. I felt right at home!

It was great to meet all the contestants and for Ronan to run on stage and give me a hug after I said he was one of the highlights of my trip. It was also lovely to meet Mel B, she looks wonderful and so happy. Who’d have thought she’d only just had a baby!

Someone To Watch Over Me is now available. Click here to purchase your copy today.

Not only did I get to meet the wonderful Ronan Keating (I’m a huge Boyzone fan), I also met Michael Bolton, wow, what a man!

Performing Autumn Leaves on the show was a great experience and would have been slightly surreal in the hot spring weather in Sydney but I brought the Scottish weather with me as there was an almighty thunderstorm just before i went on stage, with torrential rain and gale force winds. I felt right at home!
It was great to meet all the contestants and for Ronan to run on stage and give me a hug after I said he was one of the highlights of my trip. It was also lovely to meet Mel B, she looks wonderful and so happy. Who’d have thought she’d only just had a baby!

This trip so far has been fantastic and I’ve achieved and seen so many things that I never for a second thought I’d do in my lifetime. I don’t want it to end, as I keep saying, Bring It On!

Read the video transcription here:

You Have To Be There:
0.08
You have To Be There was exciting very dramatic it was part of a musical written Abba and it was also the flip side a more serious side in that it questioned your very beliefs.

Unchained Melody
0.37 seconds
Unchained Melody was made very famous by the Righteous Brothers in the early 60s and um by Cyndi Lauper. This particular one tended to appeal to a younger audience because most of the stuff that’s on my album really appeals to a wide audience that’s why whenever I get a chance to begin with to appeal to a wider audience not the conventional X Factor which tends to appeal to a pope audience Unchained Melody is nostalgic it’s a bit of both in the relationship… I need your love.

Enjoy The Silence
1.28mins
Enjoy The Silence, do people enjoy silence?  You can say a lot with words you can say a lot with music as well, again it’s a much wider audience, a younger audience bit like Coldplay you know that was the kind of arrangement I had. When I was in the recording studio you see they act weird you know it’s like you get a weird look not like the demo but the person who did it you know. I find it challenging, I’m ballad singing most of the time I’m mostly musical theatre, this was something abstract it’s again it’s about having a kind of art if you like. You don’t just do paintings you try to do abstract paintings as well. This is a bit abstract, poppy if you like out of my usual you know.

Both Sides Now
2.38mins
Both Sides Now I keep saying both sides now, now both sides now I’m really reflecting from a 50 year olds view point. Now 50 you’ve lived a bit you look over your life you see some of the regrets you’ve made, some of the mistakes you’ve made. You seen some of the funny sides as well and have a damn good laugh at them. Both Sides Now is about reflecting back on your life as a mature person but also being able to see it as a young person’s viewpoint as well and how they see you. I think some people of my family probably see me as an aunty you know an elderly kind of aunty feel like. Both Sides Now is a younger person looking forward to life and the older person looking back in life, there’s an adjust in position there, both sides now, both sides of life.

Lilac Wine
3.48mins
Lilac wine I like the song because I’m a Elkie Brooks fan its originally a Pearls ballad but this gentle approach its something that makes it your own, you can make it a whole mark of your own, it’s a very gentle piece it flows really well, very gentle.

Mad World
4.17mins
It speaks for itself you can see what’s going on, all the looting in London and the disasters in Japan are 2 examples. Mad word is a social comment it’s a kind of way of having yourself on film but you’re the spectator you looking directly into the situation and you’re actually saying is this real? It’s a mad world doesn’t make any sense, why doesn’t it make any sense?  There’s no equality in some ways why is there poor people? Why are there too many rich people? Why are people starving? Stuff like that wee questions like that, that’s what makes me think of in that song.

Autumn Leaves
5.17mins
Autumn leaves well, with the demise of summer it’s about something that’s really dying isn’t it? Summers dying, leaves are turning brown. I lost my mother 4 years ago Autumn Leaves is about the demise of something beautiful she’s a beautiful person my mother and that’s something personal to me; Autumn Leaves is about the demise of something beautiful

This Will Be The Year
5.57mins
This Will Be The Year, well has it been the year? It’s a romantic kind of song really and it reminds me a bit of a film track the arrangement.  This Will Be The Year is optimistic they say make you more determined, its about optimism its about having the strength to go on and giving all you can this will be the year to really make it happen. Because when you want something badly enough you want to make it happen and when I went onto BGT I really wanted this with everything I had.  And this will be the year to finally make that come to fruition, to make it better, to become that professional I’ve always wanted to be. This Will Be The Year, beautiful song, beautiful piece, almost like a film piece like almost like a Hollywood piece if you like. It’s a bit like Sunset Boulevard, you know with one look I’ll take my thing which is like your thinking of something.

