By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Whether he strolls across the plaza in front of T-Mobile Arena, or saunters along the venue’s main concourse before Vegas Golden Knights home games, it’s hard for Carnell Johnson to get far without a request for a selfie.
The modest 37-year-old local native always obliges.
In the wake of the Golden Knights’ once-a-lifetime inaugural season, the common man Johnson has emerged as a pseudo-celebrity in the NHL team’s home arena where he serves as the primary voice of the national anthem to start every match.
“It’s unofficial, but they pretty much have me doing the anthem most of the games now,” Johnson told LVSportsBiz.com before Thursday’s VGK-Toronto Maple Leafs game at T-Mobile Arena. He noted he has sung the anthem at more than 20 home games this season.
You might think this intense spotlight on Johnson might have led to a jump in performing arts career opportunities for the man known as “Golden Pipes.”
But Johnson still keeps his day job as an usher supervisor at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, while still aspiring to sing in the performances at that center one day instead of showing people to their seats.
Those musical and singing gigs at shows have not flowed in yet.
These days, Johnson’s singing jobs have consisted mostly of local charity events and corporate events like the Dell computers convention on the Strip.
The man who wants to be Broadway musical performer has dabbled in trying to make the big time through talent shows such as TV’s The Voice. But that’s been a non-starter.
“There’s a lot of politics,” said Johnson, a Green Valley High School graduate who is a dad of two, a sixth-grade boy and a first-grade girl. “They want a story.”
Thing is, Johnson has a story. The UNLV graduate who has a music education degree is a classically-trained opera singer who serenaded tourists at the gondolas at the Venetian on the Strip. He fit the Golden Knights’ “Vegas Born” brand theme by being a local native with a rich bass baritone voice that delivers a no-nonsense delivery of both the American and Canadian anthems. He collects a pin for every VGK anthem performance. Johnson doesn’t get paid by the NHL team to sing, but he does get two free tickets.
Johnson said the Raiders contacted him about singing the national anthem down the road at the new stadium in Las Vegas. Golden Pipes would welcome the chance to become Silver and Black Pipes.
“I would love it,” he said.
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