July 26th, 2016 
Greg Ehrbar 
Hollywood has a long history of employing trained singers to sing off camera for actors who, even though capable of carrying a tune, do not have the technical skill or range of a training vocalist. Marni Nixon, who passed away on Monday, was easily the most celebrated of these “ghost singers.”
What is not as commonly cited are instances in which a studio singer performs a song in place of a speaking actor in animation. In recent years, this has become much more of a selling point than a secret. Lea Salonga sang for Ming-Na Wen as Mulan and in place of Linda Larkin for Jasmine. Brad Kane was the singing voice of Aladdin—and appeared on the Academy Awards telecast with Salonga to perform the Best Song winner.
But back in Marni Nixon’s early career, it was forbidden to reveal that a star was not singing on camera. Nixon was actually warned that her career would be finished if she ever revealed it. But The King and I star Deborah Kerr was so impressed with Nixon’s talent, she insisted that it be publicized.
In this video, Nixon explains how her voice was combined with Kerr’s for a song called “Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?” which did not appear in the film but is a great example of how flawless Nixon’s talent was:
In addition to doing the singing for Janet Waldo in Hanna-Barbera’s Jack and the Beanstalk and June Foray in Disney’s Mulan, Nixon was also among the crème de la crème vocalists in The Randy Van Horne Singers, an ensemble whose numerous credits include several recordings as well as TV and movie work including early Hanna-Barbera themes.
Chances are you’ve heard Marni Nixon many times without realizing it, as it is common for “ghost singers” to be mixed into the performances of on-camera performers—even the ones who are trained singers—rounding out notes here and there in order to hone the music to perfection (composer Alan Menken even sang Clopin’s last high note for actor Paul Kandel in “The Bells of Notre Dame”).
To those of us who grew up listening to Disneyland Records’ “studio cast” version of 10 Songs from Mary Poppins or the Storyteller album of “Poppins” in the ‘60s, it was Marni Nixon we heard, sometimes as often as the Julie Andrews version.
Ironically, Nixon appeared on screen with Andrews in 1965’s The Sound of Music, playing Sister Sophia in the “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” song.
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