Give Beyonce a Break: Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Also Had Recorded Help for Inauguration
Beyonce is getting dragged over the coals for singing with a guide track at the Inaugural swearing in. But listen, kids, she was not lip synching. The pre-tapes are done by all live shows just in case something goes wrong. Today I spoke with the pastor from the Brooklyn Tabernacle and guess what?
The choir–300 strong– had help during their number from their CD. “It’s impossible to get 300 voices blended in the wind and cold like that,” says Pastor Jim about his amazing group. “They sang live, but they had some help from a track.”
Who didn’t have a pre-record? Pastor Jim’s wonderful soloist, Alicia Olatuja. Also, James Taylor and Kelly Clarkson. But “The Star Spangled Banner” is notoriously tough, and Beyonce wasn’t wrong to have a guide track. You can hear her singing live at the beginning of the song, too. Alicia, by the way, comes from St. Louis, home of great singers like the late Fontella Bass.
Pastor Jim says, “She’s been getting calls from the media all the time since Monday.”
Meanwhile, local Brooklynites and New Yorkers of all kinds are invited to come over at 3pm this Sunday to hear Alicia and the whole Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir perform “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” live, with no recordings, and indoors where it’s nice and warm. The Tabernacle is very easy to find, just over the Brooklyn Bridge or Manhattan Bridge, on Smith Street in Flatbush.
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.
Rob Sevinson
What a great comment and I’m surprised it was posted. Not that I see anything wrong with the backing track, nor the lip synching, what I do disagree with is the back pedaling, the excuses and the lying, only to hear an official announcement today that Beyonce was indeed lip synching.
That is fine but don’t corroborate and feed into manipulating the media because as the post says, the truth comes out.
Marc
max-
Actually, your grammar is incorrect. It is “lip-syncing” not “lip synching.”
Barklet
No break.
A singer not singing is a nothing.
max
This comment likely won’t be posted, but nevertheless – you just lost our respect with this nonsense post. Who are you shilling for. It’s hilarious and creepy how they get the media to bs the public when the truth comes out. She was lip synching and made a big show of singing live. Everything about her is a fake, so don’t insult the public’s intelligence. And if you don’t see the difference between her lip synching and a choir of 300 using a guide track, then you can’t be helped. One of the interesting things about this blog is the appreciation for performers from a time not long ago when true artistry and craft meant something – so what a disappointment that you plug for one of the poster children for today’s empty fakery. Even tv contest show winner Kelly Clarkson sang live.