Who is Ingrid Andress? Everything about the singer of the viral national anthem “Drunk”

Ingrid Andress looks back on a successful career as a country singer and has already been nominated for four Grammys.

The “Wishful Drinking” singer first rose to fame in 2019 after collaborating with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman on “Five Decades, One Voice.” Since then, she has released her debut album, Lady likein 2020 and Good person in 2022 and opened a nationwide tour for country duo Dan + Shay in 2021.

In July 2024, Andress came into the public spotlight when she sang the national anthem at the 2024 Home Run Derby, causing a stir on social media due to her shaky voice. The next day, Andress admitted that she was drunk during the performance and checked herself into rehab.

“I’m not going to talk bullshit – guys, I was drunk last night. I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need. That’s not how I was last night,” Andress wrote in a statement on Instagram.

So who is Ingrid Andress? Here’s everything you need to know about the country singer after her performance of the national anthem at the 2024 Home Run Derby.

She started in Nashville and worked with stars like Little Big Town

After graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Andress moved to Boston at the suggestion of her mentor and former American Idol Juror Kara DioGuardi. She eventually signed two publishing deals, including one with DioGuardi’s company.

She started out as a songwriter, penning hits like Vice’s “Steady 1234” and Charli XCX’s “Boys” before she began pursuing her dream of singing her own country songs. In July 2019, Fairchild and Schlapman of Little Big Town selected her to collaborate with them on Cracker Barrel’s 50th anniversary initiative celebrating young women in country music.

“Well, I practiced not being a fangirl in front of the mirror,” Andress told PEOPLE that same month about her preparations for the performance with the singers. Then, “I rehearsed every song we did until I couldn’t take it anymore.”

From then on, Andress’s career took off at a pace she didn’t expect, she told PEOPLE.

“When you’re signed as a new artist, the label prepares you. They tell you it’s going to be slow, but once it gets going, it’s going to be great,” she said. “And since I signed, it’s just been going at a rapid pace.”

She was homeschooled in Colorado

Andress grew up in a household with three sisters and a brother in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and was homeschooled for most of her life, she said in the trailer for her short film “Up Next” released by Apple Music in March 2020.

“I think because I felt so out of place, because I was homeschooled, I over-thought and over-analyzed everything. When I started writing songs, I was definitely overwhelmed at first,” she said in the trailer.

“I felt like I didn’t belong,” Andress continued. “You have to put in so much work to kind of neglect your feelings. I think I started writing better songs when I finally thought: I’m writing what I feel and what I want.”

Her father, Brad Andress, was a coach for the Colorado Rockies

Andress grew up around baseball, as her father was a major league coach for 19 years. He specialized in strength and conditioning and began his career with the Detroit Tigers from 1990 to 1999 and continued with the Colorado Rockies from 2000 to 2008.

Brad’s nationwide business trips showed Andress what life on the road could be like, she told WBWN station B104 in February 2020.

“I learned early on that I can do well wherever I go because I can always figure out what to do and how to adapt,” she said. “It really takes you out of your comfort zone and exposes you to things you wouldn’t normally do.”

She released her debut album, Lady likein 2020

After several singles, including one of the same name, Andress released her debut album, Lady likein March 2020. Shortly thereafter, she told PEOPLE that she couldn’t categorize her music – although it fits into the country genre, she didn’t want to pigeonhole it.

“I really can’t find artists that sound like my music. I always just tell people, ‘You just have to hear it to understand it,’ which obviously wasn’t a good selling point when I started because everyone was like, ‘Okay, I can’t pigeonhole you,'” she said.

The album only contained eight songs, which Andress said was intentional so that each of them could stand on its own as a single.

“I really only chose the ones that have an emotional story to tell. I’m obviously writing about real things that actually happened to me,” she said. “At least two I wrote years ago and some just recently, so it’s a cool combination of who I am as a person emotionally.”

Andress was nominated for four Grammy Awards

Andress was nominated for three awards at the 2021 Grammys, including Best New Artist, Best Country Song for “More Hearts Than Mine” and Best Country Album. Ahead of the awards show, she told PEOPLE that she was shocked and honored by the nomination, especially alongside people she’s a fan of like Megan Thee Stallion and Miranda Lambert.

“I just went about my normal routine, doing nothing and watering my plants,” she said of how she found out. “It made my year even weirder. ‘2020 was my year,’ no one said but me. I was like, ‘OK, I’ve peaked! I’m retiring.'”

Andress added that she was happy to be in the same category as Megan Thee Stallion for Best New Artist, despite creating completely different genres of music, but was surprised that she was the only country artist in the category.

“I feel like even though country is so big, it’s not really represented in the new artist category,” she said. “I’m just lucky to be able to represent Nashville and everything we do here.”

Andress was nominated for another Grammy in 2023 for her single “Wishful Drinking.”

She checked herself into rehab after performing the national anthem at the 2024 Home Run Derby

In July 2024, Andress performed at the 2024 Home Run Derby and sang the national anthem. Her performance quickly sparked comments on social media as viewers compared it to Fergie’s famous rendition of the song at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.

“Fergie watches Ingrid Andress receive the title for the worst national anthem of all time” A user wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The next day, Andress addressed her critics, writing on Instagram that she had been drunk during the performance and was seeking help.

“I apologize to MLB, all the fans and this country I love so much for this performance,” she wrote. “I’ll tell you all what rehab is like. I hear it’s super fun. xo, Ingrid.”