Comparing Ashley Simpson to 'real' musicians

Hi Guys

I have been having a bit of a ponder on what we've been discussing, & I've come up with the following yarn:
In response to the whole Milli Vanilli, I'd like to draw your attention to an instance whereby the singer/culprit was caught in the act of lip-sinking. During a so-called 'live performance', or 'live appearance' rather, on the popular talk show Saturday Night Live, Ashley Simpson was caught out when she missed her cue to start singing. This saw her becoming completely red-faced, making an early exit from the stage, & leaving her band to complete the song in the awkwardness of the situation (video). However, unlike Fab & Rob from MV, who had to attend publicly humiliating press conferences, Miss Simpson emerged with little long-term consequential scaring, & continues to be a role model to many a teeny bopper (while making a few million along the way). Granted, her name is not often mentioned between the covers of such respectable music magazines as the Rolling Stone, but despite all the odds, the possibility of this young pseudo-diva not only being nominated, but receiving a reputable music award for 'best female vocalist' (so, in this case, the Buenos Aires Times Music Awards do not count) is still within her grasp. After her receiving of the 2004 Q Award for Best Female Vocalist, Madonna was met with seemingly unkind-yet-frivolous words from Sir Elton John. Yes, his royal-fairyness himself, was reported saying during one of his temper tantrums "since when has lip-syncing been live", & added "anyone who lip-syncs in public on stage, when you pay $134 to see them, should be shot". Although she has long been criticised of lip-syncing during her live performances, Madge has maintained her stance & dismisses all such claims as false.
Now, as mentioned in the lecture last week, being able to sing perfectly while dancing simultaneously is virtually impossible. Therefore, in such an instance as the 2003 MTV Video Awards, where she performed that raunchy duet with queen tween Britney Spears, she (as well as Spears) would have been lip-syncing, & yet there was not so much as a single purist’s outcry. Furthermore, to me this simply illustrates the newly evolved relationship between live performance and mediatized performance.
It is with this in mind that I believe the secret to leaving behind a truly inspiring legacy, is more than being really good, but being authentic. Successful blues artists are indebted to their performing abilities. BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Hendrix- all of these artists are revered as some of the world’s greatest guitarists, besides the fact that they played electric guitars (reference to Bob Dylan’s incident at the Newport Folk Festival). Within the last decade, there was not much on offer to the airwaves in terms of blues. However, in the wake of him winning the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Male Vocalist, John Mayer has not only built the reputation & fanbase of guitar legend, but has also become one. From being regarded as a cliche acoustic singer/songwriter romantic, to rock/blues guitar connoisseur legend, Mayer has been identified as one of the “new guitar gods” in the Rolling Stone. To be able to make such a shift convincingly is a feat requiring, not only the convincing of the public, but of the critics- including famous guitarist’s themselves, who have since complimented Mayer on his guitaring ability- something that money could not buy. (The same shift is comparible to that from being a successful child actor, an equally successful adult actor). Therefore, it becomes a matter of ‘talking’, as well as ‘walking the walk’. Mayer is continually performing on tours, and known for straying completely off set-lists & playing impromptu 20 minute solos- something that cannot be successfully orchestrated while using pre-recorded vocal/band tracks. In Ashley Simpson’s case, ‘live’ shows (as rare as they would be) would strictly abide to a set-list, & for those of you who are interested, the following link connects to a video of Ashley singing in her ‘real’ voice- something that not many would call ‘talented’. Auslander claims that “live performance…has long been understood as the realm of the authentic, the true test of musicianship undisguised by studio trickery” (pg 89). However, does this comply with such an artist as Simpson? If what one hears on the record is not the true & authentic voice of the artist, nor is what is played at live performances, is it then wrong? It is a debatable issue, as it may well be her voice that is singing, but following all the ‘tweaking’, the studios has arguably changed the recognisable characteristics of her voice.
Like Clapton’s Unplugged album (1992), which is referred to in the Auslander reading, Mayer too has a live album, Any Given Thursday (2003). In his, Clapton covers a number of other artist’s songs, & so too does Mayer. In his cover of SRV’s instrumental Lenny, he breaks in & out of the song by adding his own ‘flavour’ to it. Time constraints are present on both albums- as this is Mayer’s longest track at 8 mins. Meanwhile, Clapton seems to play the songs through once, & avoids going off on tangents. Is this evidence of both artists being aware, & therefore, restricted by time constraints? It wouldn’t be too severe I’d think, but the fact is that mediatisation of the live performance, to some extent, affects its validity of being ‘authentic’. Then again, it could just be that Clapton didn’t feel the need to prove himself as a guitarist, unlike Mayer did at the time, & simply stuck to basics; thus complying the ‘unplugged’ ethos.
One thing is certain, Ashley Simpson will not be releasing a live album anytime soon.