In honor of Whitney Houston, who gave the best performance ever (before the Gulf War Super Bowl), I request your nominations for Number 2.
Here’s Whitney’s…
My nomination is Christina Aguirera before Celtics-Lakers Finals game:
Is this the Aguilera one you mean? You linked to Whitney Houston twice.
I never cared for Whitney as a singer. Something about her style, I just didn’t like it. So don’t count me on the 1991 Super Bowl bandwagon. Yeah, she did a great job, but I think the emotional and national security issues surrounding our military actions in Kuwait and Iraq had a lot more to do with how that rendition is remembered. Just my opinion, mind you.
My addition to the thread is Marvin Gaye at the 1983 NBA All Star game.
I’ll just jump in to add, obviously his take on the anthem won’t be everybody’s cup of tea. I know that. Just so you don’t think I prefer offbeat, personal, weird performances all the time, I think Kelly Clarkson’s anthem at this year’s Super Bowl was really, really good. (But can anyone tell me why it was necessary to have Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert sing ‘America the Beautiful’ first?)
I just never cared for Whitney.
Jim Cornelison.
Zooey Deschanel:
She starts out kind of low and drops in the middle a little, but at least she sings it fairly straight forward.
I thought Kelly Clarkson did a great job. W/respect to America the Beautiful, I’ve never understood why that gets played as well, but I did see Ray Charles do it once on opening day at Fenway Park, and it was pretty awesome.
No, can’t link right now, but it’s the one where she’s wearing the full black dress.
As technically impressive as Whitney Houston’s rendition was, she was lip synching. Minus 100 points.
I’m also disinclined to vote for any rendition with huge amounts of miasma done by a person who secretly wishes they were Aretha. You’re not Aretha. Sing it straight. I’ve seen thirty renditions of “The Star Spangled Banner” just at the SkyDome/Rogers Centre that were better than Whitney Houston’s, and this isn’t even the USA.
1991 NHL all star game in Chicago sung by Wayne Messmer . I watched it live from the Gulf War. Something I will never forget. US National Anthem drowned out by cheers at 91 NHL All Star Game - YouTube
This guy, but at the Bears game on September 11, 2011. Absolutely perfect for the occasion. He just belted it out and finished with a defiant shout.
Ron Taylor as Bleeding Gums Murphy
This is a bit dated (and excludes non-baseball events), but back in the 1985’s, Sports Illustrated had an article which selected the best of everything baseball-related (that was possible at that time), and chose Linda Ronstadt’s rendition from the 1977 World Series as the one to beat.
(Man, I love the fact that SI has their full archives on line for free.)
Here’s one of my favorites, from Super Bowl XVII in 1983, around the 11:04 mark of this clip (Leslie Easterbrook was the singer). A couple of seconds of “streaming” were cut off; despite that, I think she did a darn good job. The problem is that apparently the owner of this clip has made it private, and so you’ll have to log in or sign up to see it.
Around the 4:38 mark of this clip (I think it’s around the same point on my DVD copy), from the 1981 Rose Bowl (1/1/81), the Michigan band performs.
Even if you are Aretha a good performance requires the correct words, the correct notes, and the correct rhythm. I don’t care how beautiful your voice is, you have to hit the right notes at the right time and without meandering through the wrong notes to get there, or wandering away from the right notes after you do sing them.
For an acapella celebrity performance, I’ve never seen anything that tops Huey Lewis and the News.
Beat me to it! I love his rendition.
Leslie Nielsen.
Melisma.
I’ll second that. I listen to this song as just as song because it’s so good.
No, I think he got it right the first time. 
I really liked Alto Reed’s Saxophone instrumental when I heard it before the ALCS in 2011. I’ve heard it so many times, I really don’t need to hear the words again, and the saxophone is very moving.
Here’s an earlier performance (I think this one has a little better sound quality).