Beyonce admits lip-synching at Obama inauguration

By MARGARET NEIGHBOUR
Published on 02/02/2013 00:00

BEYONCE has admitted she did “lip-sync” when she performed at the US inauguration day.

The singer held a press conference in New Orleans, ahead of her half-time performance at tomorrow’s American football championship Super Bowl.

She said she was a “perfectionist” and wanted her ­performance for President Barack Obama to be a memorable one. She called the day “emotional”. Beyonce opened the press conference with a live rendition of the national anthem.

“I practise until my feet bleed and I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra,” she said.

“Due to no proper sound check, I did not feel comfortable taking a risk.

“It was about the president and the inauguration, and I wanted to make him and my country proud, so I decided to sing along with my ­pre-recorded track, which is very common in the music ­industry.

“And I’m very proud of my performance.”

She asked those at the conference to stand before she belted out The Star Spangled Banner, and then said with a laugh: “Any questions?”

The star had not spoken publicly since it was alleged that she lip-synched her rendition of The Star Spangled Banner at Mr Obama’s inauguration last month.

Her critically praised performance came under scrutiny less than a day later when a representative from the US Marine Band said she was not ­singing live and the band’s ­accompanying performance was taped.

Shortly afterwards, the group backed off its initial statement and said no-one could tell if she was singing live or not.

Last year, Madonna’s performance was the most-watched Super Bowl half-time performance ever, with an average of 114 million viewers.