Saturday 10 June 2017

Musicans In Jerseys: Nashville Edition

With the Nashville Predators rolling out every name in their Rolodex to sing the national anthem in this year's NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, it seems only natural that we document these musicians and others who have appeared in hockey jerseys. Nashville's roster of musicians will certainly grow thanks to all the invites, but there are other teams who have can claim some new musical fans. After all is said and done today, some new thirty acts will have been added to the overall database. Feel free to search through there and find your team or favorite artists!

With that being said, if you have images of an artist that I don't have, send them through to me! I'll give you credit, and your image will live forever on HBIC! Make sure you look over the list carefully. If you have one I don't, let me know! On to the show!

Let's start in Nashville where we can officially add a number of names. There were Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks in the rink, Hank Williams Jr. showed up for a little hockey, Kelly Clarkson belted out the anthem, Lady Antebellum showed up to sing, Little Big Town wooed the Nashville crowd with their sound, Luke Bryan filled the rink with his vocal talents, and Martina McBride made Americans proud. With Game Six going tomorrow night, there may be one more addition to the Predators' fan base as well!

In the other corner of this Stanley Cup battle, the Pittsburgh Penguins got help from Justin Bieber. Chicago's Terry Kath also appeared on-stage in an old Penguins jersey which is totally awesome. Unfortunately, that's not quite the same star power as the Nashville contingent above.

For the first time in their history, The Chainsmokers will make an appearance on HBIC thanks to Alex Pall's decision to wear a St. Louis Blues jersey for a show in the Missouri city.

The Minnesota Wild commemorated the appearance of Soul Asylum at the Xcel Energy Center with a jersey of their own.

We'll stay in Minnesota as Chicago's Terry Kath also wore a Minnesota North Stars jersey while playing at some point in his career as captured by Getty Images. Also seen in the Getty Images archives is Eddie Money rocking the glorious North Stars jersey. We really need some team to revive that colour scheme in this exact design once more.

Genesis makes a revival on this edition of Musicians in Jerseys as both Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford showed their allegiances to the New York Rangers. We've seen Collins in other jerseys, but he showed up once more in the colours of the Vancouver Canucks as well! Anyone up for a 1994 Stanley Cup Final once more?

I'm not saying that Borje Salming had anything to do with the next photo, but why else would Benny Andersson of ABBA be wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey? Good Swedes stick together, apparently.

In sticking with the Leafs, here's a cool story about our next musician. You may not be aware of her, but Abigail Richardson-Schulte has done more with less in music than most people including most musicians. Born in Oxford, England, she moved to Canada as a child. Strangely, she was diagnosed as being "incurably deaf" at the age of five, but fully regained her hearing once she had settled in Calgary! How weird is that? In any case, Richardson-Schulte has led a full life and is currently the Composer in Residence with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in Ontario! She's won numerous awards, and her southern Ontario roots had her decked out in Maple Leafs blue!

If you're a music historian, you might know a little information about the band Yes. If you do, you may know that Bill Bruford was their original drummer. Bruford remained with Yes from 1968-72 before leaving to join King Crimson where he remained a fixture in the band for 25 years. Despite being in and around English bands for most of his career, somehow Bill Bruford found a way to support the Boston Bruins!

She has shown support for a number of teams in her past, so let's add one more: Shania Twain in a Boston Bruins jersey. I'm pretty certain she has always been a Leafs fan since she hails from Timmins, but you never know!

I'm not sure about the rest of the band when it comes to who they like, but it appears that Mike Starr from Alice in Chains is a Los Angeles Kings fan. Or at least he was while he was still in the band. In other Kings news, Daron Malakian of System of a Down rocks out in a Kings jersey as well!

He's been seen in a white Oilers jersey, but Daron Malakian has also worn a blue Oilers jersey during shows in Edmonton. All he needs is the orange jersey to round out his collection!

We have our obligatory Montreal Canadiens additions as they seem to attract a vast number of celebrities. In one of the only pictures I've ever seen with him holding a jersey, Stompin' Tom Connors received a Montreal Canadiens jersey! For the guy who wrote and performed "The Hockey Song", this seems odd, no? And the second musician who appears wearing the bleu-blanc-et-rouge is none other than Wyclef Jean!

We jump to the international scene, and there are a couple more musicians that have been seeing wearing Team Canada jerseys which always makes me proud. The first musician is a little strange in that he's not even Canadian. Bruce Dickinson sported an old Team Canada jersey in this photo, but the Iron Maiden frontman is actually from England! The second musician is also not Canadian despite his wearing of a Team Canada jersey in his photo. John McDermott is originally from Scotland, sang with The Irish Tenors, appeared in Score: A Hockey Musical, and showed up wearing his Team Canada jersey at a gala for the musical!

Thunder Bay native and Grammy Award-winning musical director Paul Schaffer, who co-starred on The Late Show with David Letterman, went back to his hometown where he attended Lakehead University's 40th Anniversary Weekend and received an honourary degree from the institution! As part of the ceremony, Schaffer took to the stage in a Lakehead University Thunderwolves uniform!

According to information on the internet, the duo known as Rock City have written a pile of songs for other artists and themselves. I'm not aware of their music, but they seem to have a solid following, so it was pretty cool to see them take the stage in Hamilton, Ontario wearing the uniforms of the Hamilton Bulldogs!

Another band that I've never seen nor heard play is Classic Albums Live, a Toronto-based band that recreates classic songs from hit albums of the past, and performs these songs and albums live. One of the members of the Classic Albums Live band is drummer Rick Vatour, and he was captured on the ice in an Ajax-Pickering Raiders uniform!

And I know he's a hockey fan since he's been in a number of jerseys over the years, but what the hell was Snoop Dogg wearing here? If this is some tribute jersey to the greatest players, it misses the mark in my opinion.

So there are a pile more musicians wearing hockey jerseys or logos of some sort in very prominent manner. Again, if you have images you want to contribute, fire them off here and I'll post them in the next round of pictures!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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