The Breeze

The World's Easy Listening Leader

The Sea Breeze
  • Home
  • To Our Loyal Listeners
  • How to Listen
  • The Breeze Mailbag
  • Artist Profiles
  • News
  • Music News
  • Trivia
You are here: Home / Music News / Artist Profiles / Artist Profile: Johnny Mathis

Artist Profile: Johnny Mathis

cover

Johnny Mathis celebrated two major milestones in 2005 and 2006:

He turned 70 on September 30th, 2005, and in 2006 he had been in the music business for 50 years, and showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down!

Texas Born, California-Bred

cover

Mathis was born in 1935, in Texas, but grew up in San Francisco. His father, Clem, encouraged his musical talents, buying an old piano for the family when Johnny was 8 years old.

The biography on the singer’s official Web site, JohnnyMathis.com says Clem Mathis had been a musician in Texas. When Johnny was 13, Clem helped arrange a job for Johnny with a voice teacher. She gavem him lessons and he did odd jobs around her house. That partnership continued for six years.

Dad Knows Best

cover

The biography also says that if not for his father’s influence, you might be reading about Johnny Mathis, Olympic athlete. He was a track star in high school and later at San Francisco State College, where he set a high jump record that’s still on the college record books.

cover

He was invited to try out for the 1956 Olympic team, about the same time that he was offered a chance to record for Columbia records. It was his father who suggested that Johnny head to New York, and that’s what he did. That first album had a jazz flavor and it didn’t do all that well on the charts.

Enter Mitch Miller

As head of Columbia’s A&R department, Mitch Miller already had a reputation for matching singers with songs and song-styles. He decided that Johnny’s voice was perfect for romantic ballads like "Wonderful, Wonderful" and "It’s Not For Me To Say".

Those two releases were followed by Johnny’s first Number 1 hit, "Chances Are", in June, 1957. During this period, the official biography says, Johnny frequently had as many as four albums on the charts at any one time.

Sing "Misty" for Me….

In late 1959, he recorded another classic, Erroll Garner’s "Misty", which won him a Grammy nomination in 1960. He was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and again in 2002. In 2003, the Academy of Recording Arts and Science gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award.

A Hit in Every Decade

cover

Mathis has the distinction of being one of only a few recording artists to have Top 40 Hits in each of the last five decades, the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Among those hits, "The Twelfth of Never", "When Sunny Gets Blue", and "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" (recorded with Deniece Williams). That song hit #1 about 21 years after his first #1 hit.

cover

And he may add this decade to that list. He’s recorded this CD of standards, titled "Isn’t it Romantic?" available at amazon.com.

Still on the Road

Mathis continues to tour, and you will find his current schedule on his Website along with more information about the upcoming CD.

Filed Under: Artist Profiles

Streem Lion Licensed to Play SOCAN

Messages From the Boss

A Message From The Boss – December, 2021

The State of the Stations Here at Meyer Broadcasting Company, our goal continues to be to bring comfort to your life and brighten your day in our hectic world. Several changes have occurred during the past year. Our streaming company decided it would no longer serve Internet stations in the United States. So that left […]

More Posts from this Category

Featured Column: Dick Luedke

The Screen Door League

By Dick Luedke

Columnist Dick Luedke recounts how “the Screen Door League” led to his career in sports broadcasting.

The Gift

By Dick Luedke

Columnist Dick Luedke tells the story of “Ricky”, and the life-changing effect of a $2 birthday/Christmas gift from his grandparents: a book.

Always A Winner, Forever A Champion

By Dick Luedke

Columnist Dick Luedke pays tribute to former Chicago Bulls Coach Doug Collins and Collins’ coach at Illinois State University, Will Robinson.

More Posts from this Category

Join our Loyal Listeners Mailing List

Keep on top of what's happening with The Breeze and The Sea Breeze!

Let us know what you think!

Categories

  • About (150)
    • John Meyer (4)
    • Messages from the Boss (16)
    • Rules and Rate Card (5)
    • Staff and Stations (2)
    • The Breeze Mailbag (126)
  • Columns (9)
    • Dick Luedke (9)
  • Contests (2)
    • Contest News (1)
    • Mystery Tunes Trivia (1)
  • Help (1)
    • How to use this site (1)
  • Loyal Listeners (1)
  • Music News (25)
    • Artist Profiles (25)
    • Music News (1)
  • News (14)
    • Latest (11)
  • The Breeze Showcase (1)
    • CDs (1)
    • Special Offers (1)
  • Trivia (21)
    • Music Trivia (6)
    • Sports Trivia (8)
    • TV Trivia (7)

Find us on Facebook and Twitter

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

CDs for your collection…

Kayte Strong

Kayte Strong

 No collection of Beautiful Music would be … Buy now

Indiana Botanic Gardens

Search

feed-image Feed Entries

Copyright© 2004-2024 TheBreez.com and Meyer Multimedia Services,
a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp. All rights reserved.
Phone: (219) 661-9140 || FAX: (219) 661-9040 || E-mail: Info@TheBreez.com
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT