Sheryl Lee Ralph.Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty
Sheryl Lee Ralphhas taken her talents toSuper Bowl LVII!
The Emmy-winning actress and singer, 66, performed the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” ahead of Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The song last appeared at the Super Bowl in 2021, when ataped version of Alicia Keys performingit played ahead of the big game.
Sheryl Leigh Ralph.Rob Carr/Getty
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The staralso told PEOPLEthat she met Rihanna ahead of the big day, and the singer encouraged Ralph to show up with a “Fab Fenty face,” referring to her Fenty Beauty line.
“You know, they say it takes a thousand times to perfect something. So I’m up to about 799 [times]. I’m going to keep on listening to my song and be ready to sing and make it happen on Sunday. I’m so excited,” she said of preparing. “Oh my God, I was so nervous yesterday. I could hardly move. It was like classic nerves. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna be sick.’ And I actually was. I said, ‘Oh no. I’m that nervous.’ I made myself sick.”
Ralph previously expressed her excitement for the gig toEntertainment Tonight, saying she’s “ready to deliver.”
“You know you have that moment of like, ‘What? Me? They want me to sing at the Super Bowl?'” she recalled. “Yes! Yes! Rihanna’s there? What? Yes! For me, I’ve been saying through the whole award season, it’s about the nomination, and for me this is a nomination. So to be with those great singers, artists, performers, I’m going to accept what it says about me. Because they would not have chosen me if they did not feel I could deliver.”
Sheryl Lee Ralph.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
This year’s Super Bowl match-up is personal for Ralph, who will be rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles as they take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
The star is not onlymarried to Pennsylvania Sen. Vincent Hughes, but she also stars on the hitABC sitcomAbbott Elementary, which is set at a public elementary school in the City of Brotherly Love.
“My husband was out… in the community giving away Eagles gear and shirts. He said, ‘We’re going to the Super Bowl!’ And at the end I was like, ‘How did you know?’ And he said, ‘We’re in it to win it!'” Ralph recalled. “Philly is truly represented. Philly is on a wonderful high withAbbott Elementarybeing based in Philly. They see this as the wonderful last chapter of a new book that’s going to be written, or maybe it’s the first chapter. Here we go into the third season ofAbbott Elementary, ‘cause we get to fly Eagles.”
When Ralph’s Super Bowl performance was announced, she received congratulations from herAbbottco-starLisa Ann Walter, who plays second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti.
Walter wrote on Twitter that Ralph was the “perfect person” to sing “Lift Every Voice,” and that she was “so proud.”
source: people.com
