Longtime Rangers National Anthem Singer John Amirante Dies

John Amirante in 2015
Photo credit Getty Images
By WFAN.com

John Amirante, the national anthem singer whose voice was a fixture at Rangers games for 35 years, has died.

Boomer Esiason announced Amirante's death on WFAN on Tuesday morning after receiving an email from a friend of the singer's family. The Rangers confirmed the news minutes later on Twitter.

Amirante died Tuesday morning, the team said. He was 83. The cause of his death was not immediately known.

"It is with great sadness our Rangers family shares the loss of legendary anthem singer John Amirante," the Rangers said.

Ladies and gentlemen, we ask that you please rise and remove your hats for the National Anthem.Here to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" the one and only, John Amirante. pic.twitter.com/N0qmCHAIKX

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 17, 2018

A Bronx native, Amirante was the Rangers' anthem singer from 1980 until his retirement in 2015, although he did occasionally return to perform at the Garden since then.

"I don't know how many hundreds of times or thousands of times he sung the national anthem for the New York Rangers, and for every year that I had my all-star (high school) football game, he and (his wife) Annie always came out, and he always sang for us," Esiason said. "So a sad day.

"His Ranger fans have a broken heart this morning."

Added WFAN's Gregg Giannotti: "A legend in New York sports. Big moments, the Garden, that voice -- it meant so much to so many people. I knew he wasn't feeling well. Very, very sad news, and all the best to the family. What a wonderful life, and he was able to provide so much joy to so many people for a long amount of time."