Seasoned performer Barry Manilow has warned Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle to keep her old friends and family close, in a bid to escape the worst effects of fame.

The Copacabana singer told The Mirror: “With Susan Boyle, fame hit her so hard that it kind of knocked her off her feet. When she appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, it was very moving to see what she could do.”

But he warned: “‘I think she’s a good singer, and everyone’s very curious to see how far she can go, but speaking from my own personal experiences, I hope she keeps her old friends and family around her.”

He added: “In my case, they kept me grounded because when fame hit me, suddenly everything was different. I couldn’t even go to the grocery store, and it was quite an unpleasant experience at times.

“I was kind of lost because the only people around me were people I was paying. It’s easy in that situation to get into drugs and drink and lose the way but, luckily, I had my family there to say: ‘What’s happening to you?’”

He concluded: “Success can be harder to cope with than failure…There’s no school that teaches you how to handle it all.”