This the official Jim Cornelison youtube channel. He is the Chicago Blackhawks national anthem singer, a professional opera singer, and a real estate agent with Rubloff in Chicago.

Jim Cornelison is the national anthem singer for the Chicago Blackhawks but is also a real estate agent in Chicago. This channel has Blackhawk endorsed videos as well as WGN and Comcast that can keep you posted on the Blackhawk anthem tradition.
As of the beginning of the 2008-2009 NHL season, I am THE national anthem soloist for the Chicago Blackhawks and having a great time in the role! There is a reaction from some deep part of our psyche that is affected when someone screams at us and I have the good fortune to stand in the middle of nearly 23,000 screaming Blackhawks' fans for every home game played. It is always a rush! And I feel privileged to be in the place that I am.
I am also a real estate agent with Rubloff Residential Properties. I decided to step away from singing as my full-time occupation back in 2004. I needed to be home. I have two kids who at that time were 5 and 10 years old. Pursuing opera as a career required far too much travel so, since I had experience with my own real estate investments and believed in the opportunities there, I got my license and focused on making deals happen.
So how does one end up in this position, especially with the Blackhawks, a team like no other when it comes to the unique tradition of the US National Anthem? Long answer first:
I moved to Chicago in 1995 to begin an apprenticeship with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. One of my classmates from Indiana University, David Honore, was singing anthems for the Hawks at the time and asked me if I wanted to come down and sing for them. Over the next 9 years I was in and out of town. Some years I sang at several games and other years I could do none at all. After my decision to build a career at home in real estate, I asked to get back into singing for the Hawks in 2006-07 and then, as events would have it, around Christmas of 2007, Patrick Blackwell had to move back to New York. This left the rest of the anthems for that season to me. So here is where the short answer comes in: I am the branded national anthem soloist for the Chicago Blackhawks because John McDonough, the president of the team, smiled on me. Thank-you, John.
The anthem tradition of the Hawks is older than me. It is bigger than me. But I like to think I am able to bring something to it that not every singer can. I have sung with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Baltimore Opera, Florida Grand, Hawaii Opera, English National Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, and many others. But I find the energy of the United Center entirely unique. My goal is not to sing perfectly but to sing with abandon, to contribute to and enhance an experience that is jubilant, proud and primal by bringing as much energy as I can to the singing of the anthem every time I step out on the ice. Go Hawks!

Jim Cornelison
Rubloff Residential Properties
2663 N Halsted
Chicago, IL 60641
773-572-6528 (office)
773-572-6578 (fax)
jcornelison@rubloff.com