Marlana Danieal VanHoose (born June 25, 1995) is an American contemporary Christian singer. She achieved fame by singing the National Anthem at major professional sporting events.

Biography

VanHoose was born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

on June 25, 1995, and was the first of two children born to David VanHoose, a correctional officer in the federal prison system and Teresa (née Blair) VanHoose, a school teacher. VanHoose was born with

Cytomegalovirus ''Cytomegalovirus'' (''CMV'') (from ''cyto-'' 'cell' via Greek - 'container' + 'big, megalo-' + -''virus'' via Latin 'poison') is a genus of viruses in the order ''Herpesvirales'', in the family ''Herpesviridae'', in the subfamily ''Betaherpe ...

(CMV) which hindered the development of her optic nerve, rendering her blind at birth and a diagnosis that she would not live past one year of age. After her first year her parents were told that the virus was in remission. At the age of two, VanHoose was diagnosed with a mild case of

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

Career

At two years old, VanHoose began playing the piano and humming the gospel classic, "''

Jesus Loves Me "Jesus Loves Me" is a Christian hymn written by Anna Bartlett Warner (1827–1915). The lyrics first appeared as a poem in the context of an 1860 novel called ''Say and Seal'', written by her older sister Susan Warner (1819–1885), in which t ...

.''" Her first major performance was in 2012, in which she sang the

National Anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

at a

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

Women's Basketball game. A spectator filmed the performance and placed it on YouTube and the video went viral. VanHoose subsequently joined the

Artists Music Guild The Artists Music Guild was a dba company of the International Academy of Music Arts and Sciences, Inc., until April 2014 when it incorporated into a non-profit corporation. The company opened its doors on January 1, 2010. The corporation is an ...

, a professional artists relations and protection firm, in 2011, and they currently handle her career and have launched her to a worldwide audience. In 2013, the CBS Evening News aired a complete story on VanHoose entitled, "''Teen's Big Voice Shatters Obstacles.''" She has been featured on other entertainment shows such as

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

and Inside Edition. A feature story about VanHoose and the UK Women's Basketball, entitled, "''Loud and Proud''" was aired by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

-E-60. VanHoose sung for the 2015 NBA Playoffs and game six of the 2015

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

. She has performed at three various

NASCAR Sprint Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

Series Races. In 2016, VanHoose performed at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

as a premier guest. She was the official anthem singer for the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...

and appeared on

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

the next morning from the floor of the convention center. In December 2016, VanHoose opened the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

game at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

to an audience of over twenty thousand in attendance.

Music

VanHoose recorded her first major project in 2013 entitled, "''Do Right.''" The project was written and produced for her by fellow Christian recording artist David L Cook and Elddy Trevino and released under DLC Records. Cook took over VanHoose' management in 2012 and launched her onto a national level which included performing for the

and the 2017 Republican Inauguration Concert Series. VanHoose sang for the presidential concerts at the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...

on the Mall as well as being the featured artist for the

Day of Prayer A Day of Prayer is a day allocated to prayer, either by leaders of religions or the general public, for a specific purpose. Such days are usually ecumenical in nature. They usually are treated as commemorative in nature, rather than as actual litu ...

at the National Cathedral on January 22, 2017. VanHoose was the only performer of the day given a standing ovation led by Melania Trump after being moved to tears by her rendition of the classic gospel hymn, " How Great Thou Art.".

Awards

*2012 recipient for

AMG Heritage Award winners This is a list of Artists Music Guild Heritage award winners. AMG Heritage Award recipients and nominees The Artists Music Guild produces an awards show every year to acknowledge all forms of artistry. The Guild currently has twenty-five categor ...

New Artist of the Year *2013 & 2014 nominee for

Artist of the Year. *2014 nomination for

Young Artist of the Year *2015 recipient for

Youth Artist of the Year *Commissioned a Kentucky Colonel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:VanHoose, Marlana 1995 births Living people American child musicians People from Kentucky Singers from Kentucky Kentucky women musicians 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women