Jump to content

Paul Lorieau

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Doogie2K (talk | contribs) at 03:05, 3 July 2013 (I am occasionally too interested in clever toys for my own good. Disregard snark in previous edit summary; obvious solution found.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Paul Lorieau
Born1942
Legal, Alberta
Died(2013-07-02)July 2, 2013
Known forAnthem singer for the Edmonton Oilers (1981-2011)

Paul Lorieau (born 1942) is a Canadian optometrist who was the National Anthem singer for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League from 1981 to 2011.[1] He is of French-Canadian descent.

Lorieau was born the youngest of 7 children in 1942 in Legal, Alberta to Henri and Alexandrine Lorieau.[2] Both of his parents had musical backgrounds, his mother playing the violin, and his father a "natural tenor".[2]

In response to the Canadian National Anthem being booed at the beginning of Game 2 in Anaheim, when playing the next game in Edmonton, the Canadian crowd responded in their own fashion. At the beginning of Game 3 of the 2006 NHL Western Conference Finals between the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Oilers, he sang only a few lines of "O Canada" before letting the audience sing the rest of the song without him.[3] This was done at all remaining Oilers home games throughout the rest of the 2006 playoffs, which included the Oilers appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, and even at the first few Oilers home games at the beginning of the 2006–07 NHL season.

On July 3, 2010 in Edmonton Lorieau sang both the U.S. and Canadian National Anthems to open the "Declaration of Derby" international flat track roller derby match between Edmonton's E-Ville Roller Derby travel team the E-Ville Dead and Seattle's Sockit Wenches. After his performance he was presented with an E-Ville Roller Derby jersey emblazoned with his new name, Paul 'The Punisher' Lorieau.[citation needed] On March 23, 2011, Lorieau announced that he would retire at the end of the season. On April 8, 2011 when the Oilers played their final home game of the regular season, he performed in front of a sold-out Rexall Place one final time. A special pre-game ceremony was held to honour the Oilers longest-standing anthem singer and to give Oil Country a chance to salute Paul for 30 great years.

On July 2, 2013, CTV Edmonton reported on Twitter that Lorieau had died of cancer.[4]

References

  1. ^ Prince, Gerry. "Song of silence Oilers' anthem singer Paul Lorieau out of work like everyone else". Edmonton Sun. Retrieved 2010-12-17. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b Simons, Paula. "Lorieau's anthem a religious experience". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved April 8, 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ Brownlee, Robin (2010-11-02). "Oiler fans crave re-appearance of spring playoff rituals". NHL.com. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
  4. ^ "Twitter". CTV Edmonton. 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2013-07-02.

Template:Persondata

Stub icon

This article about a Canadian singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Lorieau&oldid=562637400"