NEW YORK - If Ashlee Simpson’s stomach was upset Saturday night, imagine how she’s feeling now.
advertisement
The 19-year-old singer was busted for a “Saturday Night Live” lip-synch gone awry, with her manager-father saying Monday that his daughter used the extra help because acid reflux disease had made her voice hoarse.
“Just like any artist in America, she has a backing track that she pushes so you don’t have to hear her croak through a song on national television,” Joe Simpson told Ryan Seacrest on Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM. “No one wants to hear that.”
He said she’s never used the extra help before.
Ashlee Simpson appeared on NBC’s “Radio Music Awards” Monday night. Before she sang a song from her hit album, host Carson Daly reassured the audience they were getting a live performance.
“Live, yes, live,” he said.
Earlier, in an interview on MTV’s “Total Request Live,” Simpson said that “the whole situation was a bummer.”
Simpson had performed her hit single “Pieces of Me” without incident earlier on “SNL.” When she came back a second time, her band started playing and the first lines of her singing “Pieces of Me” could be heard again.
She was holding her microphone at her waist at the time. Simpson looked momentarily confused as the band plowed ahead with the song and the vocal was quickly silenced.
A flustered Simpson made some exaggerated hopping dance moves, then walked off the stage.
LIVE VOTE
Did Ashlee Simpson's lip-synch surprise you?
She told “TRL” that she and her band didn’t know what to do. “I think all of us went into a state of shock,” she said.
Simpson poked fun at herself during Monday’s awards show. When her band started playing, she screamed, “It’s the wrong song!”
Seconds later, she told the crowd: “Only kidding.”
Saturday’s incident exposed what many consider an obvious secret: that some singers who appear onstage aren’t singing live at all, or at least have their voices augmented by backing tracks. And it’s happened before on “Saturday Night Live,” too, executive producer Lorne Michaels told the Associated Press.
“She was mortified and in her dressing room, but (producer) Marci (Klein) got her to come out for goodnights and explained that it wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t her fault,” Michaels told AP Radio.
“Every artist that I know in this business has had vocal problems at some time — from Celine on down,” said Joe Simpson, also father of Jessica Simpson. “So you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
He said it was his decision to use the tapes when it became apparent that acid reflux disease had swollen Ashlee’s vocal cords. After consulting Wayne Newton’s doctor, she received a cortisone shot to get her ready for the “Radio Music Awards,” he said.
It was the band’s drummer who pushed the wrong button onstage, he said.
Said Michaels: “If she were a more seasoned performer then I think that she would’ve taken charge and said, ‘No, let’s start this over again.”’
To add to Ashlee’s indignity Monday, eBay.com was auctioning off her private cell phone number, which it said had been inadvertently, and briefly, posted on her Web site.
Ashlee Simpson paying lip service to fans
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-26 09:06
It was the most eye-opening moment in entertainment phoniness since we learned that Milli Vanilli didn't really sing their songs. Or since we discovered that Britney Spears isn't really a blonde. Or since it was revealed that Jenny From the Block really doesn't want anything to do with the old hood.
Ashlee Simpson [AP/file]
When Ashlee Simpson wasn't in sync with the song she was lip-synching on "Saturday Night Live," the public had a Wizard-of-Oz-like-moment, a glimpse behind the curtain of faux entertainers.
The way our gal Ashlee handled it all was rather graceless. There was the bizarre Axl Rose-like jig, the walking off stage, and, of course, the unforgivable: lying about it and blaming her band.
We'd pay good money to hear Elton John rant on about this one. Fans rallied to Ashlee's defense. Well, not exactly.
"I am throwing out your CD and deleting you from my computer," ex-fan Carly wrote on the "Community Board" of Simpson's Web site. "Do you think we are stupid? . . . I never felt this strongly about something and I am not the only one. Ashley you are a fake and you lost fans because you lied and cheated them."
"How lame that you blamed your band WHEN THEY SAVED YOU’RE A--?" wrote "verythingintime.""eople think you [stink] for lying not because of the 'lip syncing' thing."
"Ash u've disappointed me," wrote "Kwewest" "i personally think u should be dropped. . . . I know many of these artists like britney do the same thing and get away with it but u have to take the fall like Martha Stewart."
More on Simpson
Acid reflux at root of Simpson's gaffe?
Walls: Simpson just paying lip service to reality
Video: Simpson's 'SNL' faux pas
Why do we care? Is it because she had the No.1 song in the country? Is it because she is the marginally kid sister of another star who has rocketed on fame on a mediocre voice and reality show phoniness? Is it because the entertainment world has become so manufactured, so packed with pre-fab stars that it was gratifying to watch one of them get busted? Or is it because we have discovered something that we actually knew all along? It was as if we had all seen Star Jones's wig fall off or one of Victoria Beckham's fake breasts deflate: the deeply satisfying sensation of having our suspicions confirmed.
As with so many celeb foibles, there are lessons to be learned for us ordinary citizens.
1. Don't fake it.
2. Don't lie to cover up a mistake.
3. If you make a fool of yourself in public, don't compound the problem by doing a jig.
But let's not confuse this whole episode with the Milli Vanilli scandal. At least those two guys could dance.
hwag na kayong magpakalayo... i had a first hand experience with a showbiz personality in 1999.
we produced this show for a multinational company, and they wanted this singer guy as guest. before the show began, this guy gave me his cassette tape (how cheap, not even an open reel...) and told me that there's a "faint" voice sa minus one tape para daw may guide siya. it turned out that that "faint" voice was not "faint" at all. (sige na nga, pagbigyan na.)
the story didn't end there. nainis ako sa kanya (until now, when i see him on TV - wala na, di na ako naniniwala sa kanya) when he was called on stage for the production number, hindi niya alam yung song (di kasi umattend ng rehearsals), na-bad trip siya kasi pag-close up sa kanya ng camera, natapat pa na mali-mali ang sinasabi nya. iba ang bukas ng bibig nya sa lyrics ng kanta. eh close-circuit. kitang kita projection screen.
hala - nagwala backstage. (sabi ko na nga ba, bakla siya eh. :hihihi: ) nagmukha daw siyang engot, whatsoever. but if he were a professional singer (in the first place, he wasn't, kasi hindi siya sumisipot sa rehearsals eh kasama sa contract yun...), kung hindi nya alam yung song, ok na yung nasa stage sya at mag-sway-sway kasabay ng beat ng song, without pretending na alam nya yung kanta.
Last edited by dyelibins; October 26th, 2004 at 05:48 PM.
baka na-PUNKED si Ashley nyahahahaha......anyway pangit talaga boses nya........ pero sister nya ok naman voice. taas nga eh..............' i wana love you forever.........' sikat sa mga beerhouse hahahahahaha