Alicia Keys will have a chance to etch her name in history on Feb. 3 in New Orleans, La., when she joins an illustrious group of music legends who have opened the biggest football game of the year when she sings the national anthem in Super Bowl XLVII.
Keys, the best-selling Grammy Award-winning artist, has had a big week leading up to her big night at the Super Bowl, having sung at President Obama’s inaugural ball on Monday, paying tribute to the newly sworn-in president with a piano rendition of her smash-hit single, “This Girl is On Fire.”
Headlining the event alongside talents such as Jennifer Hudson and Jamie Foxx, Keys even reworded her song’s main chorus line to “Obama’s On Fire!”
After debuting her new album “Girl on Fire,” promoting her new movie "The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete" and preparing to start her new U.S. Tour this year, the soulful Keys will follow in the tradition of some legendary performers who have opened the Super Bowl—which set the record last year as the most-watched show in U.S. history with 11.3 million viewers who tuned into Super Bowl XLVI.
That list includes Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Barry Manilow, Garth Brooks, Jewel, Cher, Faith Hill, the Backstreet Boys, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and more.
Unfazed, Keys is excited about her chance to perform the national anthem in front of millions, When ExtraTV.com asked her this week about her upcoming performance at the Big Game, she winked, "Wait till you hear this one."
Keys will certainly have a tough act to follow. Latinos Post takes a look at some of the most memorable national anthem performances in Super Bowl history:
5. Kelly Clarkson, 2012, Super Bowl XLVI
Clarkson, who sung at the inauguration of President Obama on Monday, has come a long way from being the first-ever “American Idol” winner in 2001, having won two Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, four American Music Awards and more on her way to becoming one of the best-selling artists in U.S. history.
Her vocally powerful, expressive rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner” set the tone for an incredible night of football as the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in a hard-fought thriller of a rematch of their previous Super Bowl showdown, 21-17, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.
4. Beyonce, 2004, Super Bowl XXXVIII
The game may forever be remembered for both Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” as well as the thrilling 32-29 finish where Adam Vinitieri’s field goal gave Tom Brady and the New England Patriots their second Super Bowl in three years over the Carolina Panthers.
But Beyonce set the tone with a riveting version of the national anthem at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The megastar singer will reunite with Destiny’s Child on-stage when she does the halftime show for Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3, but if her performance at the 2004 Super Bowl was any indication, she’ll be ready to deliver big.
3. Vanessa Williams, 1996, Super Bowl XXX
Williams, the former beauty pageant queen-turned-triple-threat artist, paid tribute to the astronauts who died on the 1986 NASA Challenger shuttle disaster at a packed Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., with her smooth, lilting voice and a squadron of fighter jets that drew an ovation from the crowd. That same crowd saw Troy Aikman and the Dallas Cowboys cap a dynasty with their third Super Bowl win in four years, defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in a bitterly fought 27-17 win.
2. Mariah Carey, 2002, Super Bowl XXXVI
It was an emotional night for sports fans, the Super Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome—where the Ravens and 49ers will meet on Feb. 3—with the game being a tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks, which took place barely five months before, and had bumped the game back from January to February.
In a game that would see the birth of a dynasty as game MVP Tom Brady led the New England Patriots to a last-second, thrilling 20-17 victory over the heavily favored St. Louis Rams, Carey, who had become one of the greatest singers of her generation in the prior years, used her incredible octave range and graceful style to honor the memory of the victims and pay tribute to America.
1. Whitney Houston, 1991, Super Bowl XXV
If there were ever a benchmark for great national anthem performances, it would be this signature performance from the late, great music legend Houston.
With the first Iraq war fresh on the minds of all Americans—some of them with loved ones in the armed forces entering the first major conflict U.S. troops had seen since the Vietnam War—Houston delivered a stunning, soulful and powerful performance of the national anthem that left the audience in Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Fla., roaring and juiced up for one of the greatest Super Bowls in history.
About the only thing that was even close to being as memorable as Houston’s rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner” was the game itself, closely fought until the final seconds of the fourth quarter when a missed field goal by Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood gave the New York Giants and game MVP Ottis Anderson a stunning 20-19 upset win over the heavily favored Bills, giving the Giants only their second of what would be four Super Bowl championships.
But it was Houston’s performance that would live on for years to come, the Newark, N.J.-born singer-actress delivering big on one of the biggest stages in sports.
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