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10-Year-Old Boyle Demo Tape Goes Viral

Recording surfaces as audition vid hits 93.5M views, setting record

By Ambreen Ali, Newser User

Posted Apr 23, 2009 10:48 AM CDT

(Newser) – With Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream rendition setting a YouTube record, a decade-old demo of her singing Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly has become a new viral hit. The former—from the Britain's Got Talent audition that blasted Boyle to fame—has been viewed 93.5 million times on YouTube and 100 million times on combined sites, putting it on track to smash the 120-million record held by a popular dance montage, the Telegraph reports.

In 1999, Boyle spent her last savings making the demo tape—which also includes blues ballad Cry Me A River—to send to record companies and local talent competitions. She even auditioned for one, but was rejected. "She said to take care of it," the friend who unearthed the tape recalls. "She had only given a few out to her closest friends in the village."

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

Susan Boyle, who's performance on the television show "Britain's Got Talent" wowed the judges, gives the thumbs up at her home in Blackburn, Scotland. (AP Photo/Andrew Milligan-pa)

Susan Boyle, who's performance on the television show "Britain's Got Talent" wowed the judges, poses singing with a hairbrush at her home in Blackburn, Scotland. (AP Photo)

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Susan Boyle sings "Killing Me Softly" on a demo tape she distributed among close friends 10 years ago. (TorreAmarantis3)

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10-Year-Old Boyle Demo Tape Goes Viral