Super Bowl 2020 'America the Beautiful' Performance: Who Is Yolanda Adams?

Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is performing 'America The Beautiful' before Super Bowl LIV kicks off [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is performing "America The Beautiful" before Super Bowl LIV kicks off at Hard rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida Sunday. The Houston native is considered the "Reigning Queen of Urban Gospel" and one of the biggest stars in the contemporary gospel music scene. She has been performing since the 1980s, and has five Grammy Awards on her resume.

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(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

The Lady of Soul, 58, was tapped to perform the standard at the beginning of the game back in January. After she performs "America The Beautiful," Demi Lovato will perform the National Anthem.

The night before the big game, Adams joined Le'Andria Johnson for the first time during the 21st annual Super Bowl Gospel concert in Miami. Adams performed "The Battle Is The Lord's" solo before Johnson joined her for the duet, reports BET.

Adams was born in Houston and graduated from Sterling High School and Texas Southern University. She was looking to become a schoolteacher before she decided to break into music.

The road to stardom was long for Adams. She released her first solo album in 1987 with Just As I Am, but it was not until 1999 that she finally scored attention from mainstream audiences with her album Mountain High... Valley Low. The album's singles included "Yeah," "Open My Heart" and "Fragile Heart."

From 2007 to 2016, Adams hosted her own radio morning show, The Yolanda Adams Morning Show. Last year, the show was relaunched on Texas Southern University's KTSU-FM 90.9.

Adams earned Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Gospel Album for Mountain High... Valley Low and The Experience. Her single "Be Blessed" won Best Gospel Song in 2005 and "Victory" won Best Gospel Performance.

"It's never a surprise, because, you know, God is just awesome," Adams told Gwen Ifill back in 2001. "He's awesome like that. And every path that you're supposed to take, you will take because that's how your life is ordered. And gospel music has always been popular, contrary to popular opinion. You know, now that we have more television and more exposure, people get a chance to see gospel artists more now, but gospel artists have been doing their gospel thing for a long time."

Last year, Adams received the Gospel Music Icon Award at the 2019 Black Music Honors. However, Adams is still not that well-known by those outside her fanbase and industry. Still, she does not feel underappreciated.

"I never thought that I had been underappreciated or undervalued," she told Vibe last year. "I always knew that what I brought to the table - and CeCe [Winans] and I have this conversation often - there was never any competition between her and I, or Vicky Winans or all of the great women in gospel music at that time because we all had our niche."

"The thing that I have always said is that in this vast universe that we live in, there is an audience for everyone, and then there's an audience that's being left out, that somebody else needs to capture," Adams continued. "I don't have to fight for what belongs to CeCe, I don't have to fight for what belongs to Vicky, or what belongs to Tasha Cobb, or anybody like that, because God has so strategically given me the platform that I have, and my responsibility in that is to be the best Yolanda I can be."

In the same interview, Adams said she was working on new music. Her next album will be her first since 2011's Becoming.

Adams was married to Troy Mason from 1987 to 1990 and former NFL player Tim Crawford from 1997 to 2004. She has a daughter with Crawford, Taylor, 18.

The Super Bowl LIV kicks off at 6:30 ET on FOX.

Photo credit: Elsa/Getty Images

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