When Donald Trump was sworn in four years ago, 16-year-old former American Idol contestant Jackie Evancho sang the national anthem, while country stars Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood, and rock band 3 Doors Down were among the attractions at a special concert the night before.
Barack Obama called on Beyoncé to deliver the anthem when he saw it in his second term in 2013 (although she later admitted miming), and James Taylor also performed.
Four years earlier, the Star-Spangled Banner was performed by The United States Navy Band Sea Chanters, while Aretha Franklin sang My Country, ‘Tis of Thee (which, confusingly, uses the same tune as the UK’s national anthem).
Before that, George W Bush enlisted military personnel to sing the US anthem at his two inauguration ceremonies, while Bill Clinton had Santita Jackson, the daughter of the Rev Jesse Jackson, and opera singer Marilyn Horne.
Further back, amateur singer Juanita Booker sang for Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration in 1981, and Holocaust survivor Cantor Isaac Goodfriend was accompanied by the US Marine Band for Jimmy Carter four years earlier.
In 1973, Richard Nixon booked jazz singer Ethel Ennis for his second inauguration. In 1961, opera great Marian Anderson performed the anthem for John F Kennedy – just as she did for his predecessor Dwight D Eisenhower four years earlier.
