John Amirante, the Rangers’ longtime national anthem singer, died Tuesday morning, the team announced. He was 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,” the Rangers wrote on Twitter. “Our thoughts are with his wife Ann, his children and the entire Amirante family. We will forever remember and miss John.”
Amirante sang the anthem before Rangers games for 35 years, a run that ended in 2015 (although he did return a few times in the years since).
Amirante has said his favorite anthem of the more than 1,000 he has sung in public was the one before Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, during which the Garden was so loud he could not hear a word he was singing.