We recently had to experience Canadian singer Alexis Normand sing her special rendition of the National Anthem at the Memorial Cup hockey game in May. So we thought we would give you a taste of some other celebrities who failed to sing our iconic song just in time for the Fourth of July.
1. Now we can’t say much about her performance but when it was reported that Beyoncé had lip-synced the national anthem on Inauguration Day in January, people were shocked. She told the press that she wasn’t prepared with the orchestra and she just wanted to make Obama and our country proud.Even though she held a press conference later that month proving that she could in fact sing the national anthem and that she would be performing live at the Super Bowl, it still seems that the public lost a little respect for her that day.
2. Roseanne Barr has been known far and wide for her humor and nasally voice, so in what world does say ” you should sing the national anthem?” But at that San Diego Padres game in 1990, she made a statement that no one can forget. And when the crowd booed, she started singing louder and at the end grabbing her crotch and spitting on the mound. Hell, Madonna liked it.
3. Sometimes their is nothing wrong with someone’s voice throughout the whole song but somehow they seem to make it just weird. This version of R.Kelly singing the Star Spangled Banner at a boxing match in 2005 did just that. There was clapping, dancing and something that sounded like Marvin Gaye. People just didn’t know what to make of it.
4. Steven Tyler is the man, he has been in the Top 100 more than most of us have been alive and he was a judge on American Idol for a year playing the zany, fun guy. His croooning brings women to their knees but somehow doesn’t do the trick when he is singing the national anthem at the Indy 500 in 2001. His voice was all over the place. And then he did it again in 2012 AFC Championship game. Hopefully everyone learned their lessons the second time around.
5. Carl Lewis, a winner of 10 Olympic medals in Track and Field, is much like Roseanne in the way that he should stick to his day job. In this short clip, he goes from good to cracking in a few short seconds and the “Uh-Oh” is priceless. He did try and laugh it off, what a good sport.
6. Long flowing locks and soft rock ballads, makes Michael Bolton a perfect candidate to sing the national anthem. At the 2003 Red Sox vs. Yankees game, he made us all wrong when he didn’t do a very good job. There was a major echo and he did one of the carnal sins and looked at his hand for the lyrics. For shame.
7. Ok, Christina Aguilera we get it, you have pipes and you can hit all the notes. At the 2011 Super Bowl she did all those things but over the top. Plus mixing up the sentences and combining a few didn’t help much either.
8. In a decent attempt to New Orleans was still strong after Katrina, they had Dr. John, Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin sing the national anthem at Super Bowl XL. There was a choir and everything but when Neville delivered his first lines we knew it was going to be a bumpy ride. Neville’s voice disturbed both audience and player with how high it was. Eventually Aretha came in and stole the show but overall we wish she had sung it alone.
9. Scott Stapp from the Award winning Christian rock band “Creed,” affirms why so many of us have a love/hate relationship with his music. At the Nascar Ford 400 in 2005, he nailed the Star Spangled Banner with all kinds of growls and the sort of drawl that only he can deliver. I had more fun watching him fumble around drunk on that poker show (look it up).
10. We wouldn’t forget about one of the most infamously bad national anthem moments. Kat DeLuna, a promising young singing star who made a deadly career move by performing the Star Spangled Banner her way at a Dallas Cowboys game in 2008. She tried to hit all the notes with little success and adding her own little bits of flare. She was eventually booed but you really have to admire that confidence.
A salute to all of those people who go out there and even try to sing. It takes some real guts and who knows some really kill it. And for those that don’t, how many people have Youtube, really?
Happy Fourth of July ‘Merica!
