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Susan Boyle taking piano and driving lessons on road to recovery

More than 15 years after Britain’s Got Talent, the singer is recovering from a stroke and proving once again that resilience and talent can defy all odds

At the Grammy Awards in 2010, stars such as Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé sat in their plush seats in the Staples Centre, the vast music auditorium in Los Angeles, and listened as Stephen Colbert, the comedian and host, schooled them on the year’s true winner. She is more than two years into a recovery from a stroke that, for a time, rendered her unable to sing and partially paralysed her left hand side, and returned to the stage last autumn for a series of concerts as a guest performer. Raised in Blackburn, West Lothian, one of nine children to Patrick Boyle, a miner and veteran of the Second World War, and Bridget, a shorthand typist, Susan had lived at home, looking after her mother, who died at the age of 91 in 2007, before her daughter found success.

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