Ashlee Simpson's dad said his daughter never used a so-called "backing track" until Saturday night -- and she only did it then because an upset stomach had hurt her vocal cords.

The teen star made national headlines when a technical glitch disrupted her appearance on "Saturday Night Live." Simpson's voice started playing when her lips clearly weren't moving.

Her dad said Ashlee has acid reflux disease and it's made her voice hoarse. He said that's why she used the taped track, as a sort of back-up to help the overall sound of the song.

Saturday Night Live's executive producer, Lorne Michaels, told the Associated Press that the technique is common and that Simpson was performing live. He said he feels "terrible" for the young singer.

FROM
http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=101122&SecID=33

Lies! Give it up....you suck...

yeah, she does suck, i think she's trying to "capitalize" on jessica's DECENT voice(only decent), but ashlee quite frankly, sucks.

Itd wouldve been better to cancel the appearance if it was really serious.

Either the music biz is anal retentive at exploiting their (coff) artists to the point of their own healths or they're really revealed themselves how fake their product and industry is altogether.

I cant wait to hear them blame p2p networks for this.
"Because of those theiving p2p users...poor ashley was so uset shehad a stomach bug that gave her acid reflux and we were forced to use an 'enhancement track'"

Sue customers...invade our privacy..sneak dirty unconstituational laws into our lobby.. and piss off whatever left over fans they got by revealing what fakes their "artists" are. LOL What a joke!

Perhaps we should go to
http://www.ashleesimpsonmusic.com
and post the introduction of Dmusic to those disgruntled fans of hers while they're weary of the major records.

Apparently those forums are either not moderated or can't keep up with the venom that's going in there.

Either way..another nail in the coffin for Geffen and the RIAA. *hi-5's*

Who is Ashlee Simpson? To ask that question maybe says it all for me. Honestly, I don't know who she is.

*sniffsniff* Someone forgot to flush.

She'd have a better shot at salvaging a career if she got some implants and did a shoot with playboy, then died her hair and went punk.

Wet1:

I didnt know who she really was either other than she was a teen pop star and a sister of the blonde girl who acts like ditz on cable television.

apparently their dad who was a poor baptist minister is now the pimp daddy manager of these girls.

i think she's relatively new..several months into her career but it supposedly sky rocketed and her rather revealing lip syncing was caught on last weekends Saturday Night Live.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6322824
http://www.tombarger.com/movies/ashlee2.snl.mov

The quicktime movie clip is a small download but it's hilarious.

This girl wouldn't even make it in the top 10 if she were on American Idol. She only has a cd and was on SNL because of her famous sister.

Flipping though to mon night football. Caught her on radio awards show. Too many of them anyway. Her costume i assume, was just awful. The song had to be lipped, 60% of the time her back was to her peers . No heart and soul to it or in it. Must be a bubble gum kids they sell to. Back to football

Can't argue with success. I just received my Rolling Stone in the mail today. Ashlee's album is top 20.

GAG.

I hate to break it to you naysayers, but this story is TRUE. She has had the problem before.

I've also had this problem. It sucks so bad, and there's nothing you can do about it and still go on live television a day or two after it acts up.

She's not the first to do it, and I guarantee that MANY artists you people like have done the same thing. Mostly, it's the venue's ability to handle their sound for the others, but once in a while acid reflux halts all plans...

It's called Xantac She's not a trained singer, so I suppose this could be true, but I defintely do not believe that this was her first time using a backing track.

acid reflux? gosh no wonder I didn't make it as a famos tenor. all this time I thought I couldn't carry a tune.

as someone who works in the entertainment industry, this is a very common occurance in a live performance. I worked a show a few weeks ago, that the whole band/ background vocals were directly from a laptop rather than the band which was playing on the stage. Besides, anyone with any sense would be able to tell that you can't dance the way that these girls dance, and still have the support to be able to sing in a manner their fans want to see, and have it sound just like their cd!!

When i go to a concert i want to hear them sing and play. Not from a CD or a laptop. A DVD would do then. Is it live or is it memorex ? DVD =25.00 concert=a cheap one $100.00. Oh my god they all must be studio singers only. Memorex is the winner.

If elaborate dance routines keep them from holding a note, They shouldn't dance. Hire some dancers instead. We don't need all those damn excuses. His daughter sounds like crap without studio technology and we got a small taste of it on SNL.

She's too young for acid reflux. She probably vomits and burns her vocal cords.
Prilosec or Prevacid work fine to cure the acid problem.

She can't be too young... unless it can't happen for another year. I'm a year older.

Are you taking medication for it? You should, it's important. Maybe you have an ulcer?

Plenty of ppl play crazy guitar riffs and sing at the same time....there are drummers that sing too...if they can keep 4 beats going and sing at the same time I'm sure you could dance and sing too.....If this is common then it is all too sad for music. Ppl would understand if you messed up and had voice probs, but not this. Any singer that does this can shove it.

Do you smoke? Drink coffee?

