Yolanda Adams is a renowned gospel singer who has just been tapped to sing “America the Beautiful” ahead of Super Bowl LIV between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. This marks her second Super Bowl performance; the first was in the 2002 Super Bowl, which was the first one after the events of September 11th. As such, there was a patriotic pregame celebration that featured Adams, Barry Manilow, Patti Labelle, James Ingram, Wynonna Judd, Mary J. Blige, Marc Anthony, Paul McCartney, and Mariah Carey.
For the 2020 Super Bowl, this “First Lady of Modern Gospel” should send “America the Beautiful” soaring into the stratosphere, so here’s everything you need to know about this honey-voiced diva.
1. She’s a Houston Native
Yolanda Adams was born on August 27, 1961, in Houston, Texas to Major Adams, who died in a car accident when Yolanda was 13, and Carolyn Jean Adams, a classically trained musician and local schoolteacher who passed away in 2008. Yolanda is the oldest of their six children; one of her younger sisters is up-and-coming hip hop star Allegro Nevella.
Yolanda attended local Sterling High School and then Houston’s Texas Southern University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1984. The school invited her back in 2017 to give its commencement address, in which she advised each student to be “a finisher.”
“Today is the first day of the rest of your life of finishing things that you started,” she said. “When times get tough, when friends leave, when loved ones pass on, when you don’t get the job you want, when you are forced to make sacrifices, I want you to repeat this phrase to yourself ‘I am a finisher!’ It doesn’t matter what obstacles come or how hard it gets you will finish because the race is not given to the swift, nor to the strong but to the one who finishes.”
2. Yolanda Was a Teacher and Model Before Moving to Music Full Time
Standing at 6’1″ tall, Yolanda had designs on becoming a model when she was a young woman. It was also her height that spurred her to learn how to sew her own clothes because it was hard to find ones that fit her.
But the modeling thing was just a part-time gig while she worked on her degree and eventually became an elementary school teacher. She told Cross Rhythms in a 1996 interview that it was her grandfather who insisted the modeling be part-time and that she focus on her education.
“I always wanted to be a model,” she said. “You know, little girls grow up and they either want to be ballerinas, doctors, nurses, models or actresses. I never wanted to act; I just wanted to model. And because I was so much taller than everyone else, I went to modeling school and did a few modeling gigs, but then my grandfather said, ‘Hey, you’re the eldest of six kids, you’d better go to college and set the example. When you get out, I’ll send you to Paris and you can model there.’ It didn’t happen that way, but I’m happy with what I’m doing.”
At this point in her life, the mid- to late-’80s, Yolanda would teach third grade during the week and sing in Houston’s Southeast Inspirational Choir on the weekends, which is how she got “discovered.” The late Sound of Gospel Records producer Thomas Whitfield saw Yolanda at one of the gospel choir’s concerts and offered to produce a record. Her gigs steadily increased until, in 1992, she had to finally choose between teaching and singing.
“I retired from teaching,” said Yolanda, “and it’s been a wonderful experience.”
3. Her Singing Career Really Went Mainstream in 1999
Yolanda released several albums in the ’80s and ’90s: Just As I Am, Through the Storm, Save the World, More Than a Melody, Yolanda… Live in Washington, and Songs From the Heart. But it was her 1999 urban contemporary gospel record Mountain High… Valley Low that really put her on the mainstream map.
That album hit No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers, Contemporary Christian, and Gospel album charts, No. 5 on the R&B/Hip-Hop album chart, and No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart. It sold over 2 million copies, which is a double-platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and won a Grammy Award.
Yolanda followed that up with a Christmas album and a second live album, which won a Grammy, and then had another big mainstream hit with the 2001 album Believe, which also charted on the Contemporary Christian, Gospel, R&B, and Hot 200 charts. She has since released three more studio albums, though Yolanda hasn’t put any new music out since 2011.
4. Yolanda Has Been Married Twice and Has a Daughter
Yolanda’s first marriage was from 1987 to 1990, to a man named Troy Mason. After they divorced, she talked to Cross Rhythms about the relationship, alleging that her ex-husband was abusive.
“I really don’t like to emphasize the physical or emotional abuse that I went through; I just like to tell people that I overcame it by getting out of it,” said Adams. “First of all, I shouldn’t have been in it in the first place, because I knew what kind of person he was in the beginning, but you know, sometimes we rationalize and say, ‘Oh, but I love him,’ or, ‘He’s so cute, he’s so cuddly, he’s so adorable,’ and all the time he’s beating you in the face, and that’s not cool.”
She married Timothy Crawford Jr. in 1997. He had played college football for Texas Tech University before spending one year in the NFL; he later became a financial advisor.
Adams and Crawford divorced in 2004, but prior to their split, the two welcomed daughter Taylor Ayanna Crawford in 2001, which Adams says is one of the best things that ever happened to her.
“Motherhood has definitely changed me for the better,” Adams told JET magazine in 2002, adding, “You really don’t know what love is until you have a child. No matter how tired I am after a show or how distracted I might be after a long recording session — all I have to do is see her little smile and know everything is right with the world.”
5. She Is Also a Producer, Actress, and Radio Host
In addition to her gospel career, for which she just won her fifth Grammy at the 2020 awards, Yolanda is also a record producer, actress, and radio host.
Adams has appeared on In the House, The Parkers, Ride Along 2 and The Passion, usually playing — what else? — a gospel singer. She has also performed on the Grammy Awards, The Tonight Show, American Idol, and The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!. In fact, Yolanda became the first Gospel artist to earn a Tony nomination for her work on the SpongeBob SquarePants Broadway musical.
Finally, Adams also hosted a popular radio show called The Yolanda Adams Morning Show, which aired over 26 markets from 2007 to 2016. It then relaunched in 2019 om Texas Southern University’s KTSU-FM radio station. Comedian Marcus D. Wiley, who is also a Texas Southern alum, is Adams’ co-host.
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