Scott Brown’s daughter reveals the key to singing the national anthem

By Judy Kurtz - 12/12/11 08:30 PM ET

Her dad may be a senator, but Ayla Brown says daughters of lawmakers aren’t necessarily immune to sometimes forgetting the lyrics to the national anthem.

Brown, 23, just inked a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers that will have her singing the Star-Spangled Banner during halftime at each of the basketball team’s home games. The daughter of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Washington TV reporter Gail Huff was a standout basketball player at Boston College.

When ITK asked whether she was worried about flubbing the words to the famously tricky song (a la Christina Aguilera, who botched the patriotic tune at the Super Bowl last February), Brown said she’s been there, done that. The singer tells us she was about 16 years old and singing at a church festival when the lyrics suddenly slipped her mind. Her solution? “I just made them up. Made up the entire verse,” Brown says.

The former “American Idol” contestant, who’s working on a new album, even got kudos at the time for her reworked version of the classic song: “Someone came up to me afterwards and they said, ‘You did such a good job at the anthem.’ And I just laughed and said thanks.”

The telegenic entertainer has also learned a few tricks of the trade from years of practice singing America’s official hymn, disclosing, “You just don’t want to start too high — that’s the trick. If you start too high, it’s over. You’re done.”