Disgraceful Lip Syncing Artists for the Hall of Shame
Entire careers can fall in an instant if they're caught cheating at what they do, whether it's an athlete, a politician, or a singer. But athletes and politicians can recover with time and come back stronger later. Singers, on the other hand, have it a bit harder, and more so if they're from the nineties.
In the last few decades, many different artists were caught lip-syncing during live performances. In other words, not singing their songs, but letting a background track do the heavy lifting. Some pop artists do it so they can focus on their elaborate choreographies, but others don't really have an excuse.
In the history of lip-syncing fails, there are some of the worst moments a performer can experience, with one band completely disappearing after their scandal.
So, here are some disgraceful lip-syncing artists for the Hall of Shame… and others that just wanted to have fun under the circumstances.
Public Image Ltd.
The punk rockers visited American Bandstand in 1980 and were asked to do lip sync. Their response was to do anything but play their songs, with singer John Lydon going around the audience without saying a word.
Luciano Pavarotti
The BBC asked opera singer Luciano Pavarotti to perform a two-hour concert from Italy, which he did. Pavarotti's team warned the BBC that the singer would lip sync, and they did it anyway. Later, the singer would apologize for the event, saying that there was too little time to prepare.
Nirvana
In 1991, Nirvana was featured on Top of the Pops, where they were asked to lip-sync. Their mischievous minds toyed with the BBC, and they went onto the stage and mimicked everything, exaggerating their movements and just jumping around. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were going to do the same a bit earlier, but they made the mistake of telling the network beforehand, so they removed them from the schedule.
Milli Vanilli
Probably the biggest lip sync scandal in music history. The duo Milli Vanilli was exposed as lip-syncers after an incident during a show in 1989, but that was just the start. A bit later, it was revealed that Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan weren't the ones singing their songs on their Grammy award-winning album at all, and the award was revoked. This sparked a lot of conspiracies and put lip syncing in the eye of the storm during the '90s.
Muse
Muse was another band invited to do a live performance on an Italian TV show while lip-syncing. Instead of refusing the invitation, they decided to swap roles and have some fun.
Mariah Carey
Carey's performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in 2016 wasn't great. Her earpiece was malfunctioning, so she couldn't hear herself singing. In the middle of New Year's celebrations and a big crowd, everything failed while she was making funny remarks, trying to keep the audience engaged.
The Mamas and the Papas
The band was featured on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, and, you guessed it, were asked to lip sync. They were pretty chill about it, except for singer Michelle Phillips, who decided to eat a banana during their performance, letting the audience know they were not actually singing.
Iron Maiden
In 1986, Iron Maiden gave a funny performance on a German TV show. Of course, they were asked to lip sync, so they started swapping instruments in the middle of their song, and turned the performance into pure chaos.
Britney Spears
Spears is one of the few artists who has admitted to lip syncing on some occasions. Her live performances include a lot of dancing and rehearsed choreographies, so it's no surprise that she has a track there in case she needs it.
Beyonce
Beyoncé sang during Obama's inauguration in 2013 and was caught lip-syncing. However, she later opened an NFL press conference singing the same song accapella, showing she has what it takes, and arguing that the event was full of unpredictable things that could mess up everything, so her team decided to play it safe.
Ashlee Simpson
The pop artist was the moment in 2004, but when Jude Law presented her as the musical guest of SNL, the wrong song started playing. Instead of “Autobiography”, the vocals of “Pieces of Me” started while the band was getting ready. Simpson tried to do a funny dance to go with the moment, but she quickly stormed off the stage when she realized nobody was fixing the mistake. SNL went to commercials right away.
Michael Jackson
The King of Pop performed at the Motown 25th Anniversary concert, where he showed the world his iconic Moonwalk. He performed a couple of his songs, but his Billy Jean performance was completely lip-synced.
Whitney Houston
Her performance of the USA National Anthem at the Super Bowl XXV is iconic and considered the best ever. It broke records and was in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. However, during the sports event, it was lip-synced. The artist, like Jennifer Hudson would do years later, recorded her version a few days before the event, and they used that recording on stage. Again, this is a case where too many things can go wrong, so artists decide to play it safe.
Scotty McCreery
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is another place where it's really tough to set up stages and have them work perfectly as they move among the crowds. In 2011, Scotty McCreery couldn't hear the playback track too well, so he started singing before his lips were moving.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The RHCP emerged from the ground in the middle of Bruno Mars' performance at the 2014 Super Bowl, which looked pretty good. The people at the stands had the time of their lives, but those watching at home quickly realized that the band's instruments were unplugged.