Pop-rock singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge has once again declared Yes I Am, but this time it was to say that she will be singing the national anthem at Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs.
Etheridge, 57, a Leavenworth, Kansas, native and a huge and long-time and long-suffering Chiefs fan, made the announcement Tuesday on her official Twitter page, where she posted a photo of herself at Arrowhead Stadium, the site of Sunday’s game.
This Sunday AFCChampionshipGame ArrowheadStadium @Chiefs vs @Patriots I will lead #ChiefsKingdom in our #NationalAnthem YES I AM!!!!! @ArrowheadPride @dpshow @richeisen @gmfb @pgsween @PSchrags I will be there!!! pic.twitter.com/OZyoL1Jdk8
— Melissa Etheridge (@metheridge) January 15, 2019
Etheridge first performed the national anthem at Arrowhead Stadium during a regular season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017. Etheridge, a former Long Beach resident who used to perform at the lesbian bar Que Sera and the queer club Executive Suite, publicly came out as a lesbian in 1993 and the release of her third album, “Yes I Am,” which has sold more than 6 million copies. That year also happens to be the last year the Chiefs won a playoff game. Etheridge has had numerous smash singles, including the anthemic and confessional pop-rock songs “Ain’t It Heavy,” “Come to My Window,” “I’m the Only One.” Etheridge also has been an LGBTQ activist since publicly coming out in 1993. Etheridge has received 15 Grammy Award nominations and won twice, in 1993 and 1995. In 2007, Etheridge won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “I Need to Wake Up” from the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” In September 2011, Etheridge received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Etheridge is on the road for the 25th anniversary tour of “Yes I Am.” Phillip Zonkel can be reached at 562-294-5996 or [email protected]
ANTHEMIC, CONFESSIONAL ROCK
GRAMMY, OSCAR WINNER
