You know, as much as Britney Spears as gone through this past year, you would think that her return to the stage would be structured so that there was little chance of error. I mean, she has had enough public humiliation, why take a chance while trying to revive her sagging music career.
Well, it seems she did it again. Last week it was reported that she lip-synched during her San Diego show, but apparently, at her mini-tour in Orlando, it was really obvious. The show only lasted 15 minutes, but her backing track skipped five times and she was booed by the crowd. She played down the incident, but the damage had already been done. I think the ticket prices were $40 each – quite a bit to see a troubled performer who hasn’t toured in three years THEN on top of that, she isn’t even singing live. I would have booed as well!
But, not that Britney is the first singer to lip-synch. The Kings of Lip Synching title goes to Milli Vanilli. Do you remember this duo from the late 80s? It consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. They had a great first album that garnered three #1 hits: “Girl You Know It’s True”, “Baby Don’t Forget My Number”, and “Blame It on the Rain”. They won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990. The only problem was…it wasn’t them singing. During a concert in 1989, their recording of “Girl You Know It’s True” skipped. While fans may not have cared, the media did and ripped them to shreds. In November 1990, they finally admitted it was not them singing on the tracks and their Grammy was taken back. They did release an album using their own voices, but their careers were over. Rob Pilatus died of a drug overdose in 1998.
Ashlee Simpson also received flack for lip synching during her “Saturday Night Live” appearance. I was actually watching this when she began to “sing” her second song. Only problem was, they put the track to the first song she sang back on. Ashlee did a weird little dance, left the stage, but the recording would still be heard. The station quickly cut to a commercial and I was thinking “What the heck?” She blamed it on her band, before finally admitted that she was lip synching (but only because of acid reflux).