Yvonne Ferry Lip Sync and Ghost Singers

Lip Sync and Ghost Singers

Lip sync battles are featured on TV at the present time. Lip sync is a technical term for pre recorded vocals matching a speaking or singing persons lip movements "The hills are alive with the sound of Music".

Julie Andrews's singing was as authentic as the lady herself. She had no need to avail of a "ghost singer", or to lip sync, as she played the role of Maria in the wonderful production "The Sound of music" filmed in 1965. It is the story of a young woman who left a convent to become a governess to the seven children of Captain Von Trapp. She later married him, and they formed a concert group. A lady called Marni Nxon played the role of Sr. Sophia in that film, she had a beautiful singing voice and actually dubbed other star's voices in many films. The King and I, also a Rogers and Hammerstein production was filmed in 1956. Yul Brynner played the King of Siam opposite Deborah Kerr who played Anna. Marni Nixon sang six of Kerr's songs, but she only received the paltry sum of $10.000 and the film made millions at the box office. She also sang for Audrey Hepburn in Lerner & Loewe's "My Fair Lady ". Audrey herself sang "Just you wait ‘Enri ‘Iggins ". Rex Harrison, the male lead in that film, had a poor singing voice, but spoke his songs in key which proved effective, as in "Why can't a woman be more like a Man".

Marni Nixon was an accomplished singer in her own right. She sang opera and recorded many songs. She also dubbed Natelie Wood in Leonard Bernstein's "Westside Story". This film was the 1961 version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It was set in New York and featured rival gangs that became violent and the film ended in tragedy. A lady called Betty Wand sang for Rita Marino in this film, and she also dubbed Lesley Caron in the film Gigi. Male ghost singer Bill Lee sang for Christopher Plummer in the afore mentioned film" The Sound of Music". Plummer's voice was deemed to be weak so Bill Lee sang the beautiful song " “Edelweiss". He also provided many voices for Walt Disney.

The film South Pacific, another Rogers and Hammerstein production was released in 1958. It featured sailors and nurses involved in the war in the South Pacific. A man named Georgio Tozzi dubbed Rosano Brazzi's voice. “Some Enchanted Evening” was a memorable song rendered in this manner. Co-star Mitzi Gaynor was not dubbed. “I'm gonna wash that man right outa my hair” was all her doing! Getting back to the ladies, Kathie Green sang for the youthful Mark Lyster in the 1968 film Oliver, which was based on the Dickens novel Oliver Twist. She sang the emotional song "Where is Love". The young actor was brilliant throughout the film but did not have a good singing voice, and onions were placed under his nose to bring on the tears needed for that song! One India Adams ghosted for Cyd Charise in the 1953 film Band Wagon, and for Joan Crawford in the film Torch Song. In modern films the singers are not usually dubbed. In the film “Les Miserables”, Anne Hathaway sang a heart rending “I Dreamed a Dream", and proved her singing ability with all the emotion which that song required. So, much ghost singing was used in the smash hit musical films of the 1950's and 1960's. Alas, the ghost or secret singers were not given their due recognition at the time, payment was poor and their contract demanded that the dubbing was not to be disclosed. Later, Marni Nixon got together with her fellow secret singers, and demanded and finally received some recognition and recompense, which they had so richly earned. She passed away in 2016. We have all heard of the big Hollywood stars such as Joan Crawford, Deborah Kerr, Audrey Hepburn and Christopher Plummer, but how many of us have heard the names of their ghost singers? They helped the stars enormously on the road to fame, so let us remember them and give them their due place in entertainment history.

Yvonne Ferry