Aretha Franklin has entered the Beyonce Lip-Sync row and said she “cracked up” laughing over the musical controversy now surrounding president Obama’s second inauguration.
The 70-year-old singer, who performed “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” at Obama’s first inauguration ceremony four years ago, spoke to ABC News about the drama.
Franklin told ABC News she thought Beyonce “did a beautiful job” at the event but added :
“When I heard the news this evening that she was pre-recorded I really laughed. I thought it was funny because the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees and for most singers that is just not good singing weather.”
“When I heard that I just really cracked up,” she continued . “I thought it was really funny, but she did a beautiful job with the pre-record … next time I’ll probably do the same.”
Recalling her 2009 inauguration performance, Franklin said she had sung live because “I wanted to give people the real thing” and that “pre-recording never crossed my mind.”
However, the soul legend did concede that a singer’s choice about using a pre-recording was, “optional really, it’s up to the artist.”
Franklin admits Monday’s event was particularly emotional one as it was held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and she knew the late civil rights leader, The Guardian reports .
“I was crying throughout the ceremony at different times,” she said. “Looking at the history of the president coming to the point he came to, looking to where it came from the civil rights movement to yesterday and I think most of the country was crying.”
Franklin also said she thought Kelly Clarkson’s live rendition of “My Country ‘Tis Of Thee” was “magnificent” adding that she “enjoyed every minute of it” and “loved” Clarkson’s arrangement.
To recap, Beyonce performed “The Star Spangled Banner” before a worldwide audience of millions and was accompanied by the US Marine Corps Band.
On Tuesday, comments made by a member of the band led to a media pile-on and mounting questions about whether Beyonce sang the national anthem live – or not.
It has now been definitively established that the band mimed to a pre-recorded tape. However, late Tuesday Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Gregory Wolf told the Associated Press that:
“Regarding Ms Knowles-Carter’s vocal performance, no one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded.”
As yet, Beyoncé has said nothing about the controversy and multiple media requests to her reps for comment are awaiting a response.