John Amirante, the longtime Rangers singer of the national anthem, died Tuesday morning, the team announced. He was 83.
“Our thoughts are with his wife Ann, his children and the entire Amirante family,” the Rangers said in a statement. “We will forever remember and miss John @TheGarden.”
Amirante was a fixture at Madison Square Garden from about 1980 until 2015, when he retired — although he still would pop up from time to time afterward.
Amirante, who was born in The Bronx, had perhaps his most iconic rendition of the anthem in 1994, before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.