"Singing Angel Susan Boyle's family photo album"
By Stephen Martin
Mirror.co.uk
These stunning pictures chart the progress of Susan Boyle from baby girl to angel-voiced overnight superstar.
She was the youngest of nine children born to proud miner Patrick Boyle and his wife Bridget.
Our intimate portraits from the Boyle family archives show her as a new-born baby being shown off by Bridget at home in Blackburn, West Lothian, back in 1961.
Susan - who has become a worldwide phenomenon thanks to her stunning performance on Britain's Got Talent - is later seen at the piano with her beloved teddy bear in an early indication of the musical prowess that was to follow.
In 1982, when Susan was 21, Susan is seen on a rare family holiday with Bridget and Patrick to Donegal, Ireland, where Bridget's mother's family come from.
Later, she is seen in a poignant picture with her sisters Mary, Bridie and Kathleen.
Kathleen's sudden death from an asthma attack in September 2000 at the age of just 53 left Susan devastated, her brother Gerard has revealed to the Sunday Mirror.
By the time of Kathleen's death, Susan was already well-established in Blackburn as a singer with her local choir and on the Karaoke at the Happy Valley Hotel.
She had auditioned a few times for talent show Michael Barrymore's My Kind of People. But she was turned down because, Gerard believes, her image didn't suit.
How Barrymore must regret that now!
