After her beloved Irish mother died, Susan Boyle’s home was quiet for weeks. But eventually, the singer began to play her music again, decided to audition for “Britain’s Got Talent,” and the rest is history.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame turns 25 this year, and past inductees like U2 will perform at Madison Square Garden in New York City to celebrate.

News from the 32: Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow

Attention Susan Boyle fans: A new interview and samples from the amazing Scottish songstress’ tracks off her upcoming album “I Dreamed A Dream” are now available on Amazon.com.

Video / Susan Boyle sings 'Wild Horses' / Click here   Niall O'Dowd column / Susan Boyle goes her own way / Click here Susan Boyle will be singing live at the

I hate to say I told you so yet again – but Susan Boyle made me do it. Amazingly, Susan Boyle just beat out Bruce Springsteen, U2, the Dixie Chicks and Coldplay over at Amazon.com.

News from the 32: Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow

He might be one of the most famous people ever "Born in the USA" but Bruce Springsteen is Irish! A new book has discovered that Springsteen has Irish roots through his paternal grandmother Martha O'Hagan. She married Springsteen's grandfather, Anthony Springsteen, who was of Dutch ancestry, in 1899. And it turns out that Martha's grandmother, Ann Garrity, hailed from County Westmeath.

A trio of Irish priests is set to challenge Susan Boyle for the number one Christmas album. Known as "The Priests," Father Martin O'Hagan, his brother Father Eugene and Father David Delargy, began singing together at high school in Northern Ireland.

U2 came, saw and conquered at Giants Stadium on Thursday night and sent the 80,000 plus crowd home happy - well, 99.9 percent of them! The first and only jeer of the night came when Bono inadvertently dissed the New York Jets football team, who share Giants Stadium with the New York Giants.

Irish singer/songwriter Lesley Roy will perform the National Anthem at the Mets’ home stadium during Irish Night at Citi Field on Friday, August 21.

Irish rugby Captain Brian O’Driscoll is having laser surgery on his eyes. The star Irish center had one eye operated on last week and is scheduled to have the procedure on his other eye in the coming days.

U2 may have pumped $70 million into the Irish economy with their three Dublin shows in July, but the Irish have returned the favor by helping the band to rake in over $100 million in just its first 13 shows.

Bruce Springsteen might as well purchase some property in Dublin, such is the frequency of his visits to the Emerald Isle. The Boss was there last weekend for two sold-out, outdoor shows at the RDS, and though the weather was pretty awful, the music was fast and furious.

The Mighty Stef, a singer and songwriter from Dublin who has been celebrated in the U.K. press for the storytelling in his songs and for his passionate live shows, has release a new album, "100 Midnights."

Give me a “T”. Give me a “W”. Give me an “I”, two “T”s and an “E” and a “R”. What’s that spell? Notre Dame's 21st century way of connecting to fans. Or Twitter. Football fans can now receive breaking news and up-to-the-second updates on their favorite Irish college football team. These Tweets (Twitter messages) are provided by the face of Notre Dame football himself, Charlie Weiss. And he is not taking this new technology lightly. (http://twitter.com/NDHFC)

There is a lot of talk this day and age about how the music business is on the decline, but as long as there are clubs like the Saint in Asbury Park and bands like Dublin’s Guggenheim Grotto, we can be assured that the business is in good hands.

Legendary Irish folk rock band are currently winding up their U.S tour.

"For some reason or another, this is the best the band has ever been. I really can't put my finger on it." The Saw Doctors' Davy Carton sounds dumbfounded as he says these words atop a jetty, the waves slithering in the background behind him on the band's excellent new DVD documentary "Clare Island to Cape Cod: The Saw Doctors in Concert.

IT'S summer and you know what that means. Sunscreen. Lots of sunscreen lathered atop your freakishly white skin.

NO surprise here Bruce Springsteen announces one concert date for Ireland, December 15 at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast and all 10,000-plus tickets were snapped up in eight minutes. Another non-shock Boss fans who lined up for hours on end for tickets and got shut out are none too pleased.

One lady who lined up at a record store in Derry at 4 a.

THE last gasp of summer will likely be at Asbury Park's Guinness Oyster Festival, which takes place on Saturday, October 6 from noon until 6 p.m. on Cookman Avenue after a hiatus of four years.

