A few random artists who have admitted to lip-syncing in the past decade: BEYONCÉ, MARIAH CAREY, GARTH BROOKS. Great singers all. Performing on live TV all. An oft-unforgiving platform, especially when you're outdoors and you can't do a proper soundcheck (Beyoncé), or you're outdoors and it's going to be a thousand degrees below zero (Mariah), or you're indoors and you're sick (Garth). Two of them got a little grief for their transgressions, one got a lot of grief, all carried on with their lives and their careers and none need be haunted by the moment ever again. This is in contrast to someone like ASHLEE SIMPSON-ROSS, a once-major pop talent who hasn't released an album in 10 years and is recognized these days as an actor and TV personality, maybe more than she's recognized as a musician. "It's something that happened to me and things in life happen to you and they make you stronger and they make you a better performer, a better person," Simpson-Ross said this week as she promoted an upcoming reality series on E! in which she and her husband will release a new duet each episode. That something was her appearance on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE in 2004, during which the backing track from her single "PIECES OF ME" started playing while she was supposed to be singing "AUTOBIOGRAPHY," making her pop's most infamous lip-syncer since MILLI VANILLI. Musicians of nearly every stripe have been lip-syncing, or singing along with canned backing tracks, since long before Ashlee Simpson was born, including both skilled and mediocre singers, but only some get called out for it and fewer still have their lives ruined by it. Though her music career has never been the same, Simpson was one of the lucky ones. She confronted the controversy directly, elicited some sympathy and, at least, has been able to remain in the spotlight. Others, who lip-synced like so many before them because they wanted to put on a perfect show for audiences who wanted to hear that perfect show—why exactly is that a crime?—haven/t been so lucky. MusicSET: "Sync for the Laughter, Sync for the Tear"... JANET re-creates MICHAEL... Michael's estate reworking Michael... Garage-rockers the ORWELLS announce they're breaking up, less than a week after three bandmembers were accused in online posts of sexual assault and misconduct. The band said the sexual assault allegations are "completely unfounded" but said "callow altercations and vulgar language we’ve used in the past must be recognized and owned up to"... RIP RONNIE SAMOSET.