Country music star, Martina McBride, to sing the National Anthem at the 139th Kentucky Derby
Country music vocalist, Martina McBride, will be belting out the National Anthem next Saturday, May 4, prior to the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Martina McBride
Image/Video Screen Shot
McBride will show off her powerful pipes on the Cupola when she sings “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the Derby’s enormous on-track crowd and a national television audience watching the event on NBC Sports shortly after 5 p.m. (all times Eastern). The Kentucky Derby broadcast on NBC will begin at 4 p.m. and post time for the 2013 Kentucky Derby is scheduled for 6:24 p.m.
Once called the “Celine Dion of Country Music”, McBride broke on to the country music scene in 1991.
She has won the Country Music Association’s “Female Vocalist of the Year” award four times (tied with Reba McEntire for the most wins) and the Academy of Country Music’s “Top Female Vocalist” award three times.
McBride joins an impressive roster of entertainers that have performed the National Anthem on racing’s biggest day since 2009, when Churchill Downs launched the new Kentucky Derby Day tradition. Singer-songwriter-actress Mary J. Blige performed the anthem last year, following Jordan Sparks (2011), Rascal Flatts (2010) and LeAnn Rimes (2009).
