SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 30, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — As a young man with both top athletic and musical skills, 19-year-old Johnny Mathis had to make a hard choice.
Either he could continue honing his track and field skills and compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials as a high jumper, or he could sign a small record deal offered by a Columbia Records executive who saw him sing at a local club.
It was Mathis’ father, Clem, who convinced the teen Johnny a singing career might offer more rewards and tad more longevity.
Sixty-eight years later, it’s pretty clear that the Mathis men made the right choice. Johnny Mathis, now 87, brings his “Voice of Romance” tour to Salt Lake City’s Eccles Theater on Friday, May 19. Find ticket information here.
“I love to sing because it reminds me so much of my dad, who had seven kids, and my mom (Mildred Boyd Mathis). Singing has been something that has been a blessing in my life,” Mathis said in an interview with Gephardt Daily.
Mathis was number four out of his parents’ brood of seven, and the only child who shared their passion for singing. Both parents were domestic workers, and money was tight, but when Johnny was 8, his father managed to buy an upright piano for $25.
The next obstacle was to get it through the door of the family’s basement rental. Clem studied the boxy instrument, then dismantled it and reassembled it inside.
And a few years later, Johnny started lessons with professional voice teacher Connie Cox, who agreed to teach the young teen classic and operatic singing techniques in exchange for help with household errands.
Over the coming decades, Mathis would be known for applying his silky, elegant voice to his string of hit records, including “Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It’s Not For Me To Say,” which peaked on the Billboard pop chart in mid 1957, and were quickly followed by Mathis’ “Chances Are,” which became his first song to reach No. 1 and his second to sell a million records.
Over the coming decades, Mathis would record nearly 80 albums, six of them Christmas themed. He has had three songs inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, achieved 50 hits on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart, and ranks as the all-time No. 6 album artist in the history of Billboard’s pop album charts. He has received five Grammy nominations, and in 2003 was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
His 1958 album “Johnny’s Greatest Hits” started the music industry tradition of “Greatest Hits” albums. He and his music have appeared in more TV series and films than we could ever list here, and dozens of collaborations with other top producers and artists. With Deniece Williams, he recorded songs including “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late.”
So how, now in his 80s, does Mathis navigate a road littered with one-hit wonders? Mathis keeps his body strong with five workouts a week, early in the morning before others begin their day.
“I get up in the morning at about 4,” he said. “Even today, I got to the gym by about 5. And I’m a golfer. I’ve had my own golf tournament. For years some of the greatest golfers in the world played in it, and I love to play golf. I play maybe three or four times a week. It’s good exercise for me, and I meet a lot of wonderful people in that regard.”
Oh, and he’s also a gourmet cook, another skill he owes to his parents.
“They cooked for a living,” he said. “That’s why I learned to cook at a very early age. I can cook anything and has stood me in good stead over the years. But I don’t eat a lot, because I have to stay in shape.
Hard work, good decisions
Mathis is grateful for the life he has, he said.
“I’ve met some wonderful human beings in the world,” Mathis said. “I’ve lived in France. I lived in Germany, Spain and Great Britain, and it’s been a joy for me, all because of my music.”
Music has allowed him not only to make a solid living — which would likely be the envy of the average high-jumper — but to build a worldwide fan base of fellow romantics and music lovers, and to work with countless other top creative artists.
And he has earned the respect of his peers, including singer Barbra Streisand.
“There are a number of good singers, a smaller handful of truly great singers, and then there’s Johnny Mathis,” she famously said.
So, is there anything Mathis wishes people knew about him that they don’t?
“Nothing, nothing, nothing!,” he answered, adding a big laugh. “Nothing but my music. I want to keep my private life private.”
OK. Well, then, what would he like his Utah audience to know about his music?”
“I’d like them to know that I love to sing,” Mathis said. “It’s a joy being on my current tour. And the more people connect with my singing, the better I like it.”
