At a recent concert in Birmingham, Alabama, John Cooper of Skillet dedicated the band’s song “Stars” to a wife who recently lost her husband.
“I literally have not done [this] the entire tour [or] all of last year and I probably won’t do it a single other time on the tour,” Cooper told the Winter Jam Tour crowd on Sunday (Jan. 16).
Cooper shared that he met a mother and daughter during the meet and greet session before the show. The mother FaceTimed in her son, who is currently serving in the U.S. Navy, as she told Skillet that her husband died two weeks ago, and the son and daughter had lost their father.
The husband was a “huge Skillet fan so she came in honor of him,” Cooper said. “He grew up listening to the music.”
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Cooper found the mother and daughter in the crowd and told them how moved he was by their story.
The “Legendary” rocker encouraged the Winter Jam Tour audience to support and pray for those who are hurting. “Everybody in this room needs to give a lot of love and a lot of prayer and a lot of support for people that are hurting,” Cooper said, “because our God is close to the brokenhearted.”
With encouragement from his wife Korey, Cooper decided to learn the song “Stars,” one of the songs played at the funeral, on his acoustic guitar moments before the show so he could play it in honor of the band’s late fan.
As the late fan’s wife and daughter held each other and watched from the dimly lit arena, Cooper pointed at them and said, “This is for you guys. I love you so much,” before filling the room with the words:
If you can hold the stars in place,
You can hold my heart the same.
Whenever I fall away,
Whenever I start to break,
So here I am, lifting up my heart
To the one who holds the stars.
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