About Jim
Jim Cornelison: Singing America’s Song
Jim is a professional singer, who since 2010 has been best known for performing the National Anthem at Chicago Blackhawks home games. He has also been the anthem singer for the Chicago Bears season opening home games since 2010 and since 2017 has performed Back Home Again in Indiana before the Indianapolis 500. Since 1993 Jim has made his living singing. First, for opera houses around the world, then by singing anthems to national acclaim for many teams, companies and organizations.
Jim sang his first national anthems for the Chicago Blackhawks from 1996–2001 and then again from 2006–2008 as part of a group of singers selected to participate in this tradition. Following shortly on the heels of Rocky Wirtz becoming Owner/Chairman of the team and John McDonough becoming the President/CEO, Jim was asked to serve as the sole anthem singer for the Blackhawks starting with the 2008–2009 hockey season. This coincided with the start of regional broadcasts of Hawks games on WGN and Comcast and the emergence of the team as a powerhouse in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.
As the team’s popularity has grown, so too has the popularity of the unique national anthem tradition of the Chicago Blackhawks, resulting in some incredible opportunities for Jim as their anthem singer. On January 1, 2009, Jim was seen and heard nationally and throughout Canada, singing at the Winter Classic hockey game at Wrigley Field as well as throughout the playoffs that year. In 2010 the bar was raised higher when the Hawks won the Stanley Cup resulting in more national exposure for Jim. This included singing the anthem for the Stanley Cup victory rally attended by more than 2 million people!
Performances
After the Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup victory, performances for the Chicago Bears, Bulls, Cubs, Sox and Fire followed. This included the nationally televised, historical 2019 opening game of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Season featuring the Chicago Bears vs the Green Bay Packers. Jim continues to appear regularly on all the major media networks in the Chicago market area and has continued to receive national recognition with performances at the Indianapolis 500, Chicagoland Speedway’s Nascar races, 2012 Ryder Cup, the Arlington Million horse races, Bears opening home games, repeat Stanley Cup victories by the Hawks in 2013 and 2015, the 2014 NHL Stadium Series game, the historic, international USA Rugby vs New Zealand All-Blacks match up, ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, the 2019 Winter Classic, the Today Show, the Colbert Report and Harry Connick, Jr Show among others.
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#1
2009 NHL Winter Classic
My first Winter Classic in 2009 vs the Red Wings was something special. (I also did my second WC in 2019!) This was the first international, and major media, live event that I did as the Blackhawks’ new Anthem Singer. The energy was off the charts! Arriving at 9am for a noon start, I can still hear the symbiotic chants in my mind: “Let’s Go Red Wings!” followed by “Detroit Sucks!” So cold but such a thrill to be part of this storied rivalry and historic game at Wrigley Field.
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#2
2010 Blackhawks Stanley Cup Champions, Parade & Rally
This was the Blackhawks first Stanley Cup Championship since 1961 (We won again in 2013 and 2015!). Chicago had waited 49 years for this Cup, and what a magical celebration it was! Never in my life had I even considered the possibility of owning a championship ring. The parade through the streets of the city was surreal, like a parade from a different era for soldiers returning home from WW1, with ticker tape and confetti falling down on us from the skyscrapers above. The entire celebration was something special, that I will always remember.
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#3
2011 Chicago Bears Playoffs Games
2011 NFL Playoffs: Bears vs Seattle in the NFC Divisional Round, and Bears vs Packers for the NFC Championship. These two playoff games were amazing to be part of. First off, I grew up in Washington state as a Seahawks fan, so for me, the snow falling that day made it the quintessential winter football game, so beautiful! The epic Western Conference Championship game against the Packers brought historic adversaries together. Unfortunately the good guys lost!
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#4
Hawks vs. Bulls May 3, 2011
Falcons vs. Bears September 11, 2011
The Bulls played Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on May 3rd, 2011 - the day after Osama Bin Laden was killed. The Falcons played the Bears on the ten year anniversary of September 11th terrorist attacks. It was such an honor to be part of both of these games because of the deep meaning each of the opening ceremonies encompassed. I’m still humbled and touched when I remember these games.
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#5
2012 Ryder Cup Final Day
1st Tee and Closing Ceremony
It was a great opportunity to be chosen to sing the closing ceremony for this match up at Medinah Country Club, but I had more fun with an impromptu performance of 8 or 9 songs that Sunday morning at the first tee for several thousand spectators, and a few television stations. God Bless America, Beethoven 9 in german, America the Beautiful, O Sole Mio, the Star Spangled Banner (The Europeans cheered, too. It was so cool!), Danny Boy, Besame Mucho and even a short selection from Carmen in french. The Ryder Cup does golf the way it should be done!
