Susan, the youngest of nine, says she started singing when she was 12 years old. Music, she says, helped her cope with a learning disability. "I was kind of a slow learner at school, so getting something like singing was a good way of hiding behind that and so boosting my confidence."

Susan says her biggest supporter was her mom, who died in 2007. "After that, there was a wee period where I didn't sing," she says.

To help cope with the loss, Susan says she auditioned for Britain's Got Talent. "I am very slowly getting over it," she says. "One of the reasons I applied for the TV show was to try to see if I could perform in front of an audience."

It was the performance of Susan's life—and everything changed overnight. Paparazzi now camp outside of the home she's lived in for 48 years, and her mailbox is filling up with fan mail—with a few letters for her cat, Pebbles, mixed in.

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