Johnny Mathis (pop singer)
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis (born September 30, 1935 in San Francisco , California ) is an American singer and entertainer . Since his breakthrough in 1957, he has been considered one of the greatest singers in the United States. In the album charts there, after Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra , he is number three among the artists with the highest-ranking publications (71 chart albums). With its ultra-soft pop - ballads , often on the edge for easy listening , he had success especially in the 1950s and late 1960s. However, until the 1980s he kept getting hits.
Career
Mathis has been with the Columbia record company since 1957 - but between 1963 and 1967 he released several albums with Mercury Records . Above all, his Christmas albums were always bestsellers - Merry Christmas from 1958, for example, was awarded five times platinum . In addition, the album Johnny's Greatest Hits from the same year is a milestone in chart history: the hit collection stayed in the US charts for 490 weeks and is the longest-placed LP of the pop era after The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd .
His greatest hits are It's Not for Me to Say (1957), Chances Are (1957, USA No. 1), The Twelfth of Never (1957), A Certain Smile (1958), Someone (1959), Misty (1959), My Love for You (1960), Gina (1962), What Will Mary Say (1963), Life Is a Song Worth Singing (1974), I'm Stone in Love with You (1975), When a Child Is Born (1976, UK 1st place), Too Much, Too Little, Too Late (1978, USA 1st place, duet with Deniece Williams ), Gone Gone Gone (1979) and Friends in Love (1982, duet with Dionne Warwick ). In addition to his successful hit duets with Dionne Warwick and Deniece Williams (with her he recorded an entire album called That's What Friends Are For in 1978 ), Johnny Mathis was very often in the studio with other prominent colleagues: Barbra Streisand , Barbara Dickson , Angela Bofill , Patti Austin , Gladys Knight , Paulette McWilliams , Stephanie Lawrence , Jane Olivor and Nana Mouskouri . Mathis also counts the singer Lena Horne as one of his greatest influences , whose style he imitated, according to his own statement.
Mathis strove for musical versatility especially in the 1970s: the albums I'm Coming Home (1973) and Mathis Is… (1977) were produced by Philly soul legend Thom Bell . A year later the LP The Heart of a Woman was created , produced by Johnny Bristol , who had previously been responsible for countless hits as a songwriter and producer for Motown . On the cover of the album, Mathis was unusually casual in jeans and an open shirt. At the height of the disco wave , the singer recorded songs in this style, similar to his crooner colleagues Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams . The 1979 album The Best Days of My Life contained several disco-influenced pieces, including the British hit Gone, Gone, Gone (# 15), as well as the LP Mathis Magic , released in the same year . This is how disco versions of the well-known Cole-Porter - Standards Night and Day and Begin the Beguine were created . Mathis' 1980 LP Different Kinda Different also features his interpretation of the disco classic I Will Survive . In 1997 he made a musical appearance in a Christmas episode of the television series Sabrina - Totally Verhext! .
Even today Mathis regularly releases records that - placed in the lower quarter of the charts - signal the loyalty of his many fans. It is also an extremely popular concert attraction. In 2006 Mathis made jazz recordings with the Big Phat Band .
In December 2017, The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection was released, a comprehensive retrospective of his long career. The 68 CD box contains all of his studio albums for the Columbia record label , as well as numerous unreleased recordings. This includes the album I Love My Lady , a disco project produced by Nile Rodgers that is stylistically linked to Rodgers' Chic records. Not included are all albums for the Mercury label , with which Mathis was under contract between 1963 and 1966. These recordings were already combined in 2014 in the box set The Complete Global Albums Collection . The title refers to the production company, Global Records, founded by Mathis at the time. Mathis is the longest-running Columbia Records artist.
Private
Mathis' gay coming-out in 1982 is less known when he told Us magazine: "Homosexuality is a way of life that I've grown accustomed to" . Because he had received death threats from the southern United States at every concert after this confession, he preferred not to talk about it until early 2006.
