​The "Taiwanese Susan Boyle"(a) | 台版”苏珊大妈“(a)

文．王婉嘉∕translated by Geof Aberhart

本篇中英文节录自《台湾光华杂志》九十九年五月第三十五卷第五期

『台版苏珊大婶：林育群跃上国际舞台』

Who has been the apple of the media's eye recently? None other than "Tubby" Lin Yu-chun, who has conquered the online world with his spectacular, soaring voice. Lin, with his pudding-bowl haircut, unattractive appearance, and portly figure, was a contender on One Million Star and recently appeared on that show performing Whitney Houston's iconic song, I Will Always Love You. His performance not only astonished the audience, but it went on to blow away millions of people around the world, reaching more than 5.7 million views on YouTube within two weeks of being uploaded. On April 20, Lin even appeared on American talk shows, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Lopez Tonight.

"Tubby Fever" has not only rocketed Lin to overnight international media attention, with some people calling him "this year's most surprising musical superstar," but he's also been compared to Scotland's Susan Boyle. Like Boyle, Lin's average looks and rotund figure belie a beautiful natural singing voice, and he has similarly achieved overnight fame through the Internet. As such, Lin has become known as the "Taiwanese Susan Boyle."

Twenty-four-year-old Lin has loved singing and dancing since childhood, and he won a school singing competition while studying at Yuan Ze University. After his graduation and in spite of his father's strong objections, he took up a job at a shop selling musical instruments and also took out a loan to enroll in the A-List Entertainment Academy, run by veteran entertainer Wang Wei-chung, to improve his singing and performance skills.

However, despite his vast experience and a number of major singing competition titles under his belt, Lin's road to stardom was long hindered by the Taiwanese entertainment industry's focus on appearance at the expense of talent.

谁是近来的媒体新宠儿？答案当然是以高亢美声征服网络世界的『小胖』林育群。顶着西瓜皮发型、貌不惊人、身材圆滚的林育群，日前参加《超级星光大道》节目，飙唱黑人天后惠妮‧休斯顿代表作 I Will Always Love You，他的表演不仅惊艳观众，还让全球数百万人口印象深刻，影片在被放上 YouTube 后，短短两周内即冲破 570 万点阅人次，接着 4 月 20 日还应邀赴美接受两大脱口秀节目《艾伦爱说笑》及《罗培兹今夜秀》的专访。

此波席卷网络的『小胖热潮』不仅让林育群一夕跃登众家国际媒体，搏得『今年最出人意表的音乐超级巨星』，而其圆胖身形、相貌平平却拥有天籁美声的极大反差，加上藉由网络红透半边天的发迹过程，都和英国素人歌手苏珊‧波尔（编按：文中使用 Scotland's Susan Boyle 而非 Britain's Susan Boyle 是因为她的家乡在苏格兰，但台湾媒体多称她为『英国苏珊大婶』）如出一辙，因此也被封为『台湾版的苏珊大婶』。

今年 24 岁的林育群，从小热爱唱歌跳舞，早在元智大学就读时即曾拿下全校歌唱冠军。毕业后，他不顾父亲强烈反对，选择在乐器行工作，并借钱报名加入综艺教父王伟忠开设的『明星艺能学园』，努力提升自己的唱腔及表演技巧。

经验丰富的小胖，早已是各大歌唱比赛的常胜军，只是在台湾演艺圈『只重外型，不问实力』的环境下，他的歌星路走来坎坷。