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Marlana VanHoose Sings National Anthem At The RNC

by Celia Darrough

The Republican National Convention kicked off Monday with quite a bit of chaos as Never Trump delegates protested over the lack of a roll call vote to approve the rules package. But things calmed down as the primetime segment of the evening began and Marlana VanHoose sang the National Anthem at the RNC.

According to WKYT, VanHoose, who is from Kentucky, had her first performance in 2012 at a game of the University of Kentucky's women's basketball team. Her personal website states that she started playing piano by the time she was two and later began singing. She was awarded Youth of the Year by the Artist Music Guild in 2015.

VanHoose's parents discovered she was blind because of an undeveloped optic nerve soon after she was born. She was born with cytomegalovirus and was later diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy. But that hasn't stopped her from pursuing what she loves, with a powerful voice and a love of music.

And though she's performed at a large amount of sports events, this isn't her first political rodeo. In fact, she sang the national anthem at Rand Paul's campaign kickoff back in 2015. Which only makes sense, seeing as Paul is a Kentucky senator, and she's clearly proud of her home state.

People immediately took to Twitter to discuss VanHoose's vocal abilities, and it's probably safe to say they liked her as much as she liked being up there.

"I love this country," she told WKYT. "It is a complete honor to be chosen to honor my country on this platform at the Convention."