In November 2015, Mathis' house, in which he had already lived for 56 years at the time, was destroyed in a bush fire.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1957 | Wonderful Wonderful | - |
US4 (26 weeks) US |
|
| Warm |
UK6 (2 weeks) UK |
US2  (113 weeks)US |
||
| 1958 | Good night, dear lord | - |
US10 (12 weeks) US |
|
| Swing softly |
UK10 (1 week) UK |
US6th (16 weeks)US |
||
| 1959 | Open fire, two guitars | - |
US4th (96 weeks)US |
|
| Heavenly / Ride on a Rainbow (UK) |
UK10 (2 weeks) UK |
US1  (295 weeks)US |
||
| 1960 | Faithfully | - |
US2 (75 weeks)US |
|
| Johnny's Mood | - |
US4 (65 weeks) US |
||
| The Rhythms and Ballads of Broadway |
UK6 (10 weeks) UK |
US6 (27 weeks) US |
||
| 1961 | I'll buy you a star |
UK18 (1 week) UK |
US38 (23 weeks) US |
|
| 1962 | Live It Up! | - |
US14 (39 weeks) US |
|
| Rapture | - |
US12 (37 weeks) US |
||
| 1963 | Johnny | - |
US20 (27 weeks) US |
|
| Romantically | - |
US23 (27 weeks) US |
||
| 1964 | Tender is the night | - |
US13 (28 weeks) US |
|
| The Wonderful World of Make Believe | - |
US75 (10 weeks) US |
||
| This is love | - |
US40 (20 weeks) US |
||
| 1965 | Love is everything | - |
US52 (11 weeks) US |
|
| The Sweetheart Tree | - |
US71 (26 weeks) US |
||
| 1966 | The Shadow of Your Smile | - |
US9 (45 weeks) US |
|
| So nice | - |
US50 (18 weeks) US |
||
| 1967 | Johnny Mathis Sings | - |
US103 (11 weeks) US |
|
| Up, up and away | - |
US60 (20 weeks) US |
||
| 1968 | Love is blue | - |
US26 (40 weeks) US |
|
| Those were the days | - |
US60 (21 weeks) US |
||
| 1969 | The Impossible Dream | - |
US163 (4 weeks) US |
|
| People | - |
US192 (2 weeks) US |
||
| Love Theme from "Romeo and Juliet" (A Time for Us) | - |
US52 (24 weeks) US |
||
| 1970 | Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head |
UK23 (10 weeks) UK |
US38 (26 weeks) US |
|
| Close to you | - |
US61 (9 weeks) US |
||
| 1971 | Johnny Mathis Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert | - |
US169 (7 weeks) US |
|
| Love story |
UK27 (5 weeks) UK |
US47 (18 weeks) US |
||
| You've got a friend | - |
US80 (10 weeks) US |
||
| 1972 | In Person - Recorded Live at Las Vegas | - |
US128 (7 weeks) US |
Mathis' only live album in the charts
recorded at Caesars Palace |
| The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face) |
UK40 (3 weeks) UK |
US71 (15 weeks) US |
||
| Song Sung Blue / Make It Easy on Yourself (UK) |
UK49 (1 week) UK |
US83 (18 weeks) US |
||
| 1973 | Me and Mrs. Jones | - |
US83 (14 weeks) US |
|
| Killing Me Softly with Her Song | - |
US120 (7 weeks) US |
||
| I'm coming home |
UK18th  (11 weeks)UK |
US115 (22 weeks) US |
||
| 1974 | The Heart of a Woman |
UK39 (2 weeks) UK |
US139 (7 weeks) US |
|
| 1975 | When Will I See You Again |
UK13 (10 weeks)UK |
US99 (13 weeks) US |
|
| Feelings |
UK- |
US97 (21 weeks)US |
||
| 1976 | I only have eyes for you |
UK14th (11 weeks)UK |
US79 (15 weeks) US |
|
| 1977 | Mathis Is ... | - |
US139 (5 weeks) US |
|
| Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me / Sweet Surrender (UK) |
UK55 (1 week)UK |
- | ||
| 1978 | You Light Up My Life |
UK3 (19 weeks)UK |
US9 (24 weeks)US |
|
| That's what friends are for |
UK16 (11 weeks)UK |
US19th (16 weeks)US |
with Deniece Williams
|
|
| 1979 | The Best Days of My Life |
UK38 (5 weeks) UK |
US122 (7 weeks) US |
|
| Mathis Magic |
UK59 (5 weeks)UK |
- | ||
| 1980 | Tears and Laughter |
UK1 (15 weeks)UK |
- | |
| Different Kinda Different / All for You (UK) |
UK20 (8 weeks) UK |
US164 (5 weeks) US |
||
| 1981 | Celebration - The Anniversary Album |
UK9 (16 weeks)UK |
- | |
| 1982 | Friends in Love |
UK34 (7 weeks) UK |
US147 (9 weeks) US |
|
| 1983 | Unforgettable: Tribute to Nat "King" Cole |
UK5 (16 weeks)UK |
- |
with Natalie Cole
|
| 1984 | A special part of me |
UK45 (3 weeks) UK |
US157 (19 weeks) US |
|
| 1986 | The Hollywood Musicals |
UK46 (8 weeks)UK |
US197 (2 weeks) US |
with Henry Mancini
|
| 1992 | Better Together - The Duet Album | - |
US189 (1 week) US |
|
| 1996 | All about love | - |
US119 (1 week) US |
|
| 2008 | A night to remember |
UK29 (2 weeks) UK |
- | |
Web links
- Literature by and about Johnny Mathis in the catalog of the German National Library
- Johnny Mathis in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Johnny Mathis at Allmusic (English)
swell
- ^ Johnny Mathis, TV-Special Chances Are , 1991 , YouTube.com, accessed August 6, 2011
- ^ LP The Heart of a Woman , Discogs.com, accessed August 6, 2011
- ↑ Gone, Gone, Gone (single) in the UK charts
- ^ LP Mathis Magic , Discogs.com, accessed August 6, 2011
- ^ LP Different Kinda Different , Discogs.com
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8054953/johnny-mathis-box-set-chic-album-interview
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-complete-global-albums-collection-mw0002764384
- ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurencoleman/2017/04/06/heres-how-johnny-mathis-maintains-massive-relevancy-in-a-disruptive-digital-era/#70c095f31999
- ↑ queer.de : Jan Gebauer: Bette Midler: New Xmas Album , September 18, 2006, accessed on August 6, 2011
- ↑ https://www.welt.de/newsticker/dpa_nt/infoline_nt/boulevard_nt/article148437664/Haus-von-Johnny-Mathis-durch-Feuer-zerstoert.html
- ↑ Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
- ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mathis, Johnny |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | John Royce; Mathis, John Royce Johnny |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer and entertainer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 30, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | San Francisco , California, United States |