Susan Boyle's Talent Revealed Early

May 4, 2009— -- Apparently, Susan Boyle has always had talent.

A 25-year-old video of the "Britain's Got Talent" star performing onstage at a local Scottish club at the tender age of 22 recently surfaced on the Internet.

In a clip posted on the Web site of Scotland's Daily Record newspaper, a slender and fresh-faced Boyle sings "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from "Jesus Christ Superstar" and Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" in the Fir Park Social Club singing contest.

Even then, she was turning heads.

"I can remember that she was a shy young girl but also very attractive back then -- she turned a few heads when she came into the club," Gerry McGuinness, a school caretaker, told the Daily Record.

McGuinness, who was at the club in 1984, dug up an old tape of Boyle's performance after seeing her recent audition on "Britain's Got Talent."

"Even back then, I don't think anyone expected too much from her because she was so shy, but when she began singing people took notice," he said.

People have been taking notice ever since Boyle first appeared on British television about a month ago, stirring interest in the sound of her voice, the size of her eyebrows and the nature of her love life.

The British singing sensation confessed, in an interview that aired recently on the TV show "Extra," that she was just joking when she told "Britain's Got Talent, judge Simon Cowell that she had "never been kissed."

"It was meant as a joke," she told Terri Seymour, a reporter for "Extra" and Cowell's ex-girlfriend. "I've got a wicked sense of humor, you know!"

Even Boyle's frumpy appearance -- she's been dubbed the "hairy angel" by the British press for her frizzy brown hair and bushy eyebrows -- seems more well-groomed these days, though she told Seymour, "I wouldn't like to change anything. I'm perfect the way I am."

Related Stories

Trump campaigns after court amid jury selection

• Apr 17, 3:42 PM

Senate kills Mayorkas impeachment trial

• Apr 17, 5:52 PM

OJ Simpson dies at 76

• Apr 11, 6:32 PM

Britain's Daily Mail on Thursday ran a picture of Boyle with noticeably thinner eyebrows under the headline, "No Longer a Hairy Angel."

The day before, Boyle was photographed wearing a leather-like jacket over a bright patterned dress and faux beads -- a huge update from the beige, lace, prom-inspired dress she wore for her audition on the show.

Now, some on the Internet are grumbling that Boyle may have been too good to be true. When she burst on the world stage -- a YouTube video of her performance has been viewed more than 100 million times -- she was a diamond in the rough. As more details of her life in the tiny Scottish village of Blackburn emerge, some are starting to question just how innocent Boyle is.

But her singing inspiration, British theater legend Elaine Page, believes Boyle is just as humble as she seems.

"She's a country girl, and I think she just has the most lovely, natural voice," Page said on "Good Morning America." "She's very open in her performance ... in such gloomy times that we're all sort of living through at the moment, economically speaking, she was a breath of fresh air."

And villager Jackie Ruffel told ABCNews.com, "She's definitely the real deal, sweet innocent Susan."

Boyle told the "Britain's Got Talent" presenters that she was single and living with her cat Pebbles.

"I've never had a boyfriend," she said. "I've never even been kissed."

The most "GMA" could get from Boyle in an interview last week was "no comment" on the subject of romance.

Ruffel said any talk of Boyle being disingenuous is the media much ado about nothing.

"She's had a kiss but nothing romantic, she's not had any romantic involvement with anybody," said Ruffel, who manages the Happy Valley Hotel, where Boyle is a pub regular. "She took care of her mom. The rest of the family all got married and moved away, but Susan always remained in the house looking after her mother. When her mom passed away, she kind of withdrew into herself."