By Gregg Shapiro
There is only one Johnny Mathis. With a career in its eighth decade, he has touched multiple generations with his plush vocals and radiant personality. He’s known for hits including “When Sunny Gets Blue,” “It’s Not For Me To Say,” “Chances Are,” “The Twelfth of Never,” “Misty,” “Wonderful! Wonderful!,” and “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late,” just to name a few. Mathis has always had a way with standards, as well as tunes of the winter holiday season.
He learned early about music and performance from his musician-father, Clem. In addition to being musically gifted, Mathis was also athletic, even once besting NBA legend Bill Russell in a high-jump meet. Around the time he was invited to the 1956 Olympic trials in Melbourne, Australia, he also had the chance to go to New York to record his first album. The rest, as they say, is musical history. Mathis, a true all-seasons performer, was kind enough to answer a few questions in advance of his upcoming concert tour celebrating 65 years of romantic music.
Gregg Shapiro: Mr. Mathis, your long association with the music of romance made me wonder if you could choose your top three most romantic songs of all time?
Johnny Mathis: I have no idea! You love one one day and the next day you say, “Oh no, I like that one better!” That’s the way most singers are about their music. I talked to some of my favorite singers, people like Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine, and they felt the same way. One day you like this and another day you like that. A lot of times it has to do with how you feel about the way your voice sounds with one song or another. Sometimes it sounds really good, and you think you were made to sing that song. Other times you think, “Oh well, I did a good job but maybe somebody else sounds better doing it.”
GS: You have a long history of singing duets and have performed them with artists such as Deniece Williams, Jane Olivor and Barbra Streisand, to name a few. What makes you so good at playing well with others?
JM: [Laughs] I like those girls! They’re pretty and they’re good singers. You meet them and you hit it off. Then you say, “If you like me so much, why don’t you sing with me?” [They say] “OK, I’ll do it!” That’s about how it goes.
GS: Is there anyone with whom you wish you had sung a duet but you didn’t get a chance to?
JM: Oh, my goodness, I could name you a thousand people that I would have loved to perform with. The thing is, you have to be grateful for what you have and what you’ve done and hope for the best that is to come.
GS: Seeing as how you are known as “The Voice of Christmas,” your 2021 tour schedule has a couple of Christmas concert dates in December, one in a warm climate (Clearwater, FL) and one in a cold climate (Chicago, IL). What do you like best about performing Christmas concerts?
JM: You bring Christmas to wherever you are. I remember being raised in San Francisco. During Christmas, the sun was out and it was warm and toasty and everything. Someplace else it’s nice and cold and the snow is coming down and it looks like Christmas. You bring Christmas with you, from your heart. It’s what’s in your heart that counts.
GS: Because you also have a reputation for being a foodie, did you, like so many others, bake any sourdough bread while isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020?
JM: [Big laugh] I think baking is the most difficult thing about cooking! I’m a terrible baker. I love the wonderful baked goods that are available, especially in California. I choose to go with the people who do it brilliantly and marvelously. I buy my food from specialty places, and I love it. Sometimes I do find a way to enhance my life by preparing foods. But baking is a science, and it’s very difficult and I don’t pride myself on my baking [laughs].
GS: Finally, I had the honor of interviewing you a few years ago at the time your Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American Songbook album was released. Is there a new Johnny Mathis album forthcoming?
JM: I was thinking about that recently. Of course, the times have changed so much, including the people in charge of all these places that I have been involved with at the record companies and the music companies and what have you. So, as far as I’m concerned, I’m just a person who has to have the material. If they don’t supply it for me, then I’m going to have to wait until there is a way for me to record again and get it out.
For Tickets to Johnny Mathis’ performs on Jan. 26, 2022 at Broward Center’s Au Rene Theater, go to BrowardCenter.org
