Gavin DeGraw and Noah Cyrus joined forces for an emotional performance of DeGraw’s “Hero In Our House” during the ninth televised fundraising special Stand Up To Cancer.
“I’m Noah Cyrus, and I’m here on behalf of grandfather, Ron Cyrus, my pappy, we lost him to lung cancer. I’m standing up for him tonight. Call 1-888-90-STAND, or goto website, or scan the QR code and help find cures for those who need it. And thank you, Gavin DeGraw, for writing ‘Hero In Our House’ and for having me here with you to sing it tonight,” Cyrus said, introducing their duet.
Seated side by side on stools at the tip of the guitar-shaped stage that stretched into the crowd at The Pinnacle in Nashville, the pair delivered the poignant ballad.
“Now my heart/ It’s locked in a cage/ Thrown into the river/ I can’t help this rage/ Sometimes I wonder/ What she’s doing up there now/ Do they see her like we do?/ The hero in our house,” DeGraw and Cyrus sang on the track’s chorus.
At the end of their performance, Gavin DeGraw tearfully shared the inspiration behind “Hero In Our House,” which he wrote after the passing of both his parents. His mother, Lynne DeGraw, died in September 2017 from pancreatic cancer, and his father, John Wayne DeGraw, passed away in July 2020 from brain cancer.
“I wrote that song for my mother after losing her to pancreatic cancer and a few years later I lost my father to brain cancer,” DeGraw said as tears streamed down his cheek and Cyrus comforted him. “Tonight, we’re standing up to cancer, and we’re taking action, pushing forward and saving lives. Thank you very much.”
Their heart-wrenching performance was met by a standing ovation and left many in the audience wiping away tears, including country star Jon Pardi.
“Hero In Our House” is a track that appear on Gavin DeGraw’s 2022 album, Face The River, a project produced by Dave Cobb that pays tribute to his late parents. “Songwriting has always been therapy for me. I wanted to pay homage to them — but this is not a funeral record, it’s a living record. I like to provide hope [and] I wanted them to live on in the best light through songs,” DeGraw told PEOPLE in May 2022.
Hosted by GRAMMY Award-winning country superstar Sheryl Crow, the Stand Up To Cancer fundraising special also featured performances from Crow, the Jonas Brothers, Noah Cyrus, Gavin DeGraw, Marcus King, Brothers Osborne, Jon Pardi, Jelly Roll, Dan + Shay and CeCe Winans, joined by Nashville Community Gospel Choir.
The Stand Up To Cancer telecast, airing for the first time ever from The Pinnacle in Nashville, also included appearances from special guests such as Kevin Bacon, Jamie Foxx, Tim McGraw, Zoe Saldaña, Reese Witherspoon, Keith Urban, SU2C co-founder Katie Couric and more.
Throughout the telecast, viewers also heard from top SU2C-funded researchers about recent breakthroughs and the importance of ongoing support in the fight against cancer. From early detection to innovative treatments, survivor stories showcased the real-world impact of SU2C’s work and the hope it brought to patients and families.
Donate today to help fund cancer research aimed at finding cures. Your contribution supports Stand Up To Cancer and its collaborative research programs. You can donate by calling 1-800-90-STAND or online by visiting StandUpToCancer.org.
For more information, visit StandUpToCancer.org, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
