Photo: Whitney Houston | Story by Jessica Sager, Parade / Associated Press | The Super Bowl national anthem performances are often as memorable as the Super Bowl Halftime Shows are. While Halftime performances are often full of choreography and visual bombast, performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner” are a showcase for vocal ability—and it’s a not an easy song to sing.
As a result of many performances seeming almost too pitch-perfect, a lot of audiences wonder: Is the Super Bowl national anthem really performed live?
Well, the answer is a little bit complicated.
Is the Super Bowl national anthem really performed live?
To put it simply: Sort of, usually.
Most performers really do sing live, but they also have a pre-recorded backing track just in case of sound snafus.
This was the case with the most iconic Super Bowl national anthem performance of all time, Whitney Houston’s soaring 1991 rendition. A recording was used from Houston’s first take in the studio, which was broadcast during the big game.
Ricky Minor, who produced several Super Bowl performances, including Houston’s, explained to TODAY, “I never shy away from someone questioning anything that was done, or how it was done. Could I have said that it was live-live? Yes, but then when do you stop trying to gloss something over? It is what it is. And there’s no doubt that Whitney sang it. So my answer to that, my response to that immediately was, ‘Yes, she sang live. But we used the track for the audio.'”
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Read this very informative, descriptive story here:
https://parade.com/entertainment/is-super-bowl-national-anthem-performed-live
Is the Super Bowl National Anthem Really Performed Live?
