When life in the spotlight becomes too much for Susan Boyle, she takes comfort in the recording studio, calling it her sanctuary.
The 49-year-old Scottish singer achieved sudden and unexpected fame with her showstopper of a performance on the UK reality television show Britain’s Got Talent in April 2009. Clips from the show were posted to YouTube and received tens of millions of hits, turning the singer into a viral sensation overnight.
While the fame has helped her to sell millions of records worldwide and earned her the distinction of three Guinness world records, it also opened her private life to intense media scrutiny, something to which the modest spinster was not at all accustomed.
"The studio is my sanctuary. To return to it, well it feels like home away from home. The studio is like being inside a bubble and a place I can step away from the worry of life. As soon as I put the cans [headphones] on I know that I am safe," said Boyle.