Return
7.17mins
Return, that’s about the soldiers in Afghanistan coming back to their families, I can relate to this as well because my dad did his service in WWII and my mum had two kids she was waiting for him to come back she didn’t believe he would come back at all. So this song has those connotations to it they are waiting for the bread winner to come home to the family. Very powerful, very emotional, very umm I don’t know if there’s a right word for it, it’s the idea of families being broken up, ideas of turmoil if you like, the longing to have your partner back. Sometimes it can be done because they come home and the joy of seeing them again and sometimes it can’t be done because of the circumstances so there’s a sort of just the position of sad and elation in this song.

Someone To Watch Over Me
8.38mins
Someone to watch over me, we all know the jazz version of Gershwin’s song someone to watch over me there’s a someone I’m longing to see that’s one of the verses, who is that somebody? I mean we all meet someone in our life at some point but we always do get the impression that someone is watching over us and that something to me is my mother.  So someone is watching over me. I don’t have the detail for anybody just yet

What is your favourite track?
9.17mins
Oh there are so many that I can’t really get into it here, but I think it would be This Will Be The Year, Return, Both Sides Now and probably You’ll Have To Be There…I’ve got more than one

Fans
9.48mins
Well without fans you can’t have record sales but apart from the mercenary bit the idea of having someone close gives you confidence and its like one big happy family you’re providing a service to them, you’re making them happy, you’re entertaining them. They’re very important to me fans because they listen to my music and if they like what they hear they’ll want more. I’ve known some of them for many months now I met some of them in the forum there’s an example and they feel like they’re part of my life now they’re more then just acquaintances they’re close friends. I would say that what I do in a album relates very much to the fans because it can relate to an ordinary person in the street as well if you like where they are in life, life positions if you like where they are and the place where they are, where they are geographically as well so I’d say we’re related to the fans quite a lot.

What was the last year like for you?
10.57mins
The last year? Oh now I went to Shanghai, I went to America, I’m on my third album it’s been very exciting, very exciting busy and varied, I’d like some more please

Career
11.27mins
I think my careers going in an upward direction and I think it’s set to well I’m a very modest person and I think its set to be there for as long as people want me

Have you had time to relax?
11.58mins
I’ve had a couple of days off to relax I just watch television and stuff like that, I’m a very ordinary person. I went on holiday this year a couple of times this year as well, I’ve been in Rome and I’ve been in Ireland.

Someone To Watch Over Me is available to order from Amazon.ca
Click here to purchase you’re copy today.

I got the chance to drive the boat round the Harbour, which was a tad nervewracking for the rest of my team who were watching me honking the horn and turning the boat round. An impromptu photo shoot with the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour bridge was great and a real memory to have. I also decided whilst sailing under the Harbour bridge that I’d like to attempt the walk over it. Now that would be fun and the sights are meant to be spectacular, I’m just trying to convince a few daredevils to join me!

I then got to meet fans for afternoon tea on the boat and it was lovely to meet them all and chat, have our pictures taken together and spend quality time in their company. They were so friendly and supportive and it was a real privilege to be with them.

I’m pinching myself that each day seems to be getting better and better. I really am having the time of my life in Australia, I’m also very tempted to buy a house down here so I can keep returning to this beautiful city.

Click here to read more about Susan’s visit to Australia!

Someone To Watch Over Me is available from iTunes.ca, and Amazon.ca

Watch the full interview now on CTV.ca

“I was straight from the TV show and into a life I wasn’t used to. You have to learn a lot, how to behave, how to conduct yourself in public. It was almost too fast. It hit me like an express train. You have to adapt.” – Susan Boyle, on CANADA AM.

Watch the full interview tomorrow at 8:00am ET on Canada AM. Check local listings.

Bill had Susan put on his jacket, proclaim they were getting married and cuddling on the sofa within 30 seconds, It was a moment of television gold. Delighted Susan said; “Meeting Bill Cosby was fantastic and we had a real giggle. Coming back to the Today Show to perform was also wonderful, they’ve been so supportive and seeing Matt Lauer again, well it’s like coming home.”

Click here to watch the clip. Someone To Watch Over Me is Susan’s brand new album!