Regardless, if you have acid reflux and take the proper med, you no longer have the acid. You still have reflux, but no acid.

how exactly does an upset stomach affect the vocal cords? I wasn't aware that her dad had a PhD in the affects on the voice box from the digestive system. Her voice sounded perfectly fine afterwards to me when she tried to explain the screw up.

Since when does acid reflux hurt your voice?

What a liar. I guess nobody is supposed to find out how many performers actually fake it on stage. Then nobody would even want to download RIAA music, much less buy it.

Acid reflux my ass..ah hahahahaha!!!

So what if she does? See here we go...they come out and give us all a little spin doctoring and sure enough, here's some of you acting like sheep...haulin right in...geeuz!!

The girl can't sing....she's a puppet. Its called "autotune 3" which they use in the studio to make vocal tracks sound in tune.

If they wanna play those games putting talentless people on the stage and have them mouth to a vocal track....then by god I wish them all the shit that comes their way when things go wrong. Put people on the stage who can do the job...solve all ya problems.

As far as dancing and singing goes?...Ashlee's sister Jessica seems to do fine doing it. I'm not a fan of Jessica ..but at least the girl can sing.

UnDEATH - "Date: October 25, 2004 @ 11:07 PM
I hate to break it to you naysayers, but this story is TRUE. She has had the problem before.

I've also had this problem. It sucks so bad, and there's nothing you can do about it and still go on live television a day or two after it acts up.

She's not the first to do it, and I guarantee that MANY artists you people like have done the same thing. Mostly, it's the venue's ability to handle their sound for the others, but once in a while acid reflux halts all plans..."


I have Acid reflux on a daily basis, so I hate to break it to you, but her excuse IS lame. Yes, reflux sucks, but it doesn't make you get a raspy voice on it's own, unless it is causing damage over a long period of time. Yes, it's painfull, but it does not give you an excuse to rip off your fans either. If her reflux has gotten to a point where she is losing her voice, then her carrier is over, and no back tracking will ever fix that. Her fathers excuse is B.S.

I also hate to break it to you, but it is well known that most, if not all 'Pop' stars use backing tracks of thier own voice when performing live. It's the 'Pop' industries dirty little well known secrete. They all use backing tracks for thier voice, becuse they get out breath dancing like morons to their stupid lame music, and can't sing for shit while trying to regain it. Not a single one of these modern flash in the pan pop stars goes on without a vocal backing track anymore, no matter if they are in good health, or have acid reflux. There is no defense for what she did, and she shouldn't try to make an excuse for it. THe sheepy pop fans are to stupid to care if the music they love has to be faked live anyway. All they care about are lame dance moves, and how good their pop idol looks on stage. The music takes a back seat in the 'Pop' industry. It has for over a decade now, and that is a huge problem IMO.

It's really a shame that people still listen to crapy music like that knowing it is nothing more than a marketing tool to sell pimple cream, and Pepsi. Ya' know, maybe if they didn't dance like idiots up on stage all show long, they wouldn't need to use a backing track of thier own voice. Maybe if they didn't use a bunch of dancing morons during their shows, who having nothing to do with making the music, they wouldn't have to charge so much for tickets as well, and they wouldn't feel the need to dance along with them, and get out of breath to the point that they have to depend on vocal backing traks all show long.

I don't mean to offend anyone who loves the mindless pop music of today, but c'mon, how can you guys not see what is going on here. The music is wrtten by professional song writters, not the performer. The artists(if you can call them that) are picked out of the Micky Mouse Club line for their looks, and not their talent, and it's all marketed to little kids in hopes of turning them all into little vain sheeps. Modern pop music is the cause for the dumbing down of music fans IMO.

It's a shame that when you go to a pop performance these days, you have to ask yourself "Is it live, or is it memorex"

"Besides, anyone with any sense would be able to tell that you can't dance the way that these girls dance, and still have the support to be able to sing in a manner their fans want to see, and have it sound just like their cd!!"

Then maybe they should cut out the dancin', and concentrate on the music. Are pop stars going to be musicians(I use that term very loosely for the pop genre), or broadway performers? They need to make up their damn minds.

While some people are good enough to do two separate things at once, dancing and singing are not one of them. A lot of oxygen is expelled as you attempt to do a multitude of moves and since your body is wanting more oxygen, it's virtually impossible to sing all the words that you hear as you watch someone supposedly sing and dance at the same time.

And it's obvious that lots and lots of todays acts are using a vocal track. A live performance and the CD version sound different. Just listen to a real band and then go to their concert. But when all the pop and a number of R&B acts sound the same on the album and live, then you know something's up.

Real performers. Real musicians. "Live" performances.

"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.

It was the band’s drummer who pushed the wrong button onstage, he said.

Said Michaels: “If she were a more seasoned performer then I think that she would’ve taken charge and said, ‘No, let’s start this over again.”’

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6322824/

It was the band’s drummer who pushed the wrong button onstage
wouldn't it be a midi triger on the kit and not a button?