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#6
Honorary Squadron Commander for
the USAF Band of Mid-America 2012
I met General Ray Johns (ret) on ice at a Blackhawks game. We had some conversations about how I might help the bands with presence in and around Chicago. Shortly after I had an invitation to Scott AFB and an invitation to serve as an Honorary Commander. What an honor!
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#7
Mom honored as veteran at 2012 Blackhawks game
Having my mom on ice with me as a vet for the Blackhawks game 2012 was such an amazing honor. Both my parents were WW2 vets; Dad an anti-aircraft artillery gunner and Mom an army nurse. Dad passed in 1995. Mom in 2017 at the age of 94. Both inserted in France and advanced into Germany. Thank you for your service mom and dad.
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#8
Appearances on the Colbert Report & Harry (Harry Connick, Jr. Show)
In honor of the 200th anniversary of the National Anthem, I was asked by the Colbert Report to perform the anthem as the sign off to the September 11th, 2014 show. Harry Connick Jr. heard my performance on Monday Night Football in 2016. Harry and his producers were so impressed that they had to book me as a guest. Just two very cool and fun NYC experiences!
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#9
2017 Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500 is like nothing else. If you haven’t been, put it on your bucket list. It doesn’t matter if you like car racing or not. It’s the biggest sporting event on a single day in the world, and will blow your mind! Over 300,000 people come every year AND you can bring in your own cooler!
Jim's Top 10 Moments
#10
NFL 100th Anniversary Season Opener 2019
The 100th year of the NFL kicked off on Thursday Night Football from Soldier Field in Chicago. The NFL could have chosen anyone to sing the Anthem for this historic event, but I was honored to have the opportunity to perform on this special night. The Bears lost that night, but the magnitude and spectacle of the game was magnificent!
Biography
Jim has been the national anthem singer of the Chicago Blackhawks since the 2008-09 NHL season. His unique yet traditional rendition of the Star Spangled Banner has garnered national attention along with the rise of the Blackhawks’ and their Stanley Cup victories of 2010, 2013 and 2015 leading to him being asked back to the Indianapolis 500 in 2020 for his fourth performance of Back Home Again in Indiana. All this to critical acclaim from sources such as: NPR Morning Edition, the Today Show, the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Joe Buck, Mike Tirico, Doc Emrick, Scott Van Pelt and many others.
Jim grew up in Washington state, moving to Chicago in 1995 at the invitation of the Lyric Opera of Chicago to join their apprentice program after finishing his masters degree at Indiana University. Leaving the Lyric in 1998 he was managed by Columbia Artists singing opera internationally. Besides the Lyric Opera of Chicago he has performed with the San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Minneapolis Opera, Baltimore Opera, English National Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, Opera de Bordeaux, and many others. Jim has performed with world class performers including super stars tenor Placido Domingo and conductor Zubin Mehta. Most recently he has begun singing some jazz with internationally recognized jazz saxophone savant, Frank Catalano. You can find their album “Steppin Out” on Spotify and iTunes.
Some of Jim’s high profile performances include:
- 2019-2020 NBCSN’s Mecum Auto Auctions on NBCSN
- 2019 100th Anniversary of the NFL season opener. Bears vs Packers
- 2019 NHL Winter Classic 2019 Nascar: Camping World 400
- 2019 Indycar: Firestone Grand Prix
- 2019 NFL Playoffs: Bears vs Eagles
- 2010-2019 Arlington Million
- 2019 Notre Dame men’s hockey
- 2010-2019 Chicagoland Nascar Sprint Cup Series race
- 2010-19 The Chicago Bears home opener
- 2016-2018 CBS Radio Stars and Strings
- 2018 Indianapolis Colts home opener
- 2018 Indiana Pacers
- 2018-2020 Northwestern University homecoming
- 2017 College Game Day performance on ESPN: IU vs Ohio State
- 2017 Friday Night Fights
- 2016 Chi-Town Rising New Year’s Eve celebration MC and performance
- 2016 Monday Night Football
- 2016 Harry Connick, Jr Show
- 2016 America Salutes You Tribune/Sinclair media nationally televised concert
- 2016 Indiana University vs North Carolina
Other notable appearances include:
2012 Ryder Cup, 2009 NHL Winter Classic, 2014 NHL Stadium Series, USA vs New Zealand AllBlacks, September 11th 2011 NFL Pregame nationally broadcast anthem, many Division 1 Universities, the Chicago Bulls and Bears playoffs, and a performance of the anthem in a killer concert with the Smashing Pumpkins.