20 Minute Morning Show

The NFL Will Play 'Lift Every Voice And Sing' Before Each Season-Opener Game. The song known as the Black national anthem will play at the start of every season opener game, coming before "The Star Spangled Banner. "Lift Every Voice and Sing" was written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson, and set to music by his brother John Rosamond Johnson in 1899. It was first performed in 1900 at a segregated school in Florida by a group of children commemorating the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln. Subsequent landmark performances in the intervening decades include those by Kim Weston in 1972, Melba Moore in 1990, Gladys Knight and BeBe Winans in 2012 and Beyoncé in 2018. In addition to her Tony Award, Moore's music career brought additional accolades. She was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1971 for 'Best New Artist'. Her 1975 second album, Peach Melba, saw her get a Grammy nomination. In 1976, she earned another Grammy nomination for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female for the song "Le