Mark Emerson Donnelly (born February 29, 1960) is a Canadian singer noted for singing the national anthem "

O Canada "O Canada" () is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée composed the music, after which French- ...

" at the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

home games.

Biography

Donnelly was born and raised in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and

North Delta North Delta (founded as Annieville) is a largely middle-class commuter town situated in the Lower Mainland, of British Columbia, Canada. The community is the most populous of the three communities (North Delta, Ladner, and Tsawwassen) that make ...

, playing

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

from the age of 12. After earning a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

degree from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, he began singing national anthems for the

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (sometimes known as the WBS Penguins) are a professional ice hockey team based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Pengui ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

while working for a

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

parish. After he and his family moved back to Vancouver, he started doing the same for the Vancouver Canucks beginning in 2001. He made a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in the TV show ''

Psych ''Psych'' is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened o ...

'', playing an opera singer in the season four premiere episode "Extradition: British Columbia", and then another cameo appearance as a singer in the final episode "Apotheosis" of the science fiction series ''

Caprica ''Caprica'' is a 2010 American science fiction drama television series, which is a prequel spin-off of the 2004–2009 series ''Battlestar Galactica''. ''Caprica'' is set 58 years before the main series, and shows how humanity first created the ...

''. He, his wife Catherine, and their nine children currently reside in

White Rock, British Columbia White Rock is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It is bordered by Semiahmoo Bay to the south and is surrounded on three sides by Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey. To the south ...

. His brother, Lawrence, is the priest of Sts. Joachim and Ann Parish in Aldergrove. He is a staunch supporter of the Canadian

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

movement. On October 3 2014, Donnelly tripped over a carpet at Centre ice while performing the national anthem at a VEES game. Donnelly later stated that the carpet was supposed to be rolled up before he took the ice. On December 4, 2020, the Vancouver Canucks cut ties with Donnelly, via Twitter, after it came out that he planned on singing at an

anti-mask During the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks or coverings, including N95 respirator, N95, FFP standards#FFP2 mask, FFP2, surgical mask, surgical, and Cloth face mask, cloth masks, have been employed as public and personal health control measures ag ...

rally.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Mark 1960 births Canadian tenors Singers from Vancouver Living people University of British Columbia alumni Vancouver Canucks