Kathie Lee Gifford performed a song she wrote to honor her late husband, Frank Gifford.
“I hope it brings hope to people,” she said on TODAY Thursday before performing, “He Saw Jesus.”
“So many people loved Frank. So many people still do. I wanted to honor his memory with it, but I also wanted it to do some good in the world,” she said.
All proceeds from the song, which is available on iTunes, will go to the international relief charity, Samaritan’s Purse.
Frank Gifford died on Aug. 9, 2015, at age 84 inside the couple's Connecticut home.
“I found my husband on the floor one beautiful Sunday morning,” Kathie Lee recalled to her TODAY co-anchor, Hoda Kotb. “I said this was the look on his face — and I said, ‘He saw Jesus, and Jesus took his breath away.’”
Kathie Lee recounted the story to her song's co-writer, country musician Brett James, when the two met earlier this year and told him: “'One day, some day, I’m going to write that song.' And Brett looked at me and he goes, well, let’s write that song.”
James later “tricked” Kathie Lee into recording the song, she said. She originally thought she was only taping a demo track for someone else to cover.
But Hoda said James made the right call.
“Only you can sing this record because it’s about you and Frank,” she said.