Remember when Kelly Clarkson shared the stage with two decorated patrol officers, who stole the show with their cover of the Ben E. King classic, “Stand By Me,” during the Kansas City tour date on her 2019 Meaning Of Life Tour?
Many artists will bring a fellow artist or celebrity on stage during their show to surprise the audience, but this crowd was certainly not expecting these particular guests to join the “Stronger” singer.
The Kansas Highway Patrol officers made an appearance dressed in their full uniforms, beaming with confidence as they each took hold of a mic and began their performance. Holding her glass of wine, Clarkson stepped back to join her band as she let the officers do their own thing on stage, only joining in from time-to-time for a few harmonies and to yell words of encouragement to them.
Clarkson gave an introduction for them saying, “I’m seriously so excited about this, I mean we rehearsed today, and I’ll tell you what this one (pointing to one of the officers) was like, ‘give me my stage.’”
One officer, with undeniable talent, shined as he pointed to members of the audience singing along with him. The crowd cheered in excitement as he belted out the lyrics alongside his partner. Following their performance Clarkson gave a big hug to both her guests and prompted one of them to share a sweet story behind their song of choice.
“While you were singing, I thought, that reminded me of the story – is this how you met your wife? Was it like a karaoke bar or something?” Clarkson asked.
“I did a song called, ‘Let’s Groove Tonight’ by Earth, Wind & Fire,” the officer responded as he recounted that night. He also shared that “Stand By Me” is another song he frequently sings to his wife.
“I Love it man, you’re so into it,” she continued. “This is a beautiful song too, that brings people together. I feel like there is such a separation sometimes between the community and the cops and there shouldn’t be! This is a beautiful thing happening. I love it!”
The idea to include these officers first came to them during the trend of the “Police Carpool Karaoke” videos, which were spreading on YouTube at the time.
“I run our social media page and I saw a lot of police carpool karaoke videos where they were lip-synching, and I wanted to try something different where we sing live,” one officer said noting the colleague he recruited to join him had a talent for singing while he did not. Regardless, he was still up for the challenge.
The officers chose the “old school” track to sing because of the meaning it holds for one of them with his loved one at home.
Earlier in the 28 show tour, Clarkson had other noteworthy moments such as performing her cover of a Miranda Lambert ballad and breaking down as she sang her song “Piece By Piece.” She was joined by Kelsea Ballerini and season 14 winner of The Voice, Brynn Cartelli as her opening acts.
