Will stardom come to new 'Susan Boyle'?

Susan Boyle, Cai Hua Tian Ma (Sweet Cauliflower Mama) and Lin Yu-chun have something in common - they don't have the looks but, boy, can they sing!

We already know a lot about Scottish spinster Susan who became a singing sensation after she was discovered on Britain's Got Talent show last year. Her debut album sold millions and we can say she's got it made.

Recently two other singing talents - one from Shanghai, China and the other from Taiwan - were discovered and videos of them on YouTube became the rage.

Cai Hua Tian Ma, as she is known, sells chicken at the market stall. She belts out English gospel songs with amazing grace and pulls in the crowd.

That was how the middle-aged woman with two pigtails was discovered and a video clip of her singing in front of a market crowd was posted on YouTube and overnight, the video pulled in more than 46,000 hits. Maybe more by now.

Apart from English gospel songs, she also sings Maria Callas and Mariah Carey numbers as well as local folk songs and Chinese opera.

While Cai Hua Tian Ma has restricted her singing at her chicken stall, Taiwanese Lin revealed his singing prowess on Taiwan's Avenue to Stardom talent show on April 9.

Known as "Little Fatty", the round-faced Lin sings like a soprano and wowed everyone with his rendition of Whitney Houston's hit "I Will Always Love You".

Lin, 24, soon discovered that a video clip of his performance
appeared on YouTube and in no time, racked up more than 2 million hits as people started to call him "Taiwan's Susan Boyle". No doubt, the hits will keep coming for a while.

One viewer on YouTube commented: "I got goose bumps."

AFP reported that Lin was "shocked" by the great attention he has received and cited him as saying: "I'm really moved and happy that people like my performance of Whitney's song. . .I'm honoured to be compared to Susan Boyle."

Lin, who works part-time at a musical instrument shop in Taipei, may well be on his way to stardom and nobody is going to laugh at Little Fatty again.