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 The
fourth of seven children, John Royce Mathis was born on September
30, 1935 in Gilmer, TX to Clem and Mildred Mathis. As a small
boy, the family moved to Post Street in San Francisco. It
was there that he learned an appreciation of music from his
father who taught him his first song, "My Blue Heaven".
At age eight, his father purchased an old upright piano for
$25. When he brought it home, it wouldn't fit through the
front door. So that evening, Johnny stayed up all night to
watch his father dismantle the piano, get it into the small
living room of their basement apartment and then reassemble
it. Clem Mathis, who worked briefly as a musician back in
Texas playing the piano and singing on stage, would continue
to teach his son many songs and routines. Johnny had proven
to be the most eager of the children to learn all about music.
He sang in the church choir, school functions, community events,
for visitors in their home as well as amateur shows in the
San Francisco area.
Johnny was 13 years old when Clem took him to see Connie Cox,
a Bay Area voice teacher, who agreed to take on the youngster
in exchange for his doing odd jobs around her house. Johnny
studied with Connie for six years learning vocal scales and
exercises, voice production, classical and operatic skills.
At George Washington High School, Johnny was known not only
for his singing ability but his athleticism as well. He became
a star athlete on the track and field team as a high jumper
and hurdler and played on the basketball team.
In 1954, Johnny enrolled at San Francisco State College with
the intention of being an English and Physical Education teacher.
While there, Johnny set a high jump record of 6'-5 1/2".
This is still on the College's Top 15 list and was only two
inches short of the Olympic record of the time. Just as when
he was in high school, Johnny's name was frequently mentioned
in the sports sections of the Northern California newspapers.
He was often referred to as "the best all-around athlete
to come out of the San Francisco Bay Area".
A fellow student whose sextet was working at the Black Hawk
nightclub brought Johnny in for a Sunday afternoon jam session.
It was at the Black Hawk that Helen Noga, co-owner of the
club, first heard him sing. She decided that she wanted to
manage his career.
In early September of 1955, Johnny landed a job singing weekends
at Ann Dee's 440 Club. After repeated attempts, Helen convinced
George Avakian, then head of Jazz A&R at Columbia, to
see him. Avakian came to the club, heard Johnny sing and sent
the now famous telegram to his record company: "Have
found phenomenal 19 year old boy who could go all the way.
Send blank contracts."
Avakian left for New York after telling Johnny that he would
eventually send for him. Johnny continued his studies at San
Francisco State and gained additional fame as a high jumper.
In early 1956, Johnny was asked to attend the trials for the
1956 Olympic teams that would travel to Melbourne, Australia
that summer. At the same time, Columbia Records requested
that Johnny come to New York to start arrangements for his
first recording session. Clem helped his son decide that his
future and best interests were with the recording company.
So, Johnny gave up his chance to become a member of the USA
Olympic Team. He went to New York to record his first album
in March of 1956.
The first album was a collection of jazz oriented renditions
of popular standards entitled: Johnny Mathis: A New Sound
In Popular Song. It included jazz musicians Gil Evans, John
Lewis and Teo Macero and songs like "Angel Eyes",
"Easy to Love" and "Babalu". The album
enjoyed only moderate success because jazz vocal albums were
not good sellers. Nevertheless, Johnny remained in New York
and landed bookings at some of the leading nightclubs such
as the Village Vanguard, The Blue Angel and Basin Street East.
Soon, Columbia placed Johnny under the supervision of producer
Mitch Miller. Mitch favored using Johnny's voice to sing soft,
romantic ballads. At his second recording session, in the
fall of 1956, Johnny recorded two singles. These songs were
to become among his most popular all-time greatest hits: "Wonderful,
Wonderful" and "It's Not For Me To Say." Subsequently,
MGM Studios signed Johnny to sing "It's Not For Me To
Say" in the film Lizzie . He played a tavern piano bar
singer. In 1958, Johnny made another motion picture appearance.
This time it was for 20th Century Fox in A Certain Smile.
In this movie, he sang the title song playing himself in an
elegant nightclub scene. Since then, Johnny's voice has been
used in countless Hollywood movies for theme songs, background
music and to enhance a particular setting or segment.
"Wonderful, Wonderful" and "It's Not For Me
To Say" reached their peaks on the BILLBOARD pop chart
in July of 1957. These successes were followed by the monumental
single "Chances Are" which became Johnny's first
#1 hit.
In June of 1957, Johnny appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show where
he was introduced to the record buying public and became a
national celebrity and household name. Columbia Records continued
to release albums of Johnny singing beautiful and romantic
ballads, classic standards and the best songs from Broadway
musicals. These albums, like the singles, became immediate
successes with sales in the millions. It was not uncommon
for Johnny to have as many as four albums on the BILLBOARD
Top Albums chart at the same time. In late 1959, Johnny recorded
another song that became synonymous with the name of Johnny
Mathis, the Erroll Garner composition, "Misty".
Johnny's accomplishments are numerous and varied. He holds
many records and has set many precedents in the music industry.
In 1958, two years after being signed by Columbia Records,
Johnny's Greatest Hits was released. It began a "Greatest
Hits" tradition copied by every record company since
then. Johnny's Greatest Hits went on to become one of the
most popular albums of all time and spent an unprecedented
490 continuous weeks (almost ten years) on the BILLBOARD Top
Albums Chart. This record has been noted in the GUINNESS BOOK
OF WORLD RECORDS.
According to record historian Joel Whitburn, Johnny is one
of only five recording artists to have Top 40 Hits spanning
each of the four decades since 1955. Amazingly, his second
#1 Hit Single, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late"
(recorded with Deniece Williams), came almost 21 years after
his very first #1 Hit Single, "Chances Are".
Johnny has been honored to make several appearances before
various heads of state. Starting in June of 1973, he sang
at a State Dinner held in honor of the President of Liberia.
In 1978, Johnny sang for the British Royal Family at A Command
Performance held at The London Palladium. He performed for
President and Mrs. Reagan at the State Dinner held in honor
of the Prime Minister of Japan in April of 1987. Four years
later in April of 1991, he sang for President and Mrs. Bush
in honor of the President of Nicaragua. Most recently, in
May of 1994, Johnny sang for President and Mrs. Clinton (along
with the other five living First Ladies) at a very special
First Ladies Tribute.
Johnny has also been honored by entertainment heads of state.
In June of 1972, he was awarded his own star on the famous
Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has participated in the Academy
Awards presentation many times to sing the song nominated
in the "Best Song" category. He has received two
Grammy nominations. The first was for "Misty" in
1960 in the category of Best Vocal Performance Single Record
or Track Male. The second came in 1992 for In a Sentimental
Mood/Mathis Sings Ellington in the category of Best Traditional
Pop Performance.
1996 marked Johnny's 40th Anniversary as a recording artist.
He celebrated by releasing All About Love. He then released
The Global Masters (songs from his three year contract at
Mercury Records) in 1997, and 1998 saw the release of The
Ultimate Hits and Because You Loved Me.
In his free time, Johnny loves to golf. He plays golf almost
every day when he's not traveling and has sung at many golf
banquets such as the Ryder Cup. In 1985 and 1986, Johnny hosted
his own golf tournament, The Johnny Mathis Seniors PGA Classic
which was held in Los Angeles.
Johnny's other favorite avocation is cooking. He is a gourmet
cook who cooks for himself and often others when he's home
or traveling. His mother taught him at an early age how to
cook up a storm and do it well. He's enjoyed doing so all
his life.
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