Ashlee Simpson goes live at Radio Awards

LAS VEGAS — This time Ashlee Simpson sang it for real. We think.

The 19-year-old pop artist was among a slew of stars who played Monday during the 2004 Radio Music Awards at the Aladdin hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Usher and Linkin Park took home two honors each. Usher won Hip-Hop Artist of the Year and Hip-Hop Song of the Year. Linkin Park grabbed the Alternative Rock Song of the Year and Rock Artist of the Year.

Destiny’s Child opened the celebrity-laden show, wowing a screaming audience with “Lose My Breath.”

Video: Ashlee Simpson on SNL controversy Train, Chingy, Elton John, Tim McGraw, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson and Alanis Morissette also dazzled the crowd with their performances.

But whether she liked it or not, Simpson was at the center of the show thanks to a glitch on “Saturday Night Live” last weekend that revealed she had been lip-synching one of her songs.

Before she sang “Autobiography” off her hit album, host Carson Daly reassured Monday’s audience they were getting a live performance.

“Live, yes live,” he said.

When Simpson’s band started playing, the younger sister of pop starlet Jessica Simpson screamed, “It’s the wrong song.” Seconds later, she told a stunned theater filled with hundreds of people that she was “only kidding.”

Later in the evening, she told Daly in an off-stage interview that acid reflux disease had made her lose her voice four hours before her “SNL” appearances.

She didn’t seem concerned about her slip up.

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“You move on,” Simpson said. “Things happen.”

Politics also didn’t spoil the night at the Aladdin, where rocker Linda Ronstadt was told to leave in July after praising “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Michael Moore’s unflattering documentary about President Bush.

Neither Moore nor Ronstadt appeared at the awards show but former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan made himself seen by wearing a T-shirt “Vote or Die!”

The two-hour show broadcast live on NBC. The nominees in each category were based on radio’s top-playing songs. Radio program and music directors nationwide voted on the winners.

The Aladdin hotel-casino was recently purchased by an investment group led by Robert Earl, Planet Hollywood’s founder and chairman.

The following is the list of Radio Music Awards winners:
Artist of the Year — Hip Hop/Rythmic Radio: Usher.
Artist of the Year — Top 40 Radio: Beyonce.
Artist of the Year — Country Radio: Tim McGraw.
Song of the Year — Rock Alternative Radio: Linkin Park — “Numb.”
Song of the Year — Hip-Hop/Rythmic Radio: Usher — “Yeah!”
Artist of the Year — Rock Radio: Linkin’ Park.
Artist of the Year — Modern Adult: Train.
Legend Award: Janet Jackson.
Cingular Artist of the Year: Usher.