She's got talent! Jordan Shelton sings the national anthem at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. See her sing at a Baltimore Orioles game in the video below.
On Flag Day, 24-year-old Jordan Shelton belted out two beautiful renditions of our notoriously difficult-to-sing national anthem. Shelton was the winner of the "Star-Spangled Banner" YouTube Singing Contest, co-sponsored by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and USA WEEKEND Magazine.
The museum kicked off its Star-Spangled Summer on June 14 with a special naturalization ceremony for 25 children from 15 different countries, followed by Shelton's singing. Shelton, of Arvada, Colo., heard about the contest from her mother, who saw the announcement in USA WEEKEND Magazine, which she receives in her "Denver Post." Shelton was one of more than 850 entrants who uploaded videos of themselves singing the national anthem to YouTube between Feb. 15 and April 13. Voting on YouTube eventually narrowed down those entries to 15 semifinalists.
Using criteria including overall appeal of vocal performance and originality, a panel of judges, including recording artists Jose Feliciano, Jordin Sparks, Marcus Johnson and DeLyn, then chose Shelton as the winner. She and her husband were flown to Washington, D.C., courtesy of Grand Blanc Travel and stayed at the JW Marriott hotel. Shelton sang the anthem at both the Smithsonian event and the Baltimore Orioles game that day.
