--- title: Marlana VanHoose Sang National Anthem at Rand Paul's Presidential Event description: She couldn't see the crowd clap, but she could hear them cheer canonical: https://time.com/3774539/marlana-vanhoose-star-spangled-banner/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-07T20:08:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:18:28.018Z og:title: This Teen's Rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' Will Inspire You og:description: She couldn't see the crowd clap, but she could hear them cheer og:url: https://time.com/3774539/marlana-vanhoose-star-spangled-banner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc790eb7c82bbbff9/6987870c35ba6fe5b3c07eca/screen-shot-2015-04-07-at-3-24-31-pm.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 3.24.31 PM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Teen's Rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' Will Inspire You twitter:description: She couldn't see the crowd clap, but she could hear them cheer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc790eb7c82bbbff9/6987870c35ba6fe5b3c07eca/screen-shot-2015-04-07-at-3-24-31-pm.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Teen's Rendition of _The Star-Spangled Banner_ Will Inspire You by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 7, 2015 8:08 PM UTC  C-SPAN by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Apr 7, 2015 8:08 PM UTC Before Rand Paul [announced his presidential bid Tuesday](http://time.com/3773659/rand-paul-campaign-launch/)—declaring, “We have come to take our country back”—the crowd heard a special rendition of _The Star-Spangled Banner_ by Marlana VanHoose. The Kentucky 18-year-old couldn’t see the crowd erupt in applause after she took the stage at the Kentucky Galt House Hotel. Nor could she read the stream of [tweets](https://www.yahoo.com/politics/marlana-vanhoose-the-18-year-old-singing-115772164676.html) praising her when she belted the national anthem. > [](https://twitter.com/CrawfordStuff/status/585470702372974593) > [](https://twitter.com/RebeccaRKaplan/status/585470639680724992) > [](https://twitter.com/AaronHorak/status/585470796111421441) Born with cerebral palsy, without a fully formed optic nerve, [VanHoose](http://www.littlemarlana.com/my-story.html) has never been able to see. But after defying doctors’ predictions and making it past her first birthday, according to her [website](http://www.littlemarlana.com/my-story.html), “Marlana was humming “Jesus loves me” before she talked and by the time she was 2 years old she taught herself to play the piano.” VanHoose has also sung the national anthem at sporting events and has been featured on [ESPN](http://espn.go.com/blog/music/post/%5F/id/7113/marlana-vanhoose-is-loud-and-proud). 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