Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were front and center at the Grammys last night, taking home four awards and making headlines by performing with Queen Latifah and Madonna while 33 couples got married during a live rendition of the Seattle duo’s equality anthem “Same Love.”
It was that track and universal party-crasher “Thrift Shop” that elevated October 2012 record The Heist to global rank, leading to four Grammy nods that include Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song (“Thrift Shop”) and Best New Artist.
Up next for the duo is an inspirational worldwide ad campaign for Dr. Pepper, featuring The Heist’s opening cut, “Ten Thousand Hours.” The hook on this one isn’t sung by “Thrift Shop’s” Michael Wansley or Queen Latifah — it’s owned by Boston’s Lindsey Starr.
Starr got hooked up with Macklemore via the Seattle/Boson band Fences, a project she plays bass in (alongside Bostonian, Benjamin Greenspan, formerly of Allston post-punk act Protokoll) when not performing under her own moniker in local clubs.
Fences’ chief songwriter, Christopher Mansfield wrote the part and Starr brought it to new life by singing it.
You can hear Starr’s distinctive vocals in the Dr. Pepper ad, singing “Ten thousand hours felt like ten thousand hands/Ten thousand hands, they carry me.”
The spot made its TV debut last weekend after the Seattle Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.
Check out some more of Starr’s tracks below, as well as the full version of “Ten Thousand Hours.”