Beyonce admits to lip synch, silences critics with song

Beyonce admits to lip synch, silences critics with song

Beyoncé faced the music and put her lip-syncing scandal to rest Thursday by belting out a rousing â€" and live â€" version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before an audience of skeptical reporters.

“Any questions?” the grinning superstar said when she was through with the demonstration.

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Reporters at the pre-Super Bowl press conference had the answer â€" in the form of thunderous applause that put to rest a fortnight of controversy.

Jaws had dropped from sea to shining sea after Beyoncé belted out a soaring rendition of the National Anthem during President Obama’s inauguration â€" but fans began singing a different tune when a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marine Band suggested Beyoncé might have used a pre-taped version.

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But Beyoncé refused to say whether she had or hadn’t faked it. So the singer, looking ravishing in a white mini dress, began the Thursday presser by asking everybody to stand.

Then, she knocked the patriotic song out of the park.

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Not only did Beyoncé leave no doubt about her ability to hit all the right notes, she insisted, “I absolutely will be singing live” at halftime of Super Bowl XLVII Sunday.

“This is what I was born to do,” she said.

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She finally admitted she sang along with a “pre-recorded track” at the inauguration â€" but did it because she’s a “perfectionist” and didn’t feel ready to perform at her peak.

“I practice until my feet bleed (but) I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra,” she said.

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“Due to no proper sound check, I did not feel comfortable taking a risk. It was about the president and the inauguration, and I wanted to make him and my country proud.”

After the controversy erupted, the Beyoncé camp hunkered down and refused to say whether she did or didn’t fake it.

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But supporters defended her, noting that even Pavarotti faked it when was too cold to perform live.

Beyoncé made a point of arriving in New Orleans early enough to make a recording of the songs she plans to sing â€" a set list that remains a closely guarded secret.

With millions of dollars riding on performances like the half time show, singers typically pre-record a song as insurance against a sore throat or some other calamity.

In 1991, Whitney Houston gave a now-famous performance at the Super Bowl that was aided by a prerecorded soundtrack.

Other stars like Jennifer Hudson and Faith Hill have done the same.

Hudson will be performing at this Super Bowl as well â€" along with a choir of 26 children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 first graders and six staffers were massacred last month by a monster armed with a Bushmaster assault rife.

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com