Ben Tajnai, the “good luck charm” for the Milwaukee Bucks, performs the national anthem at Game 4 of the NBA Finals
Before Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Fiserv Forum, a man known as the Milwaukee Bucks’ “good luck charm” is performing the national anthem.
Ben Tajnai will be on the national stage for the second time this year. He also performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” during Sunday’s Game 3 between the Bucks and Phoenix Suns, which the Bucks won 120-100.
It could never hurt to have a little more luck in the Finals since the Bucks lost their first two games.
The Bucks staff gave Tajnai his nickname, which he adores.
“Hope for the best,” stated Johnny Watson, the Bucks’ executive producer of arena and event presentation, in a prior Journal Sentinel interview. When he plays, we have a really strong home record. He usually comes through for us when we need to win.
Since 2014, Tajnai, an Oconomowoc native, has sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” during Bucks home games.
Who could have predicted that we would be in this market and that we would be here? At a press conference held at the arena on July 10, Tajnai stated, “That’s just amazing. “I grew up in the time when we didn’t know if we were ever going to get a star player.”
Tajnai, a native of Lake Country, is a singing instructor at Hartland Music, a backup vocalist for the Rolling Stones, and the lead in “Les Miserables”.
The Journal Sentinel’s Sarah Hauer contributed to this article.
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To say Thursday is a big game for the Milwaukee Bucks would be an understatement. Good thing Ben Tajnai, who’s been called the team’s “good luck charm,” will be there for it.
He’ll be belting out the national anthem before the Bucks take on the Brooklyn Nets at Fiserv Forum in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
As his wife, Sarah, drives him to the arena from Oconomowoc, Tajnai will be in the passenger seat doing vocal warmups, singing his “heart out” to theater and church tunes, running through “The Star-Spangled Banner” about 10 times, and chugging a lot of water.
He’s developed this routine of sorts after singing at approximately 40 Bucks home games since 2014.
Tajnai still gets scared, despite the fact that he has performed as the lead in “Les Miserables,” opened for the Rolling Stones, and tried out for TV singing competitions.
“The national anthem, to me, is important, and I obviously am a big Bucks fan,” Tajnai stated. “So I really want to do my best.”
He feels “a little bit more at ease” when the audience roars his name and he is introduced.
“Once I open my mouth to sing those first words, ‘Oh say can you see,’ it just goes into performance mode,” he explained.
After he completes the anthem, there’s a routine.
He yells ‘Go Bucks’ and the fans go nuts,” said Johnny Watson, executive producer of arena and event presentation for the Bucks.
During a typical year, between 200 and 500 acts audition to perform the national anthem for the Bucks, according to Watson. About 25 are chosen.
“To get that gig doing the Bucks national anthem was like sort of a dream come true,” Tajnai said. “I was able to combine the two loves of my life: sports and singing.”
Rolling Stones got him ready for the Bucks gig.
Tajnai grew up singing at Pewaukee’s Spring Creek Church, where he now leads worship a few times a month. His entire family enjoys singing. In the second grade, he performed his first solo, “The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme Song,” at a school talent contest.
I kind of fell in love with it,” Tajnai said.
During his freshman year at Arrowhead, he performed with the high school’s Broadway Company and played on its basketball team. He stepped away from the team the following year to dedicate the rest of his high school career to performing.
He went on to get his bachelor’s of music degree with an emphasis in vocal performance from Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where he graduated in 2013.
“One of the coolest things” Tajnai did while in Chicago was sing backup for the Rolling Stones for three shows at the United Center during the band’s 50th anniversary tour. He recalled how “surreal” it was meeting the members and getting to hang out with Mick Jagger.
“It was completely packed and I had never seen that many people in the audience before,” he said. “I actually feel like that kind of prepared me for the Bucks’ national anthems. … I was like ‘I can do this; I’ve already done this.’
Good luck charm
Tajnai also appreciates the nickname he’s gotten called by Bucks personnel: “Good luck charm.”
“I love it,” he said.
“Knock on wood, he’s got a very good record,” laughed Watson, who said he “may be” one of the people who call Tajnai that. “We have a very good home record when he performs. … When we need to get a win, he usually comes through for us.”
To go to a game seven, the Bucks must win on Thursday, so it couldn’t hurt to have a little additional luck.
Extra: “Bucks in six?” Those cheers from eight years ago, when Milwaukee most surely didn’t win in six, were heard during the team’s playoff game.
“I’m pretty sure they’re going to prevail,” Tajnai remarked. “I feel really good about it.”
Tajnai not only sings the national anthem at Bucks games but also at Brewers home games (he is currently attempting to convince the Packers to allow him to sing at Lambeau Field).
