Beyonce lips sealed in sync uproar

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Beyonce lips sealed in sync uproar

LOS ANGELES - Beyonce remained silent on Wednesday over her headline-making rendition of the U.S. national anthem at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, leaving others to do the talking over whether she lip-synched to a prerecorded track.

Celebrity magazine Us Weekly quoted a source saying the Grammy-winning artist was disappointed by the controversy she stirred by singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Monday’s solemn ceremony using a backing track - and drew a comparison to the late Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti.

As some of America’s singing stars offered sympathy and understanding, an inaugural official, who declined to be identified, told CNN Beyonce “did not sing live.”

“Because she didn’t have time to rehearse with the U.S. Marine Band, she decided to use her recording with the Marine Band,” the official told CNN on Wednesday.

The U.S. Marine band said in a statement on Tuesday that no one in the band “is in a position to assess whether it was live or prerecorded.”

Us Weekly, meanwhile, quoted a different unidentified source as saying, “She did sing, but used a track. She didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

“Pavarotti has done it! It was freezing out, and if she messed up just one note, that would have been the story .?.?. Everybody uses these tracks, and the music director advised it,” the Us Weekly source added.

Pavarotti lip-synched his last performance, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, because of the bitter weather and his failing health, according to orchestra conductor Leone Magiera in a 2008 book.

Beyonce’s publicist has declined to comment on the furore, but Aretha Franklin and Jennifer Lopez chimed in with their support.

“I thought it was funny because the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees [Fahrenheit], or and for most singers that is just not good singing weather,” Franklin, 70, who sang live at Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, told ABC News.

“She did a beautiful job with the prerecord ... next time I’ll probably do the same.”

Lopez told Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” on Tuesday that many performers resort to using prerecorded tracks. Reuters

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