My friend is a great msuician and works on the Tonight Show. He says the producers of the show are too dumb to know that most artists are lyp-syncing. Although the hsow has rules against it.

You people should accept the fact that working bands in Las Vegas do 6 shows a night 6 days a week, all-out dancing and singing from the first notes to the last. And consider how hard the touring Broadway chorus line kids work to get a break someday.

It's called SHOW BUSINESS.

There is no excuse for a vocalist to appear on national television and give an excuse that they are huffin' and puffin' too badly during dance routines to sing a few choruses. Maybe you should quit smoking cigarettes and come back later in the year. Millions of hopefuls are standing in line and would steal your job in a minute if you can't handle the assigment.

We might make a case that concert touring is a back-breaking task. You would be astounded that so many top acts, including the Eagles, start songs with a drum click-track. The reason is that background harmonies are on tape. Those kind of performing acts are easy to spot. The same set list every night. No improvisational vamp braeks anywhere in the song. You can't get off measure, by shouting Hello Houston! or whatever. I have indeed witnessed acts in Las Vegas enter the song at the wrong place and it is a train wreck. You have to stop the song and start over.

The proper answer to this is to use your entertainment dollar in support of rock acts that actually perform three hour sets like Tom Petty and Springsteen. The whole issue of using background tapes is absurd to real musicians.

And by the way, let me mention the problems faced by world class bass players like Leland Sklar. Many top touring acts have a dreadlock bass player pretend to perform to taped bass parts. This kind of non-musician is actually a professional DANCER, and he/she works cheap. It makes the show LOOK BETTER.

My daughter was watching VH1 on Sunday: In Search of the New Partridge Family. In search of MORE people who pretend to sing and play instruments? Why?

Btw, Tom, thanks for the insightful post.

Acid reflux my ass. It's the same as Milli Vanilli. She sucks.

"how exactly does an upset stomach affect the vocal cords? "

I sing every single day AND I have acid reflux. I take 1 Xantac every single day and I'm never without a Tums, just in case. What it can do is cause a large amount of phlegm on the vocal chords. But if you're not smart enough to know that a singer should not clear their throat harshly and should not go out on stage to perform until they have warmed up enough to clear the phlegm off their chords, then yes, you can become hoarse by trying to push it.

You should get a prescription for Prilosec or Prevacid. They really are miracle drugs.

rjosborn said: "Besides, anyone with any sense would be able to tell that you can't dance the way that these girls dance, and still have the support to be able to sing in a manner their fans want to see, and have it sound just like their cd!!"

Tell that to the Brazilian Axe(pron. Ashay) singers who perform at Carnaval like Daniela Mercury and Ivete Sangalo who sing and dance live for hours on stage non stop on trio electricos with verve and energy. They excercise for hours a day just to keep their bodies in shape to keep up the energy to sing live.

Heh, maybe Ashlee - and other recording industry stars -should fly south and take a few singing lessons.

Any REAL singer, hell, any MUSICIAN that had any place performing in that type of venue would have been able to remedy that situation without thinking twice about the best course of action.

I saw the video footage -- that was lame.

Can't sing and dance at the same time? Tell that to Bette Midler. It's called hard work and TALENT.

Acid Reflux does affect the "singing voice" at some level if youre reaching to the heady voice from falsetto to soprano because the bronchial tubes control the air flow to your larngx when you switch octave gear.

But from the sound of her talking voice at SNL..and listening to the songs she was supposed to perform..I cant imagine why she not would be able to sing them live.
Those songs are just within the female chest voice range and of only 1 octave and not even remotely dynamic.
It's not like she was about to perform a opera and going up and down with her voice unless she intended to scream.

It's just crummy excuses people!

The real shock here is why on earth SNL has to have a no-talent like Ashlee on anyway. I would rather see some old rock and roll fart perform and sing and play live than to see the likes of Ashlee and Britney and all the rest. (I am trying hard NOT to remember who they are)

I don't think that many youngsters watch SNL anyway.

great, she can now join the ranks of Bubb Rubb, Robert Tilton the Farting Preacher, and the Star Wars Kid.

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/eb_ashlee_sax.wmv

RockNRollWoman:
The days when SNL was an actual good show from the ground-up days have been LOOOOOONG gone. Like MTV.
[retches]


Frankly, I dont care what her excuses were but her behavior for disrespecting the audience by ditching them and her band was an absolute disgrace. Any experienced musician at ANY level learns how to improvise when things go wrong. You DONT ABANDON SHIP...thats worse.

She not only lacks musical skills but a as performer in general as well.

I'm still just laughing at the whole thing.

i could care less. my first thought when i heard this story was "who tf is that?"

but as for her dad coming to her defense, what the hell is her problem? if she wants to try and bullshit us, let her do it herself. spoiled little b$@&^.

what difference does it make if she's had it before? It doesn't affect the vocal cords in any way.

"She not only lacks musical skills but a as performer in general as well."

And she's ass-ugly.