Country superstar Eric Church and R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan joined forces for a beautiful rendition our Nation’s Anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL at Super Bowl LV on Sunday (Feb. 7).
Their performance came just minutes before kickoff between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Church and Sullivan’s duet makes history as only the second National Anthem duet in Super Bowl history, following Aretha Franklin and Aaron Neville in 2006.
The superstars have never performed together before, and this National Anthem duet together perfectly showcased their powerful voices as Sullivan’s deep soulful voice blended flawlessly with Church’s gritty country vocals and acoustic guitar.
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Church explained that although he has “avoided” singing the National Anthem “forever,” as it is “an incredibly hard song to sing.” He feels that now is an important time for him to sing it for a patriotic moment
“With what’s going on in America, it feels like an important time for a patriotic moment,” Church told the outlet. “An important time for unity. The fact that I’m a Caucasian country singer and she’s an African American R&B singer — I think the country needs that.”
Church explained that he truly appreciates the unity that this duet symbolizes as the country remains divided at political lines.
“But that’s kind of what spoke to me,” Church explained. “We’re unifying. And it’s a time in our country when we have to do that.”
.@jsullivanmusic and @ericchurch sing the National Anthem ahead of #SBLV! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/dnhOTrHKfW
— NFL (@NFL) February 7, 2021
In addition to the National Anthem, at 6 p.m. H.E.R. performed “America the Beautiful,” and Amanda Gorman recited the NFL’s first ever poem performed at the Super Bowl.
Additionally, The Weeknd will provide Halftime show entertainment.
Following Super Bowl LV, Church and Sullivan are slated to join Luke Bryan, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus and more for Verizon’s Big Concert in support of Small Businesses.
Super Bowl LV airs at 6:30 p.m. EST on CBS.