BRUCE Springsteen kicked off his summer European tour in Dublin's RDS last week with three sold-out shows thrilling more than 110,000 fans, and naturally you won't read a bad review anywhere.

The Irish, simply put, adore New Jersey's favorite son, and the feeling is more than mutual. The Boss has played eight shows in Ireland in the past 18 months, and recorded his live album the Seeger Sessions at the old Point theater in Dublin a couple of years back.

IN biblical terms, the snake is a metaphor for the slithery temptations of Lucifer himself, but fans of Irish music along the Jersey Shore equate the snakes for barn burning Irish rock! If you ever wondered how one would/should/could build a bridge between the Pogues' "Dirty Old Town" and Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie," you will need to see the Snakes to believe that it can be done. Their set list is a dizzying ride through folk, rock, and traditional Irish classics, all delivered with all the sudsy glory you'd expect from a great bar band.

As a nod to the sand and ocean a few blocks away in Asbury Park, they treated the crowd in St.

DO you remember a time when Shane MacGowan had a working set of choppers? How about the time you heard bands like the Saw Doctors and Black 47 for the first time?

Here's something that makes you feel old - those bands are about to mark their 20th anniversaries!

While seeing those bands today is still a nice kick, when was the last time you got knocked over the head with fresh new music in the Irish rock genre?

Your wait is now over, though. The music of Biblecode Sundays takes you back to that time, offering a wildly original voice to the Irish rock genre with their CD Ghosts of Our Past.

Led by Elvis Costello's kid half-brother, Ronan MacManus, Biblecode Sundays bring that famous sibling's defiant energy while neatly avoiding any comparisons.

ROLLING Stone magazine has just come out with an interesting list of the 100 greatest singers of all time, and the Irish are all over it!

Unlike some of the other best of lists produced by magazines, which are mostly created by the editors in a vacuum, Rolling Stone actually got the artists to vote on their choices for best singer. They even published the artists' rationale, which makes for great reading.

"Bob Dylan did what very, very few singers ever do - he changed popular singing," opines Bono.

Meeting Mickey Rourke, 52, feels more like meeting a rock star than an actor. One thing's for certain, he doesn't disappoint.

Flanked by two female assistants and dressed in an eye-catching striped jacket with a dapper silk handkerchief exploding from his breast pocket during a recent press day in New York to promote his stunning comeback film "The Wrestler," Rourke doesn't just enter a room.

The bone chilling cold did nothing to dampen the spirits of the millions who attended the inauguration of President Barack Obama on Tuesday. All morning the winter sun shone brightly on the multitudes assembling on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

Half a Million Irish Visit U.S.

A WHOPPING 496,660 visitors came to the U.

Bruce Springsteen made a name for himself by writing rock and roll poetry about the working class of the Jersey Shore, and while there may not be much in common between The Boss and Boston's Dropkick Murphys on the surface, the themes of their songs are remarkably similar. This snarling punk rock outfit has just released its sixth full length CD, The Meanest of Times, and there are vivid photographs of the downtrodden lurking beneath the tide of angry punk energy.

They couldn't have picked a better title for the CD.

That majestic voice is front and center as bells and choirs garnish the familiar melodies that warm the soul. The only question out there is why Ronan Tynan hasn't come out with a solo Christmas CD sooner. Now he has, thankfully, and it's called I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Pete Depressed is anything but. The lead singer of the Gobshites is a jolly looking, frantic soul in search of a good time, and the good times always seem to follow this Boston band. Fans of their acoustic punk mix are rabid.

April showers not only bring May flowers, they also bring Damien Dempsey back to our shores.

Damo will be hitting the road this month, playing dates through the East Coast and Midwest. He's back for the second U.

Once again Irish artists on both sides of the pond created innovative music for any musical palette. If you do not like something on this year's best of list, you probably don't like music!

For you last minute shoppers out there, I can't think of a better stocking stuffer than these great discs.

Happy holidays to all Irish Voice readers!

Various Artists, "Rootstomp Volumes 1 and 2": Spearheaded by Toronto's Enter the Haggis, "Rootstomp" is a smoking hot collection of the finest contemporary Celtic music sampled from both sides of the Atlantic.