Young anthem singer has haters online, but crowds are 'enamored,' so she keeps singing

Kinsley Murray sang the Canadian and the U.S. national anthems before the Pacers-Raptors game in Indianapolis and reached a far bigger audience than she’d imagined when she booked the gig in fall 2023.

IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel took note of her performance, as did millions of others.

The Pacers posted the video of her singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” that’s drawn about 23 million views and nearly 95,000 comments on TikTok.

IndyStar caught up with the Pasco, Washington, singer and her dad, 43-year-old grade teacher Shafer Murray, to talk about her routine, her inspiration, how they deal with critics and where she goes next.

Kinsley Murray began performing as a toddler.

She started singing with the school choir her father formed. She was a 1-year-old at the time and had learned the national anthem by the time she was 18 months.

“I used to do it with my class choir, so she'd be there. And I also played the radio. She loved the anthem. We played in the car on the way to places and stuff like that,” Shafer Murray said.

By age two, she asked about performing at sporting events.

“She had mentioned she wanted to go sing at a ballgame. I said, ‘Okay.’ And she went out she sang at a minor league game.”

The single dad has joint custody of his daughter and uses the performances, related trips and making videos as part of daddy-daughter bonding.

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Sporting events get her going.

“I just like music,”  Kinsley Murray said. “And I like when the big crowd roars.”

Kinsley sings at about 15 to 20 events a year.

“It's always sporting events. Especially as she’s gotten older where she's getting a bigger crowd, because she likes that roar,” her dad said. “I feed on it, too. It's great as a father to hear everyone cheer; eighteen thousand people cheering for your daughter like that.”

Shafer Murray applies on Kinsley's behalf for many events.

"You just send in her video and if they want her to sing they'll have her sing. Sometimes she auditions, but for the most part, we just send in a video,” he said.

Up until recently, she’s sung primarily in the northwestern U.S., including games at Washington State, Washington, Oregon State, Oregon and Gonzaga universities.

“Those are big ones and she's done them all,” he said.

Last year, she sang for the Sacramento Kings. She also performed at Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s games.

Now they're branching out.

“We don't have in the northwest this type of cluster of cities big cities with big events that have 10 thousand-plus people, which is what she likes to sing at,” he said.

Kinsley Murray takes inspiration from Whitney Houston.

That includes raising her arms at the end of the national anthem, a la Houston’s iconic 1991 Super Bowl performance.

“She practices with Whitney when she's in the car just to kind of get her runs,” her dad said. “She likes to stretch her voice out a little bit. She’ll also do some Mariah (Carey), like ‘Hero’ and stuff like that.”

Kinsley said she’s blending styles of two divas to develop her own singing style.

“I like to do Whitney Houston and Kelly Clarkson,” she said. “I like to put those two together because Kelly has really good air, and Whitney Houston, her stuff is really powerful. So I'm trying to put those two together to make one.”

Kinsley doesn’t get paid to perform.

Dad foots the bills, including travel.

“It’s a big money commitment,” he said.

To keep costs down, he tries to stay with friends or family in areas. And to get the most bang for his buck, he schedules several performances in a region.

After getting booked last fall for the Feb. 26 Pacers-Raptors game, he sought other opportunities in the area for Kinsley to show her stuff.

Later in the week, she sang at events at Dayton and Xavier universities in Ohio. She had been booked to sing at Ohio State University Feb. 29, but the school cancelled months after booking because it had committed to another singer, he said.

Kinsley will sing at the Duke-Virginia men's basketball game in Durham, North Carolina, on March 2.

They treat the treks as a vacation. There were no theme parks to hit up while out this way, so Kinsley and her father toured the Indianapolis Speedway and visited a local go-kart racing. They then headed for Great Wolf Lodge Water Park in Mason, Ohio. While they were in the state, they visited the “A Christmas Story” House and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

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Dad does the styling and hair.

For the Midwest trek, he bought four custom-made dresses from a dressmaker in Ireland.

He braids her hair for performances; and often curls her hair while at the stadiums.

In advance of the Pacers game, he painted her toenails in red and white stripes and stars on a field of blue.

“I like to wear red, white and blue like the American flag, because I like to honor my country as much as I can,” Kinsley said.

Kinsley became familiar with the Pacers while playing NBA 2K video games.

“We played the Raptors versus the Pacers over and over and over,” Shafer Murray said. ”She got to know Tyrese really well through that; and then obviously the All-Star Game and some games we watched together.

Kinsley said Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are her favorite players. She even made images of them, along with Pacers coach Richard Carlisle, on a 3-D printer to present to them during the visit to Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

“At the game, I said ‘Hi,' to Tyrese because he was this close to me. He was like, ‘Hi. I like your dress,’” she said. “And it almost made me cry happy tears!”

After she sang at the Pacers game, players from both teams approached her to give high fives.

“They came around and said 'Good job' and ‘Congrats! 'You did it girl. You hit it. Got that Whitney!'" Shafer Murray said.

Kinsley is an athlete herself.

She plays basketball, softball and soccer.

She wants to come back to Indiana.

The Pacers game has been her favorite spot to perform thus far, she said.

“It was a really big crowd,” she said.

She'd like to return to sing for the Pacers, and the Indiana Fever.

Kinsley wants to make a career of singing and acting, but following in her dad’s footsteps works, as well.

“If that doesn't work out, I'll be a teacher because I like to teach kids. And I really like math. So I think I'd be good at that,” she said. “I've already been planning it out in my mind.”

She doesn’t get nerves before performing.

“I’m always like ‘I’m gonna do this!” she said. “And then the crowd just makes me have a lot of confidence. And when I get to “rockets’ red glare” it gives me that thing where I can belt it. And then it goes toward the end.”

“Yeah, I get passionate.”

She’s been prepped to deal with haters.

A lot of the attention Kinsley garnered this week came from those critical of her performance, comparing it to a much-maligned Fergie rendition of the anthem.

“It's hard for me to gauge some of the negative feedback because everywhere we go, the crowd is enamored,” her dad said. “If you're in the arena when she sings and if you've heard some of her stuff online like the Oregon game and the Kings game, it's ridiculous the noise that she gets from ‘rockets’ red glare’ to the end. And it's hard to even go anywhere without getting stopped for a selfie.”

Kinsley hasn’t seen the negative social media postings that followed the Pacers game. But she knows there are critics out there, he said.

“We've prepped her saying if you're off a note here or there, even though you're eight, when everybody sees it, someone's gonna say something because that's just the way people are,” he said. “We have some aunties and my auntie said to her yesterday, ‘Hey, you haven't made it until you got haters.'”

Shafer Murray won’t let any internet nastiness deter him from supporting Kinsey’s desire to perform.

“I'm here to create memories. She got accepted to sing and I'm not gonna not allow her to sing at this place,” he said. “I try my best with her. She does have a supporting singing coach as well. I want to tighten things up, but she's eight. You're gonna get off here or there. I apologize if people don't like it. Sorry.

“I'm just trying to make her happy. She's happy when she goes out there and makes people smile. The place goes nuts. They want to hang me; and I don't understand. I am here trying to build memories with my daughter and just build her dream and I'm going to tell her ‘no’? She's eight. She's doing all these things. Like how many 8-year-olds get to do this?”

Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on X.com:@cherylvjackson.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Viral anthem singer and dad talk inspiration, memories and haters