A Vancouver Island singer helped get the night started at an historic Major League Baseball All-Star Game this week.
Lauren Spencer Smith, from Nanaimo and Port Alberni, performed O Canada at the start of MLB's 95th all-star game Tuesday, July 15, in Atlanta.
Spencer Smith posted on social media that it was an "honour" to sing her home country's national anthem, and the Toronto Blue Jays posted that "there's nothing like O Canada at the ballpark."
Members of the Zac Brown Band played and sang the U.S.A.'s national anthem and both anthem performers were part of a pre-game entertainment lineup at Truist Park that also included hip-hop stars Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris and country artist Kane Brown.
The National League won the game against the American League after MVP Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies hit three home runs in Major League Baseball's first-ever 'swing-off' tiebreaker to determine an all-star game winner.
The former American Idol contestant Spencer Smith released her sophomore album The Art of Being a Mess on June 27 and has since announced a summer/fall tour of Europe and Australia that starts in Madrid on Sept. 3 and concludes in Perth on Nov. 10.
Her debut album Mirror, released in 2023, included the platinum singles Flowers and Fingers Crossed, the latter of which reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
