Taro's Blog

田中星児 (Seiji Tanaka) sang 「すてきなサンデー」 (Beautiful Sunday) in 1976, and the song became a smash hit in Japan, 4 years after the hit of its original version, ‘sang’ by Daniel Boone in 1972. It was also the number one 洋楽 (Western music) hit in Japan, selling 1.92 million copies. According to Wikipedia, the song was preceded by 「およげ！たいやきくん」 (“Go swimming! My Fish-shaped Cake”) in 1975, a hit song from a TV show. What amazes me today, watching the video, is that Seiji sang the song live beautifully with the live band, including a big horn section.

On the other hand, I seriously doubt the musicianship of Daniel Boone, supposedly the singer of the original song. I am not convinced that he could even sing or play guitar. I could only find live lip-synching videos (in 1994 and 2013) by him, and they all looked corny, including the original promotional video. I suspect the producer of “Beautiful Sunday” played the guitar, sang, then let Daniel lip-sync. If so, he was preceding Milli Vanilli.

On the contrary, the live performance of “Perfect Day” by my favorite Lou Reed in 2000 was so perfect. A true musician usually does not have to lip-sync except in a few exceptions. (e.g., Whitley’s case that I will mention later.)

I came across a rumor that Fergie (former frontwoman of Black Eyed Peas) sang a terrible national anthem. So, I listened to the video carefully. She was only shaky first few notes, but she nailed it the rest. I truly feel sorry for her. The performance was brilliant, but they judged her by only a few notes she slightly missed in the beginning.
Fergie sings the national anthem (Live) at the NBA All-Star Game 2018

People praised Whitney Houston’s lip syncing to her recording at the Super Bowl in 1991. Come on, Fergie at least sang live, and she was so good. Whitley did not even sing a note live.
Whitney Houston – Star Spangled Banner (Lip-syncing) – Super Bowl 1991