Talk about floating a huge shit log... As Hitler's propaganda minister said, `If you tell a lie long enough...it becomes the truth..'
-Psyber
Ashlee: Acid reflux caused 'SNL' gaffe
Pop star performs at Radio Music Awards
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- This time Ashlee Simpson sang it for real.
We think.
The 19-year-old pop artist was among a slew of stars who played Monday during the 2004 Radio Music Awards at the Aladdin hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Despite numerous performances by big-name acts such as Destiny's Child and Alanis Morissette, Simpson was at the center of the show thanks to a glitch on "Saturday Night Live" last weekend that revealed she had been lip-synching one of her songs.
Monday night she told awards show host Carson Daly in an off-stage interview that acid reflux disease had made her lose her voice four hours before her "SNL" appearances.
She didn't seem concerned about her slip up.
"You move on," Simpson said. "Things happen."
During the awards show, she had fun with the slip-up. Before she sang "Autobiography" off her hit album, Daly reassured Monday's audience they were getting a live performance.
"Live, yes live," he said.
When Simpson's band started playing, the younger sister of pop starlet Jessica Simpson screamed, "It's the wrong song." Seconds later, she told a stunned theater filled with hundreds of people that she was "only kidding."
Earlier Monday, Simpson's manager-father told radio host Ryan Seacrest 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 Seacrest on Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM. "No one wants to hear that."
He said she's never used the extra help before.
Not uncommon
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.
Billboard magazine noted that Ashlee Simpson also responded to the controversy on her Web site. "I can't cancel something like 'SNL,' " Simpson is said to have written in a posting. "You and I know that even if I synched on it or not, I'd still get seen by millions, maybe even make a few more fans."
The message board has been overwhelmed by both Simpson defenders and Simpson antagonists, the latter often posting vicious and vulgar messages. One contributor referred to a Simpson interview in Lucky magazine in which the singer was asked about lip-synching. "I'm totally against it and offended by it," she said. "I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me."
No politics
Politics didn't spoil the night at the Aladdin either, where rocker Linda Ronstadt was told to leave in July after praising "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore's unflattering documentary about President Bush.
Neither Moore nor Ronstadt appeared at the awards show but former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan made himself seen by wearing a T-shirt "Vote or Die!"
The two-hour show broadcast live on NBC. The nominees in each category were based on radio's top-playing songs. Radio program and music directors nationwide voted on the winners.
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Topic: Ashlee Simpson Blames It On Acid Reflux.. (Read 198 times)