Rumer experienced "total fear" and was battling a terrible cold when she performed at the White House for former U.S. leader Barack Obama.
The British singer was due to perform Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s A House Is Not a Home at an official event in the East Room back in 2012 and a trip she had planned to help calm her nerves before the big gig turned into a disaster.
"I was so nervous, I went down to Glastonbury to do a hippy course beforehand," Rumer tells The Times. "I slept in a yurt, it rained and I woke up with a terrible cold, so by the time I got to Washington I couldn’t hear or smell. That room is very small, the audience is about two feet away and I can only describe the experience as total fear.
"But I got through it, went to the back room, and Stevie Wonder was on. He made a mistake and had to start again, which was such a relief."
Rumer, real name Sarah Joyce, also discovered even the biggest stars are wracked with nerves when it comes to performing at the White House.
"I spoke to the guy from (TV network) PBS," the 41-year-old singer recalled. "And he told me that Paul McCartney had been so scared, he was crying."