Login
Login

playback singer

{{short description|Singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in film}}

{{pp-sock|small=yes}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

File:Lata Mangeshkar at an event.jpg recorded thousands of songs]]

A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not appear on the screen. Generally, to synchronize with the emotional situation of the song or complete movie, the playback singer is given the idea of all those so that the singer can interpret by taking the right moves in their vocals.

South Asia

South Asian films produced in the Indian subcontinent frequently use this technique. A majority of Indian films as well as Pakistani films typically include six or seven songs. After Alam Ara (1931), the first Indian talkie film, for many years singers made dual recordings for a film, one during the shoot, and later in the recording studio, until 1952 or 1953. Popular playback singers in India enjoy the same status as popular actors and music directors{{Cite journal |last=Wolk |first=Douglas |date=April 1999 |title=Kill Your Radio: Music on The 'Net |journal=CMJ New Music |issue=Electro Media |page=61}}{{Cite book |author=D. Booth, Gregory |title=Behind the curtain: making music in Mumbai's film studios |year=2008 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-532764-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/behindcurtainmak00boot/page/275 275–276] |url=https://archive.org/details/behindcurtainmak00boot/page/275}}{{cite web |author=Srinivasan, Meera |title=Fans spend a sleepless night |url=http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/27/stories/2009022759331200.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301224259/http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/27/stories/2009022759331200.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 March 2009 |date=27 February 2009 |work=The Hindu |access-date=18 August 2009}} and receive wide public admiration. Most of the playback singers are initially trained in classical music, but they later often expand their range.{{cite web |title=Realising a dream |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/02/17/stories/2003021701130200.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030701125829/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/02/17/stories/2003021701130200.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 July 2003 |date=17 February 2003 |author=Rajamani, Radhika |work=The Hindu |access-date=22 July 2009}}

Mohammed Rafi and Ahmed Rushdi{{cite web |title=Rushdi remembered as magician of voice |date=12 April 2011 |url=http://nation.com.pk/lahore/12-Apr-2011/rushdi-remembered-as-magician-of-voice |work=The Nation |access-date=8 March 2019 |archive-date=13 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313171030/http://nation.com.pk/lahore/12-Apr-2011/Rushdi-remembered-as-magician-of-voice |url-status=live}} are regarded as two of the most influential playback singers in South Asia.*{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mohammed-rafi-mn0000582254 |title=Mohammed Rafi |last=Harris |first=Craig |website=AllMusic |access-date=28 August 2018 |archive-date=29 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072129/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mohammed-rafi-mn0000582254 |url-status=live}}

  • {{cite web |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/keyword/mohammad-rafi |work=The Times of India |title=Articles about Mohammad Rafi |access-date=15 April 2013}}
  • {{cite web |title=Ahmed Rushdi, Remembering a legend |url=http://dawn.com/2012/04/11/remembering-a-legend-ahmed-rushdi/ |work=Dawn News |date=11 April 2012 |access-date=28 December 2012 |archive-date=7 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207155713/http://dawn.com/2012/04/11/remembering-a-legend-ahmed-rushdi/ |url-status=live}}
  • {{cite web |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/5631/remembering-ahmed-rushdi/ |work=The Express Tribune |title=Remembering Ahmed Rushdi |date=12 April 2010 |access-date=28 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427003202/http://tribune.com.pk/story/5631/remembering-ahmed-rushdi/ |archive-date=27 April 2010}} The sisters Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, who have mainly worked in Hindi films, are two of the best-known and most prolific playback singers in India.{{cite web |title=Only the best preferred |url=http://www.hindu.com/2001/05/18/stories/09180701.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030823024402/http://www.hindu.com/2001/05/18/stories/09180701.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 August 2003 |date=18 May 2001 |author=Gangadhar, v. |work=The Hindu |access-date=22 July 2009}}*{{Cite book |author1=Gulzar |author2=Nihalani, Govind |author3=Chatterji, Saibal |title=Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema |year=2003 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=81-7991-066-0 |pages=72–73}}
  • {{Cite book |title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music |year=2000 |author=Arnold, Alison |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=0-8240-4946-2 |pages=420–421}}
  • {{cite web |author=Yasmeen, Afshan |title=Music show to celebrate birthday of melody queen |url=http://www.hindu.com/lf/2004/09/21/stories/2004092114010200.htm |date=21 September 2004 |work=The Hindu |access-date=19 August 2009 |archive-date=3 November 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041103120451/http://www.hindu.com/lf/2004/09/21/stories/2004092114010200.htm |url-status=dead}}
  • {{Cite magazine |last=Pride |first=Dominic |date=August 1996 |title=The Latest Music News From Around The Planet |magazine=Billboard |page=51}}
  • {{cite web |author=Puri, Amit |title=Dedicated to Queen of Melody |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030224/login/music.htm |work=The Tribune, Chandigarh |date=24 February 2003 |access-date=18 August 2009 |archive-date=24 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724143841/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030224/login/music.htm |url-status=live}}
  • {{cite web |title=Melody Queen Lata rings in 75th birthday quietly |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040929/nation.htm#12 |work=The Tribune |location=Chandigarh |date=29 September 2004 |access-date=18 August 2009 |archive-date=14 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814223634/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040929/nation.htm#12 |url-status=live}} In 2011, Guinness officially acknowledged Bhosle as the most recorded artist in music history.{{cite news |newspaper=DNA India |title=It's a world record for Asha Bhosle |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_its-a-world-record-for-asha-bhosle_1601969 |date=22 October 2011 |access-date=23 October 2011 |author=Banerjee, Soumyadipta |archive-date=14 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314034811/http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_its-a-world-record-for-asha-bhosle_1601969 |url-status=live}}

Hollywood

The practice is also employed in Hollywood musicals, where such performers are known as ghost singers, though less frequently in other genres. Notable Hollywood performances include Anita Ellis as the voice of Rita Hayworth's title character in Gilda (1946). Both Ellis's and Hayworth's performances were so impressive that audiences did not know that the latter's voice had been dubbed. Called "the sexiest voice of 1946", Ellis's identity was not publicized; Hayworth was instead credited on the soundtrack.

There have been other uses of ghost singing in Hollywood, including Marni Nixon in West Side Story for Natalie Wood's portrayal of Maria, in The King and I for Deborah Kerr's Anna Leonowens, and for Audrey Hepburn's Eliza in My Fair Lady; Bill Lee singing for John Kerr's Lieutenant Cable in South Pacific and for Christopher Plummer's Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music,{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/fullcredits |title=The Sound of Music full credits |publisher=IMDb |access-date=15 April 2013 |archive-date=7 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307023029/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/fullcredits |url-status=live}} Lindsay Ridgeway for Ashley Peldon's character as Darla Dimple in the animated film Cats Don't Dance, Claudia Brücken providing the singing voice for Erika Heynatz's character as Elsa Lichtmann in L.A. Noire, and Betty Noyes singing for Debbie Reynolds in Singin' in the Rain,Earl J. Hess and Pratibha A. Dabholkar, Singin' in the Rain: The Making of an American Masterpiece (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2009), p145. a film in which ghost singing is a major plot point.

Examples

{{See also|List of Indian playback singers}}

Known playback or ghost singers include:

See also

{{Portal|Bollywood|India|Music}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{Wiktionary inline}}

Category:Deception

Category:Occupations in music

Category:Film music