ST. LOUIS – Five years after retiring from singing the Star Spangled Banner before every St. Louis Blues home game, Charles Glenn welcomed his full-time successor to the gig.
Last Friday, Glenn met accomplished singer Perhard Owens at the Enterprise Center as the Blues surprised Owens with a question on the giant scoreboard: “Pershard, will you be our anthem singer?”
Stunned, Owens took a few moments to gather himself before saying yes and giving Glenn a celebratory hug.
Owens is no stranger to singing at Enterprise Center. He performed the anthem at past Blues games following Glenn’s retirement, while the club was searching for the right person to take the mantle.
Glenn retired at the conclusion of the Blues’ Stanley Cup-winning season in 2019, his 19th year as the anthem singer. Glenn had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis several years prior, and he said he wanted to step away while he was at his best.
Over the course of his career, Glenn opened for Smokey Robinson, Huey Lewis and the News, Meatloaf, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. For a time, he was a member of the Grammy-winning group, The Fifth Dimension.