Grammy award-winning actor-singer Andra Day belted out a powerful performance with "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" before Super Bowl LVIII got underway in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The soul singer started the song slowly, then she lifted the microphone from its stand and raised her strong voice to finish out the song as actor/choreographer Shaheem Sanchez signed along.
Day was followed by singer/rapper Post Malone performing "America the Beautiful" and country icon Reba McEntire performing the National Anthem.
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Usher, the king of R&B performed the halftime show.
The NAACP dubbed "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" as the Black national anthem in 1919.
The song was written more than a century ago as a poem by James Weldon Johnson before his brother, J. Rosamond, turned it into music.
Super Bowl LVIII
Fans may remember Emmy-winning actor-singer Cheryl Lee Ralph lent her powerful vocals as a pregame performer at last year's Super Bowl, also performing "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing."
The NFL began having a singer perform "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" before the Super Bowl in 2020, in the wake of racial and social justice protests in the United States following the death of George Floyd.
