Henley Vanilli : Singers Who Lip Sync Live Performances--- Are They Cheats?

[Ky Fried Redleg]

If you shelled out $500 or more to see an Eagles live concert, would you feel cheated if you found out your heroes were just miming the words to their songs? There is a channel on You Tube that I have followed for several years now that is operated by a professional musician who is an expert at pitch correction and pitch analysis technology. He uses it in a lot of his videos when he assesses performances from decades ago up to the present.

He released a video about three weeks ago that has gone viral . His conclusion--- Don Henley(Vanilli) has been lip synching the words to his songs during "live" performances for years. His evidence is simply irrefutable. He analyzed performances a few years apart and it was revealed that Henley had virtually identical wave patterns(aside from some ambient noise) for each performance. This is absolutely impossible!!! In his video, Fil , the channel operator, sings a line of a song three different times, trying to sing it in identical fashion each time. To the human ear, it sounds exactly the same each time. But the pitch software revealed variant wave patterns for each time he sang the line. Yet, Eagles' concerts from years apart, shows identical wave patterns for Henley's vocals. BUSTED!!!! It's like a fingerprint. No two performances would have the same pitch wave patterns. The eagles are cheats and have been for years. I hate this because I have always been a fan of this group's work since the early and mid-70's.

When you lay out your hard earned dough for a concert, do you go with the expectation that the performers are going to actually be singing? Do you think that concert-goers are being cheated by people like Henley and the Eagles , who just mime the words to their songs at concerts? I expect this Henley thing to gain some traction, simply because of his stature in the music industry and the fact that he is one of the most litigious people in the business. He will sue anyone over what he deems his unauthorized use of his music. How ironic is it that the guy who sues at the drop of a hat over stealing music has been cheating paying customers for years?

Does it matter to you when you go to an Eagles, or any other, concert if the bandmembers are actually singing live? Should they inform concert-goers ahead of the event, that some or all of the vocals will be tracked, and not performed live?

[Ky Fried Redleg]

[KronoRed]

They should tell people it's fake but for a band like The Eagles it's either tracked vocals or no show, they aren't going out there and embarrassing themselves and yes if they tried to sing it live it would be awful.

[texasdave]

For the people that bought tickets, and are just finding out about this lip-syncing nonsense: There's gonna be a heartache tonight.

One question: Are they playing their own instruments? Or faking that too? (Is that two questions?)

[Ky Fried Redleg]

For the people that bought tickets, and are just finding out about this lip-syncing nonsense: There's gonna be a heartache tonight.

One question: Are they playing their own instruments? Or faking that too? (Is that two questions?)

Fil mentions that in his analysis video. He said he would like to think they are playing to a click track but we just don't know. One thing is for absolutely certain, however. Henley is not singing!!!

[Ky Fried Redleg]

For the people that bought tickets, and are just finding out about this lip-syncing nonsense: There's gonna be a heartache tonight.

One question: Are they playing their own instruments? Or faking that too? (Is that two questions?)

Seems like after the thrill was gone, the Eagles checked themselves into a Sade Cafe. And you know what they say about sad cafes... You can check in but you can never leave.

[Ky Fried Redleg]

After the recent pitch analysis video of the miming Eagles went viral, there have been others come out. Here's an interesting one. This is someone who was able to do the near impossible; that is, get a zoomed in shot of Henley on " vocals." This guy, while having someone watch his back for security, was able to zoom in on Henley and catch some of his mistakes.

For those who don't want to watch the 9- minute video exposing Henley's lip syncing, here's the conclusions reached by the video maker:

1. Most, but not all, of the Eagles' instrumentation is real.

2. The harmonies are all tracked--- 100% fake.

3. Henley plays drums on a couple of songs but ALL of his vocals are tracked. NOT a word of actual singing from Litigator Don.

4. Walsh's guitar playing is real and he's sings about 90% of the time, miming to some lines, especially the ones that features high notes he can't hit anymore.

5. Vince Gill and Deacon Frey sing 100% of their respective vocals.

[TRF]

Well, for me anyway, every version of Hotel California gives me rocket diarrhea.

So, yeah, in this case, bwhahahahahahahaha.

I hate the Eagles.

[dfs]

Guys who play with the eagles are told in no uncertain terms to play exactly what was on the record. There shall be no improvisation, flourishes or additions. This is almost the exact opposite of what live music is supposed to be. If that's the attitude towards the instrumentals then why not just use recorded vocal tracks as well.

[NebraskaRed]

I've always felt like there was a line when it came to using pre-recorded elements in live performances. If a band uses some pre-recorded backing vocals to augment the sound, or background instrumentation to supplement the performance, I think I'm okay with that.

When they're using a completely pre-recorded lead vocal, like Henley is clearly doing, then what is the point of the live performance? Other than for the artist to make money, of course.

[WrongVerb]

They should tell people it's fake but for a band like The Eagles it's either tracked vocals or no show, they aren't going out there and embarrassing themselves and yes if they tried to sing it live it would be awful.

This is what I think. Age catches up with everyone, including Henley. Weather can also wreck havoc on a singing voice, which explains why others do it. They'd rather put on a good show (which is what you're paying for), even if it includes lip syncing, than go out and have a shot voice after just a few songs, or not be able to hit notes that used to be hit with regularity.

[Roy Tucker]

I get that people don’t like the lip syncing. But, like in this case, sometimes you really have to study the video and audio to see and hear it happening. If you’re just at the show, drinking your beer, and in the moment, you can’t really tell it’s happening. So is this a bad thing? If this very scrupulous analysis hadn’t been done, everyone would say “great show!!!” Hard for me to say.

There are a lot of classic rock guys out there that are still touring and it’s their backup singers that are hitting the high notes. Hard to record songs with a 20-something voice and still be able to sing it at 60-something. I know my voice has dropped the proverbial octave.

[Ky Fried Redleg]

I've always felt like there was a line when it came to using pre-recorded elements in live performances. If a band uses some pre-recorded backing vocals to augment the sound, or background instrumentation to supplement the performance, I think I'm okay with that.

When they're using a completely pre-recorded lead vocal, like Henley is clearly doing, then what is the point of the live performance? Other than for the artist to make money, of course.

I feel the same. In my opinion, if you can't hit the notes anymore, then hang it up.


“All rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire”. --- Grace Slick

[WildcatFan]

Henley's always had a ridiculously high range, and he probably doesn't anymore. I'm fine with it, particularly since so much of the rest of the show is truly live.

Even he just can't hit em these days, why ruin it for the rest of the band? Play your drums, pretend to sing, and cash them checks.

[Ky Fried Redleg]

Henley's always had a ridiculously high range, and he probably doesn't anymore. I'm fine with it, particularly since so much of the rest of the show is truly live.

Even he just can't hit em these days, why ruin it for the rest of the band? Play your drums, pretend to sing, and cash them checks.

That's fine, I guess, but at least tell the fans in advance what you're doing so they can decide if they want to shell out a thousand bucks to watch Don mime his words. They should have some huge neon lights flashing "Don is NOT actually singing" when he begins his mime work. Again, just to reiterate, Don doesn't sing a single word live and ALL of the harmonies are tracked as well. Not worth $500-1,000 a ticket.