IT IS the hottest ticket in town and the lucky fans who will see Madonna perform at a London club have been given this promise — “I will sing live”.

A controversy over “lip-synching” has dogged the megastar since Sir Elton John accused her of cheating fans by miming during her last tour.

It was a charge that Madonna, 47, fiercely denied. Tomorrow night her vocals will come under the closest possible scrutiny as 1,500 fans pack into the Koko club for her performance.

Madonna is promoting her Confessions on a Dance Floor album, a critically acclaimed return to her disco roots in which her vocals are given a range of electronic treatments.

Replicating the music in a live setting will require electro-nic enhancement, said Stuart Price, her musical co-ordinator. “Just as the record is where pop meets dance, the show is where live musicians meet the DJ world,” he said.

Madonna hopes to silence sceptics by singing entirely live and without the benefit of background vocalists. Barbara Charone, her spokeswoman, said: “Madonna will be singing live at Koko and performing with a live band. The claim that she lip-synchs was always wrong.”

Sir Elton begged to differ when Madonna won a best live act award last year.

He fumed: “Anyone who lip-synchs in public on stage when you pay £75 to see them should be shot. That’s me off her f****** Christmas card list, but do I give a toss? No.” Despite being told that Madonna sang every note of her Reinvention tour live, Sir Elton returned to his theme. “The official reason I heard was that she can’t sing live while doing the full crab position,” he said recently.

“Nobody’s paid to come and see you do yoga. They’ve paid to hear you sing.”

Madonna was widely accused of using pre-recorded vocal tracks during the most heavily choreographed numbers on her 1990 world tour. She toned down the dance element on subsequent tours to allow her to focus on singing.

Although the most successful female artist ever with 275 million records sold, it was not until her performance in Evita (1997) that critics acknowledged Madonna’s vocal abilities. But Sir Elton’s jibe reopened the debate.

Madonna’s London performance should not greatly tax her vocal chords. She is performing five songs.

An extensive tour will follow the release today of the album, for which Madonna’s team has planned an extensive promotional launch campaign in her adopted home.

The Koko appearance comes after the ITV1 Parkinson special on Saturday, and Madonna is also scheduled to perform this week on the BBC’s Children In Need telethon and at another club, G-A-Y, in London.

Madonna will celebrate her 11th UK number one single at tomorrow night’s show after Hung Up, the first release from her new album, took the top spot yesterday. She first topped the British chart 20 years ago with Into The Groove.

READ MY LIPS . . . .

• Ashlee Simpson sang one song on Saturday Night Live — but the audience heard another
  
• Britney Spears admitted getting “support in the choruses” while performing
  
• Janet Jackson said she uses some taped vocals to augment live singing

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Times Christmas appeal: Letter from the Editor
• Conferences — what a waste of money
• Schools supremo learns a painful lesson