Early years While singing at a Sunday afternoon jam session with a friend's jazz sextet at the
Black Hawk Club in San Francisco, Mathis attracted the attention of the club's co-founder, Helen Noga. She became his music manager and found him a job singing on weekends at Ann Dee's 440 Club. In September 1955, Noga learned that
George Avakian, head of Popular Music A&R at
Columbia Records, was on vacation near San Francisco. After repeated calls, Noga persuaded Avakian to hear Mathis at the 440 Club. After hearing Mathis sing, Avakian sent his record company a telegram reading: "Have found phenomenal 19-year-old boy who could go all the way. Send blank contracts." However, on his father's advice, Mathis opted to embark on a professional singing career. Mathis' first album,
Johnny Mathis: A New Sound In Popular Song, was a slow-selling jazz album, but he stayed in New York City to sing in nightclubs. His second album was produced by
Columbia Records vice president and record producer
Mitch Miller, who helped to define the Mathis sound. Miller preferred that Mathis sing soft romantic ballads, pairing him with conductor and music arranger
Ray Conniff, and later
Ray Ellis,
Glenn Osser, and
Robert Mersey. In late 1956, Mathis recorded two of his most popular songs: "
Wonderful! Wonderful!" and "
It's Not for Me to Say". That same year,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed him to sing the latter song in the movie
Lizzie (1957).
Showbiz millionaire In June 1957, Mathis appeared on the TV program
The Ed Sullivan Show, which helped increase his popularity. Later that year, he released his second single to sell one million copies, "
Chances Are". In November, he released "
Wild Is the Wind", which featured in the
film of the same title and was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Original Song. Mathis performed the song at the ceremony in March 1958. The week before Mathis appeared at the Academy Awards, ''
Johnny's Greatest Hits was released. The album spent an unprecedented 490 consecutive weeks (nearly nine and a half years) on the Billboard
top 200 album charts, including three weeks at number one. It held the record for the most weeks on the top Billboard'' 200 albums in the U.S. for 15 years, until
Pink Floyd's
The Dark Side of the Moon (March 1973) reached 491 weeks in October 1983. Later in 1958, Mathis made his second film appearance for
20th Century Fox, singing the song "
A Certain Smile" in the
film of that title. The song was also nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Original Song. By the end of the year, Mathis was set to earn $1 million a year. In 1962,
Ebony magazine listed Mathis as one of 30-35 millionaires on its list of "America's 100 Richest Negroes". He had two of his biggest hits in 1962 and 1963, with "
Gina" (number 6) and "
What Will Mary Say" (number 9).
Split from Noga In October 1964, Mathis sued Noga to void their management arrangement, which Noga fought with a countersuit in December. After splitting from Noga, Mathis established Jon Mat Records, incorporated in California on May 11, 1967, to produce his recordings, and Rojon Productions, incorporated in California on September 30, 1964, to handle all his concert, theater, showroom, and TV appearances, and all promotional and charitable activities. (Previously, Mathis had founded Global Records to produce his Mercury albums.) His new manager and business partner was Ray Haughn, who helped guide Mathis' career until his death in 1984.
Popularity plateau While Mathis continued to make music, the ascent of the Beatles and early 1970s album rock kept his adult contemporary recordings off the pop singles charts until he experienced a career renaissance in the late 1970s. Mathis had the 1976
Christmas number one single in the UK with the song "
When a Child Is Born", and two years later, he recorded "
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" with singer
Deniece Williams. Nat Kipner and John McIntyre Vallins arranged its lyrics and music. Released as a single in 1978, it reached number one on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 pop chart, number nine on the Canadian Singles Chart, and number three on the U.K. Singles Chart. It also topped the US R&B and adult contemporary charts. "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" was certified gold and silver in the U.S. and the U.K. by the RIAA and the British Phonographic Industry, respectively. It was his first number one hit since "Chances Are". The duo released a follow-up duet, their version of "
You're All I Need to Get By", that peaked at number 47 on the
Billboard Hot 100. In 1983, they were credited with performing "Without Us", the theme song for the American television sitcom
Family Ties from its second season onward. The success of his duets with Williams prompted Mathis to record duets with various partners, including
Dionne Warwick,
Natalie Cole,
Gladys Knight,
Jane Olivor,
Stephanie Lawrence, and
Nana Mouskouri. A compilation album, also called
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, was released by Sony Music in 1995 and featured the title track among other songs by Mathis and Williams.
Recent years From 1980 to 1981, Mathis recorded an album with
Chic's
Bernard Edwards and
Nile Rodgers,
I Love My Lady, that remained unreleased in its entirety until its 2017 appearance in the 68-disc collection
The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection. (Three tracks appeared on a Chic
box set in 2010 and a fourth, the title track, on Mathis's
Ultimate Collection in 2011 and the Chic Organization's
Up All Night in 2013.) Mathis returned to the British Top 30 album chart in 2007 with the Sony BMG release
The Very Best of Johnny Mathis; in 2008 with the CD "A Night to Remember"; and in 2011 with "The Ultimate Collection". Mathis continued to perform live until May 2025. Starting in 2000, he limited his concert performances to about 50 to 60 per year. Mathis was one of the last pop singers to travel with his own full orchestra, as opposed to a band. Mathis frequently collaborated with comedians
Gary Mule Deer and
Brad Upton, who provided stand-up comedy routines in between his sets. On January 14, 2016, Mathis performed to a sold-out audience in
The Villages, Florida, as part of his 60th anniversary concert tour. On September 28, 2024, Mathis performed his final birthday concert celebrating his 89th birthday at The Palace Theatre in Stamford, CT, though he continued to tour until May 2025 . On March 26, 2025, it was announced that Mathis would be retiring from touring in May 2025 due to "age and memory issues". He committed to performing all scheduled dates up to that point and canceled the rest of his previously planned concerts. On May 18, 2025, Mathis performed his final concert at the
Bergen Performing Arts Center. In 2025, NPR Music and Mathis's management began production on a series of short videos and social media content to commemorate his 70-year career and 90th birthday. The project, which included behind-the-scenes footage and archival materials, was suspended in 2025 following the elimination of federal funding for public broadcasting.
Career achievements Mathis,
Bob Dylan,
Barbra Streisand,
Tony Bennett,
Billy Joel, and
Bruce Springsteen are Columbia Records' longest-tenured artists. With the exception of a four-year break to record for
Mercury Records in the mid-1960s, Mathis has been with Columbia throughout his career, from 1956 to 1963 and since 1968. Five of Mathis' albums have been on the
Billboard charts simultaneously, an achievement equaled by only three other singers:
Frank Sinatra,
Barry Manilow, and (posthumously)
Prince. Mathis has released 200 singles and had 71 songs chart worldwide. On April 16th 2024 Mathis' 1957 hit song "Chances Are" was inducted into the National Recording Registry by Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden & the NRR Board. "Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today named 25 recordings as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." The 2024 list included other luminaries such as Gene Autry, Blondie, ABBA,The Chicks, and Johnny's good friend the late Bill Withers, just to name a few. "Johnny Mathis: Johnny's Greatest Hits" released in March 1958 was historically the 1st ever Greatest Hits album, and a tradition that has continued throughout the music industry ever since. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard Pop Album for 3 weeks in a row, continued in various positions for almost 490 weeks (almost 10 years), and was certified 3x Platinum in November 1999 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America®). ==Other appearances==