New York Rangers National Anthem singer John Amirante passed away early Tuesday morning. The legendary singer was 83-years-old.
The New York Rangers lost one of their own on Tuesday morning. John Amirante passed away at the age of 83.
It is with great sadness our Rangers family shares the loss of legendary anthem singer John Amirante, who passed away this morning at 83.
Our thoughts are with his wife Ann, his children and the entire Amirante family.
We will forever remember and miss John @TheGarden. pic.twitter.com/6jc2qowYhF
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 17, 2018
John was the anthem singer of the Rangers at Madison Square Garden beginning in 1980 until his retirement in 2015. For 35 years, he thrilled Rangers fans as he became the team’s good luck charm whenever they played a big game.
He has also sung the anthem for the New York Yankees and New York Mets.
“It is with great sadness our Rangers family shares the loss of legendary anthem singer John Amirante, who passed away this morning at 83,” the Rangers wrote on their official Twitter. “Our thoughts are with his wife Ann, his children and the entire Amirante family. We will forever remember and miss John.”
Of all the National Anthems Amirante sang, his favorite was in June 1994, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals at Madison Square Garden prior to his Rangers defeating the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 to capture the organization’s first Cup in 54 years.
Amirante started singing while he was in high school in the Bronx. He kept singing and moved into sports thanks to a connection he had made from a job he had as a design engineer naval architecture firm which was owned by a man named John McMullen.
McMullen happened to own the Houston Astros and got Amirante an audition to sing at Shea Stadium before an Astros-Mets game. He landed the job in the summer of 1980.
That job gave him the opportunity him to seek out Madison Square Garden officials. They provided him the opportunity of three Rangers and two Knicks games during the season of 1980-81.
A few years later, John was a permanent fixture at Madison Square Garden singing for both the Knicks and the Rangers.
