Woman steals the show at Lincoln Memorial with powerful national anthem performance

What started as a dare among friends became the spark for Star Swain to ear the attention of millions of people through social media, after a video of her rendition of the national anthem at the Lincoln Memorial became viral.

Star Swain, an assistant principal from Florida, was vacationing with her family and some friends in Washington D.C, where they visited the Lincoln Memorial. While walking in the place, Marcus Henderson, minister of music at her church, was amazed by the acoustics of the tourist landmark.

Swain agreed, saying that the acoustics were so good she could even start singing the national anthem and be heard all over the place. Henderson and her other friends took her word for it and began to pressure her into doing it.

A video of the moment that has earner over 15million views in the past two years shows a nervous Swain expressing her fear but looking determined to prove her talent and take up the challenge either way. “Watch God do it,” said Henderson, before Swain started her impromptu acoustic rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

At first, tourists and visitors were too busy to pay attention, but after Swain gain confidence and her voice started to resonate along the walls of the building, a small crowd formed, and people stopped to hear and watch in amazement how Star kept on belting the song.

She kept her eyes closed the whole time and only opened after the crowd started to cheer and clap for her. In the video, some people even went to congratulate her, as she rushed to get out of the place in embarrassment. Even the guards of the site were left stunned, as they accept they didn’t know what was happening but were ready to take action when they realized it was just a woman singing.

“I was in that moment. I just closed my eyes and started singing," Swain told the Tallahassee Democrat. “One lady had tears in her eyes. I was kind of glad it was over. It was like a sigh of relief.”

A few hours later, the video of her performance was up on YouTube, but it was a week then that the video started to go viral. What followed was a string of calls from different media broadcasts to interview Star and invite her to perform at various shows.

For her friends, it was time for Swain to get national recognition, as she has been singing at her church for years and everyone considers her voice is a blessing.

“I’m in complete shock right now,” she said and added:

“We pray that great opportunities touch more lives in this way through music. I’m hoping that it will open up floodgates so we can do great things, for myself and others. If I can do this with the gift that God gave me to touch more lives, then that is what I want to do.”

Another girl who impressed with her abilities to sing without a musical background was Christian Melton from The Central High School in Ashford, Alabama. The teenage girl took the risk of singing the national anthem without a microphone when the one she was supposed to use stopped working just before a basketball game held at her school.

Melton's fantastic voice managed to captive the crowd, and her peers couldn't help themselves and started cheering and clapping even before she managed to finish her performance.