British star may owe Donny Osmond for dazzling voice

See Susan Boyle's performance right here.

He might have been talking about Susan Boyle. If a scriptwriter had dreamed up the idea of a frumpy, middle-aged, never-been-kissed Scottish woman who became an overnight international singing sensation on the "Britain's Got Talent" TV show, who would've believed it?

How about we toss in something crazy like, oh, I dunno — maybe that she was inspired by Donny Osmond?

It's true.

Among the facts uncovered by the Boyle-crazed Brit press is that she "owes her dazzling voice to a teenage obsession with Donny Osmond," according to the Sunday Mirror.

"His posters were all over her walls," her brother, Gerard, told the paper. "She would lock herself in her room and play the records over and over again singing along as loud as possible. It used to drive me mad when I would hear it start up the hundredth time. But our mum would say, 'Leave her alone, it's all she's got.'  "

If you've somehow managed to miss it, Boyle set not just the UK but the USA on its ear with her appearance on "Britain's Got Talent." She was all but openly mocked by the talent show's judges and audience right up until the moment she opened her mouth.

And as she sang "I Dreamed a Dream" (from "Les Miserables"), her world changed.

It wasn't just that she was so good, it was that — judged by her appearance — everyone expected her to be some sort of "Gong Show" reject. And that startling contrast only added to her appeal.

The clip of Boyle's appearance on "Britian's Got Talent" has been viewed more than 100 million times — and that's not counting all the times the clip has played on seemingly every TV show that could find a way to fit it in.

The most-watched show on TV last week, "American Idol," attracted not quite 23 million viewers. At its peak last season, the "Idol" battle between David Cook and Utahn David Archuleta attracted 31.7 million viewers.

The Super Bowl averaged 94.5 million viewers in February.

According to Google, not only has Susan Boyle been Utahns' most-searched subject on the Internet in the past week, but the number of Susan Boyle searches was five times that of the No. 2 subject (tea parties).