Beyonce causes lip-synching stir

It may not be Watergate, but Barack Obama's second term has been hit by its first scandal, barely 24 hours since he took the oath of office.

Beyonce was widely praised for her live rendition of the national anthem The Star Spangled Banner at the inauguration ceremony but now it appears that her performance may have been lip synched.

Lip service: Beyonce sings the Star Spangled Banner at the second inauguration of US President Obama in Washington DC. Pic/AFP

A spokesman for the Marine Corps Band who provided the musical accompaniment for the song said that she did not in fact sing in real time, instead opting for a pre-recorded track of the song.

Hours later, a Marine spokesman backed off the claim and insisted he didn't know one way or the other, ‘no one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded'.

Earlier Master Sgt. Kristin duBois said the band was notified at the last minute that Beyonce would use a pre-recorded voice track.

But later Marine Corps spokesman Captain Gregory Wolf said that because there was no opportunity for Beyonce to rehearse with the Marine Band, it was determined that a live performance by the band was ill advised.

Instead they used a pre-recorded track for the band's portion of the song. "Regarding Knowles-Carter's vocal performance," Wolf's statement continued, "No one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded."
DuBois declined to answer further questions. Earlier in the day, she said that the rest of the inaugural performance was live and they did not know why a recorded track was used for the national anthem.

"It's not because Beyonce can't sing. We all know Beyonce can sing. We all know the Marine Band can play," she said. The news that Beyonce may been lip synching comes as a shock since she went to such an effort to appear as if she were singing live. u00a0u00a0

Aretha Franklin ‘laughed' at Beyonce news
Aretha Franklin has said that she "cracked up" laughing at reports that Beyonce lip-synched at US President Obama's inauguration. Franklin said she still thinks Beyoncé ‘did a beautiful job" but added: "When I heard the news this evening that she was pre-recorded I really laughed. I thought it was funny because the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees and for most singers that is just not good singing weather. When I heard that I just really cracked up." "I thought it was really funny, but she did a beautiful job with the pre-record … next time I'll probably do the same."u00a0