LANARKSHIRE great-grandmother Janey Cutler is set to grow into an international celebrity after her Glasgow audition was broadcast on Saturday’s Britain’s Got Talent. The singing 81-year-old great grandmother – dubbed the new Susan Boyle (NuBo) – astounded the audience as well as judges with her performance of Edith Piaf’s ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’.
A Television audience of 11.7million watched as judges Simon Cowell, Peirs Morgan and Amanda Holden as well as a 3000-strong audience gave her a standing ovation. Amanda said that she thought the Royal Family “will love you” while Simon Cowell referred to the audience and said “3000 and 3 yes’s”. Now US channels, such as NBC and CBS, are preparing to beam her into countless American homes. Susan Boyle’s audition in 2009 was screened Stateside and made Boyle into a global superstar. Exactly like SuBo (49), Janey – who’s got seven children as well as 13 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren – is an unlikely star.
Janey, who received more than 770,000 hits on YouTube, stated that she was “over the moon,” simply to have been able to perform on Britains Got Talent Performing is all she has ever wanted to do, and she says: “The attention from America is making this experience even more of a dream come true.” Janey is a regular around the club and pub circuit in her hometown of Wishaw and surrounding districts, including shows at Hamilton’s Victoria Bar and Motherwell Miners’ Welfare Club.
Janey appeared on ITV’s This Morning on Monday and was initially exhausted after travelling from Wishaw to London, where she featured on other shows such as CBS News, and befroe travelling back home again. Daughter Janice says all the family was proud of her. She added: “It was brilliant seeing her on the TV and we’re all really happy.” Neighbour Edward Kearney stated: “She is a very pleasant person, always laughing. She did well on the tv.”
Janey’s rendition of ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’ has been described as one of the most outstanding events of the current talent search. Judge Piers Morgan says: “I’ve never heard anything like it. “Glasgow had been the place we unearthed the fantastic Susan Boyle a year ago. When Scotland seemed to be heading into its normal abyss of talentless delusion, out stepped a lady of a slightly older vintage who delivered an astonishing, spine-tingling two-minute performance.”
The song choice for Janey sums up her life. She said: “I’ve had a great life, seven kids, hard times, happy times, no regrets.” Friend Terry Moore, from Whitehill, added: “She was not sure about taking part at first and questioned doing it at her age. “We think she sounds like Dame Shirley Bassey in her heyday.” Piers Morgan added: “Janey’s performance is right up there with my favourite moments in BGT history.”
Janey advances to the next round, that will be shown on ITV later in 2010.