Boyz II Men Pull an 'Ashlee Simpson' During Christmas TV Special

By Jett Wells Posted Dec 1st 2010 10:53AM

Boyz II Men Caught Lip Syncing During Christmas TV Special

Note to musicians performing on live television: Beware the lure of lip syncing because eventually you may get caught. Boyz II Men got busted using a pre-recorded track during their mini set on Tuesday's live NBC special at the tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center.

The R&B group was exposed after an awkward transition to the next act. After Boyz II Men finished performing 'This Christmas,' the show transitioned to a duet by pop singer Charice and pianist David Foster, who were supposed to sing 'Jingle Bell Rock.' But then the Boyz II Men song replayed for more than 12 seconds. The music turned off and on again as one could tell the sound engineers were struggling behind the set. Watch, via Mediaite, after the jump.

All this reminds us of another backing track debacle on NBC, meaning of course the 'SNL' flub by Ashlee Simpson in 2004. Relive that magical moment here.

Tags: boyz ii men

Comments

(59)

Thursday 02 December

By Technomind

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Who cares.

It was a 1/2 hour show that had to start on time and end on time so everything is pre-recorded, linked together, rehearsed to finish in the time alotted. When this sort of thing happens the music is pre-recorded to ensure this.

Today most singers aren't all that good anyway so it shouldn't be any surprise to anyone that a sound glitch showed that elements were pre-recorded.

By Tim

Charice was lip syncing too. What a failure. People can't even go out and sing anymore. They have to fool someone. What ever happened to a good old fashioned performance?

By acbobbyb

Who are these fakers and why were they even on TV? Why don't they put entertainers on that at least we know who they are and can sing for real? Scruffy looking bunch anyway. Looks like they just picked some homeless folks off the street. We can ALL agree on that.

By dstills

The fact that the sound engineers started playing anything at all is proof that Charice and David Foster were faking it too.

By lol

Soooooooooo!

By JustinWho

Justin wannabee Micheal Jackson lip sych alot to. No wonder he loves these boys to men idiots

By WILL

I thought these guys careers were washed up a decade ago. I swear I saw them all working at the local McDonalds.

By wenzy

...AND YOU SAY NOTHING ABOUT MARIAH CAREY? SHE TOO WAS IN LIP-SYNC HELL WHEN SHE MOVED THE MIC AWAY FROM HER MOUTH AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU HEAR ANOTHER HIGH NOTE. SHE IS SO FULL OF HERSELF I DON'T REALLY THINK ANYBODY CARES!

By mari

they were not the only ones-most of that show was a joke

By James D

It is very clear, even though I love a good scandal, that the lead singer is singing live, no doubt about it. Any time you are singing live without a band, the music is pre recorded of course.
How many times do we here the lead singer on stage and hear their own back up vocals also played. How can they do their back up singing while they sing their leads? This is no big deal, as the back up vocal harmony's, are for the most part, always on the master recording. They were not trying to hide anything at all. The music engineer handling the transitions, made a major blunder, as these are professional artists and the show's technicians should do their jobs professionally as well. IM disappointed that this was nothing, not even news worthy. These writers are just taking advantage of people who have no idea how these live performances go down.

By jaba

it's a shame that they're being paid to perform at an event, only to NOT perform. They should be made to give back the money!!! Maybe it's not their voices at all? Who made their records, anyway? Kinda makes you wonder....

By Tom

Obviously the piano player was waiting to fake it too with Charise.

By Jack

Big deal, lip sync has been going on for years. They even do it for live stage shows. No big deal. They sang the song so it was taped and by using lip sync, they will not be making mistakes.
Now the old lounge singers, like Frankie and such did not because they often made a mistake, did not cover it up, it was part of them. But todays singers using the term loosly, have to have everything perfect, their clothes, the make up the band and so on, so to sound right they use the tape.

Now maybe they'll learn how to spell "boys".

By Crys

It sounds like the lead vocals were sung live though over the backing track. If you listen to the special, the lead vocals start at the same time as the backing track. I'm thinking the backing harmonies were recorded as more of "just in case." It's hard to tell if others singing lead were doing it or lip synced. Still, at least one of them was singing lead on the song live. That's more than can be said these days.

By Scott Booker

Looking at the video, its obvious that they were not lip syncing. watch his lips...no one is that perfect at lip syncing. You could hear him breathing as he sang and that was also "perfectly timed" if he was not live! They may have played a recorded background track, but I dont think I have ever heard someone live that doesnt use a recorded background track. There are always haters trying to take something away from people who have worked hard to get what they have!

By linkin park rock

Ok it's not like they're pulling a nillie vinillie, they've already proven that they CAN sing

Thursday 17 February

By MrWhat

They didn't lip synch what you heard were the adlibs for the track, they sung the song. Gheesh don't you folks know anything about performing without a band to save money?

Thursday 31 March

By Tahko

All I heard was backtrack I didn't hear any lyrics. Backtracking to fill a live show better is something everyone does.

Call me when this happens exposing a verse because I didn't hear it.

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