{"id":36595,"date":"2026-08-10T14:36:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36595"},"modified":"2026-08-10T14:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:36:35","slug":"martha-reeves-blames-viral-botched-us-national-anthem-performance-on-backing-singers-attempts-it-again-on-live-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36595","title":{"rendered":"Martha Reeves blames viral botched US National Anthem performance on backing singers, attempts it again on live TV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Martha Reeves has blamed a recent botched performance of the US National Anthem on her backing singers.<\/p>\n<p>The Motown legend performed \u2018The Star Spangled Banner\u2019 at the inaugural Women\u2019s Professional Baseball League game at the Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois, earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>The clip, which you can watch below and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reels\/DbtVvdPiDXy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>, went viral at the time for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n<p>She later shared a statement to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/08\/02\/martha-reeves-viral-national-anthem-performance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>TMZ<\/em><\/a> saying: \u201cHaving just celebrated my 85th birthday, I\u2019ve learned a great deal over more than 60 years of performing live. It was an incredible honour to be invited to perform at the inaugural Women\u2019s Professional Baseball League event and to help celebrate such a historic moment for women in sports. I wouldn\u2019t have missed it for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the national anthem at the first Women\u2019s Pro Baseball League tonight <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3lEYRYNQTi\">pic.twitter.com\/3lEYRYNQTi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kendall Baker (@kendallbaker) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kendallbaker\/status\/2083732108166533276?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe field conditions were wet and windy, and without stage monitors I wasn\u2019t able to hear myself as I normally would,\u201d she added. \u201cWhile it wasn\u2019t the performance I had hoped for, I\u2019m grateful to have been there in support of these remarkable athletes and this groundbreaking league.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But according to<em> TMZ<\/em>, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/08\/04\/martha-reeves-national-anthem-rehearsal-video\/\">obtained a video from a rehearsal<\/a>, Reeves stopped the backing singers at one point to tell one of them that she was out of tune. Over the stadium microphone, she then said about the backup singers: \u201cI don\u2019t think I need them. I don\u2019t need them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite that, in a recent interview with <em>Fox 2 Detroit, <\/em>Reeves denied that she rehearsed with the singers and said she didn\u2019t see them \u201cuntil I actually started singing\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Catching up with Martha Reeves\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C0u1ZloXB6o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>When asked if she wanted to do a redo, she said: \u201cI don\u2019t have to redo anything. I didn\u2019t do that. Those girls were singing, didn\u2019t you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She was then asked if the backing singers were off-key. \u201cThey were trying to make some money,\u201d she answered, and added: \u201cI didn\u2019t have a chance to rehearse with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reeves continued: \u201cI\u2019m proud [of the performance]. I\u2019m happy. I didn\u2019t take the mic and hit that girl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She then attempted to perform the US National Anthem again on air. You can view it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DbyWJvBtDhq\/\">here<\/a> and above.<\/p>\n<p>Former\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/Black-Eyed-Peas\">Black Eyed Peas<\/a>\u00a0singer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/Fergie\">Fergie<\/a> was<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/fergie-usa-national-anthem-2245189\"> previously mocked for her rendition of \u2018The Star Spangled Banner\u2019 in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('consent', 'revoke');\n  fbq('init', '370979561341328');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Martha Reeves has blamed a recent botched performance of the US National Anthem on her backing singers. The Motown legend performed \u2018The Star Spangled Banner\u2019 at the inaugural Women\u2019s Professional Baseball League game at the Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois, earlier this month. The clip, which you can watch below and here, went viral&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_marthareeves_getty_2000x1270.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}