Fred Beam is the deaf performing artist who will sign the national anthem and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in American Sign Language at Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Beam will sign alongside singer Charlie Puth’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and Coco Jones’ performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” according to the NFL’s official announcement.
Deaf performer Julian Ortiz will sign “America the Beautiful” alongside Brandi Carlile. In a historic first, Deaf Puerto Rican performer Celimar Rivera Cosme will sign the entire Apple Music Halftime Show in Puerto Rican Sign Language during Bad Bunny’s headlining performance.
All signed performances are presented with Alexis Kashar of LOVE SIGN and Howard Rosenblum of Deaf Equality, according to the NFL.
“Charlie, Brandi, and Coco are generational talents, and we are honored to have them — alongside our extraordinary deaf performers — on Super Bowl LX’s world stage,” stated Desiree Perez, CEO of Roc Nation, according to CBS Sports.
Here’s what you need to know about Fred Beam:
Fred Beam Became Deaf at Age 3 From Chicken Pox & Grew Up in Tampa Without an Interpreter in Mainstream Classrooms
Fred Beam was born in Covington, Georgia, and raised in Tampa, Florida, according to the Genesee Valley Penny Saver. He became deaf at the age of 3 from complications related to chicken pox and high fever.
His parents were both educators. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father was a middle school music teacher, according to the Penny Saver. They instilled in him the value of education, and he graduated with top honors from King High School in Tampa, finishing 16th out of approximately 500 students.
Beam attended the Tampa Oral School for the Deaf starting at age 3, then transitioned to mainstream classrooms at Seminole Elementary School without an interpreter, in an era before the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Not being able to hear and express myself verbally effectively with my family, I ended up turning to drawing and painting what I see and feel,” Beam told Bold Journey magazine. “It was my release from time to time.”
Art became his outlet early. He recalled watching American Bandstand on a black-and-white TV with no captions around age 7 and seeing a boy who looked like him. “His name was Michael Jackson,” Beam told Bold Journey. “I tried to mimic his move. My mother saw me and tried to discourage me to pursue that skill. She didn’t see any future in that field for a child who is deaf.”
As a high school senior, Beam entered an art competition at the Temple Terrace Arts Festival in Tampa and won first place, beating out hundreds of artists, according to his personal website, Fred Beam Studios. “That gave me the validation that I was a true artist,” he told Bold Journey.
After high school, Beam attended the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, according to RIT’s Deaf Art Collections. He later returned to Florida and earned a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering technology from Tampa Technical Institute, where he graduated as valedictorian, the Penny Saver reported.
Fred Michael Beam Co-Founded the Wild Zappers, an All-Deaf Male Dance Company, & Has Performed at the Kennedy Center, the Apollo & Goodman Theater
Beam’s performing career took off after a dance teacher at NTID spotted his athleticism on the basketball court and encouraged him to try dance, he told Bold Journey.
In 1989, he co-founded the Wild Zappers, the first all-male deaf dance company, alongside Irvine Stewart and Warren “Wawa” Snipe, according to RIT. The troupe performs hip-hop and funk routines using eight counts to stay on beat.
Although the dancers cannot hear the music, some members wear hearing aids and all can feel vibrations from the bass. When Stewart graduated, Beam took over as director and ran the company for more than 20 years.
The Wild Zappers have performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, according to Deaf Life magazine, which named Beam its Deaf Person of the Month in December 2007. His favorite performance was when the Wild Zappers performed their “Free Your Mind” routine in Japan, he told the Penny Saver, a gig that led to return performances in the country for more than a decade.
Beam also directed the National Deaf Dance Theatre, a mainstreamed company founded in 1988 that blends dance with American Sign Language and theater, according to Invisible Hands Inc. He was a pioneer in creating ASL music and dance videos and appeared in “Lonely Little Monster,” which won Best Music Video at the Disability Arts Award Ceremony in Hollywood, according to DeafArt.org.
His theater credits are equally extensive. Beam was the first deaf choreographer to work on a theater production in Washington, D.C. — a Helen Hayes Award-nominated production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” according to his website. He performed in the first Black Deaf play, “I Didn’t Hear That Color,” written by Bob Daniel, and was the first Black deaf actor to play Othello in a Shakespeare production, according to DeafArt.org.
He was also the first deaf actor to play a Black deaf lead character in an equity production, “By the Sphere of Music,” at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, according to his website.
Fred Beam Is a Former President of National Black Deaf Advocates & Has Taught Math for More Than 30 Years
Beyond performing, Beam has spent decades advocating for the Black deaf community and working in education.
He served as president of National Black Deaf Advocates from 2007 to 2009, according to RIT. He established the Black Deaf Expo, which he hosted beginning in 2003 to give the Black deaf community a platform to celebrate their culture, according to Invisible Hands Inc. He also established the Theater Arts Leadership Training program for Deaf People of Color at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., according to Invisible Hands.
“I was looking for someone like me growing up,” Beam told Bold Journey. “I never see or meet one person who is like me (black deaf artist).”
When he asked other deaf artists why there were so few Black deaf artists represented in print, the answer he received was that no one had seen their work in galleries. So he began painting portraits of Black deaf heroes and advocating for greater visibility, he told the magazine.
In 2006, Beam was named one of Essence magazine’s Real Men of the Year, according to Wikipedia. He also received a key to the city of Birmingham, Alabama, for his work in the performing arts, according to his website.
Beam has also taught math for more than 30 years, the Penny Saver reported.
In 2016, he was appointed outreach coordinator for Sunshine 2.0, a traveling performing arts program at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf that promotes deaf awareness, social issues and environmental advocacy, according to RIT. The program has performed more than 12,500 times for more than 1.3 million people worldwide, according to the Penny Saver.
He also developed two educational theater programs that have been presented in more than 300 schools in the Washington, D.C. area: “Sign Me a Story,” which teaches elementary school children about ASL and deaf culture through interactive theater, and “Let’s Sign and Dance,” a family-oriented program, according to Invisible Hands.
“Diversity wins, and deaf and hearing people can successfully interact and engage with one another,” Beam told the Penny Saver. “We all need to educate and inspire each other to make a community a better place. Positivity goes a long way!”
Fred Beam: Meet the ASL Performer for the Super Bowl National Anthem