Top 10 Lip Synching Busts

Are you ever amazed as you watch entertainers dance around the stage and they never get winded? They look perfect. They sing perfect. They never forget the words or sing off key. How do they do it?

Occasionally their ‘perfection’ runs into technical difficulties and exposes the reality behind that continuous perfection. Lip syncing has been one of those areas where the technology occasionally has created a bit of embarrassment for some big name stars.

1. Milli Vanilli This is still the most infamous lip syncing bust. What set this situation apart was the fact that this European duo didn’t even sing for their recordings, much less on stage. They were hired totally for their looks with the full intent that they would never actually sing. So they weren’t even lip syncing to their own voices. This was way too far over the edge for the music business. They lost it all when the truth was brought to light.
2. Ashlee Simpson This younger sister of Jessica Simpson, experienced her little bit of technical embarrassment during a Saturday Night Live performance. Her lips weren’t syncing with her voice that was flowing out of the sound system with the music. There was no official acknowledgment from anyone that it was a lip sync mis-cue but the rumors say it probably was.
3. Madonna Not all lip syncing destroys a career, as was the case with Manilli Vanilli. Live performances are totally different from a studio recording, yet the fans still expect to hear from the stage the same musical perfection that they have been listening to on their ipod. Madonna puts on a very physical act when on stage. It is part of the overall entertainment package you expect to get from her. It’d be pretty hard for her to pull it all off and still sound perfect with out some help from a background tape that never runs out of breath.
4. Britney Spears Miss Spears managed to reveal the sound track playing her comeback song as she giggled throughout it during the MTV Awards program. Again, it didn’t destroy her career but wasn’t what her publicist was hoping for, I’m sure.
5. The Spice Girls This group of female vocalists has often been accused of lip syncing. Their appearance at the 2007 Victoria Secret Parade was the event that most people site. Most fans excused it as a necessary use of technology to assist the performance in an unusual setting.
6. The Monkees This was a bit of a unique situation. The four guys were hired as actors for a television program centered around a rock and roll band. Only Peter Tork and Michael Nesmeth actually knew how to play their instruments and they were all expected to lip sync to the vocals during the filming of the show. Only after the show took off in popularity was the decision made that ‘The Monkees’ needed to legitimize their musical talents to a greater degree.
7. Lindsey Lohan This starlet was to have her singing debut on Good Morning America. It was a short lived musical career when she was unable to fully match up her performance with the background tract.
8. Mariah Carey Mariah has had her share of accusations, as well. The singer has no lack of personal vocal talent. Her fans shrug off the rumors, even defending her for preserving her voice for her concerts and recordings.
9. Hilary Duff Hilary’s charge of lip syncing came during her 2008 tour in Mexico. It has always been denied and a faulty piece of audio equipment has been saddled with the blame.
10. Luciano Pavarotti There hasn’t been much debate over this one. The opera singer had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was to sing out of doors during the 2006 Winter Olympic games. These circumstances were considered just cause for providing a sound track for the performance.

It seems to be pretty well accepted that some lip syncing will be done to enhance performances these days. It is just the lip syncing to someone else’s voice that remains an unforgivable trespass as far as the fans are concerned

Bookmark to: