11M YouTube Hits? 'Awesome': UK Sensation

Since leaving Simon Cowell speechless, sweet-voiced Susan Boyle has earned the ultimate Internet honor: Her Britain’s Got Talent audition has gone viral with 11 million hits. “It’s awesome,” Boyle told CBS’ Early Show today. The youngest of nine children, Boyle has been living alone since her mother died. “I wanted to make this a tribute to my mother,” she said.

Until now, Boyle confined her singing to karaoke pubs, church, and the occasion party in her small Scottish town. “She never flaunted her voice,” her priest tells the Washington Post. After the public breakthrough, he and her neighbors “let out a wee bit of a cheer for her.” More may await: CNN reports that Cowell is rushing to find her a record deal. (More Susan Boyle stories.)