SHILLING FOR BOYLE

The current biggest star in music hasn't kissed a girl, or a guy. Or done anything else for that matter.

Susan Boyle, the matronly 47-year-old self-declared virgin from a tiny hamlet in Scotland, where she lives alone with her cat Pebbles, has become the hottest thing in the record business, thanks to a YouTube video of her singing, "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables on Britain's Got Talent, the U.K. version of American Idol.

More than 30 million people have viewed the clip of her wowing Simon Cowell, the two other judges, and a studio audience that spontaneously erupted into a standing ovation, some visibly weeping at the spectacle.

If you're one of the few who haven't seen it yet, click here and see what everybody's talking about.

Boyle has become an in-demand superstar, with appearances on the U.S. morning shows and now Oprah Winfrey requesting her presence. There hasn't been a singing phenomenon like this since the days of a warbling Mrs. Miller butchering "A Lover's Concerto," "Downtown" and "Monday, Monday" on the old Ed Sullivan Show on her way to the top of the charts.

The unlikely success of Boyle, whose appearance, demeanor and age belie the sound of her soaring voice, has captured people's imaginations, but there are some nay-sayers, including the N.Y. Post and a legion of cynical bloggers claiming the whole thing is a set-up by Cowell, who quickly arranged to sign her to his record label.

Skeptics are questioning the fact she's a little too sure of herself in front of the judges, and that convenient seven-minute edited clip a mite too perfect. Obviously, someone knew the lady could sing.

If it is a hoax, more power to Cowell, who has pulled off a P.T. Barnum-like doozy.

In fact, the story seems to follow the plotline of a similar Britain's Got Talent winner, Paul Potts, an unassuming mobile phone store manager who won the series' first season in 2007 with his performance of the aria, "Nessun Dorma," from Turandot.