Artist collection / Traditional Pop · Vocal
Johnny Mathis: Biography, Essential Albums & Ten Listening Stories
The voice that never hurried — six decades of American song, sung at exactly the right speed.
A voice worth returning to
Johnny Mathis was born John Royce Mathis on September 30, 1935, in Gilmer, Texas, and raised in San Francisco, where his father — a singer himself — taught him his first songs. As a teenager he was a gifted athlete, a high jumper good enough to be invited to the 1956 Olympic trials; he chose music instead, and popular song gained one of its great technicians. Columbia Records executive George Avakian heard him in a San Francisco club and signed him in 1955. His 1956 debut album was a slow-selling jazz affair, but the voice was undeniable.
The breakthrough came in 1957, one of the great single years in pop history. “Wonderful! Wonderful!” reached the Top 20, “It’s Not for Me to Say” — which he performed in the film Lizzie — reached No. 5, and then “Chances Are,” released that August with “The Twelfth of Never” on the B-side, gave him his first No. 1. Both sides charted. In 1958, Columbia released Johnny’s Greatest Hits, widely considered the first greatest-hits album ever made; it spent an unprecedented 490 weeks on the Billboard album chart, a record that stood for fifteen years.
Mathis became the definitive album artist of his era: Merry Christmas (1958) became one of the best-selling holiday albums of all time, and Heavenly (1959) — home to his signature “Misty” — spent five weeks at No. 1. Through the 1960s he piled up hits (“Gina,” “What Will Mary Say”) while the culture shifted around him, never chasing trends, never hurrying. Then, in 1978 — twenty-one years after “Chances Are” — his duet with Deniece Williams, “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late,” gave him his second No. 1 single. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 and remains Columbia’s longest-running recording artist.
This collection follows the arc in order: the miraculous 1957 run, the film songs, the B-side that wouldn’t stay a B-side, the signature “Misty,” the early-sixties hits, and the 1978 comeback. Listen for the unhurried phrasing — Mathis sings like a man who knows the song will wait for him, and he’s always right.
Follow the years
Ten stories to start with
The single that introduced the voice — and started the greatest year in pop.
02 / 1957 / Behind the SongsIt’s Not for Me to Say: The Movie Song That Outlived the MovieA small role in Lizzie, a Top 5 hit, and a song that never left.
03 / 1957 / Behind the SongsChances Are: The Song That Made a SummerRecorded in June, No. 1 by October — the making of a signature.
04 / 1957 / Behind the SongsThe Twelfth of Never: The B-Side That Refused to Stay ThereHe didn’t like it. Radio played it anyway — all the way to No. 9.
05 / 1957 / Behind the SongsWild Is the Wind: The Title Song That Outlived Its FilmHe recorded it first; history remembers the covers. Hear the original.
06 / 1958 / Behind the SongsA Certain Smile: The Oscar-Nominated WhisperA film song, an Oscar nomination, and understatement as art.
07 / 1959 / Behind the SongsMisty: The Teenager’s Request That Became a SignatureHe asked Erroll Garner for lyrics as a boy. A decade later, he made it immortal.
08 / 1962 / Behind the SongsGina: The Early-Sixties ComebackThe rock era arrived; Mathis answered with a Top 10 ballad.
09 / 1963 / Behind the SongsWhat Will Mary Say: Gossip Set to MusicA small-town scandal in three minutes — his last Top 10 for fifteen years.
10 / 1978 / Behind the SongsToo Much, Too Little, Too Late: Twenty-One Years Between Number OnesA duet with Deniece Williams, and the longest gap between No. 1s in pop history.
Artist biography / AllMusic ↗
Career retrospective / Legacy Recordings ↗
Discography and chart reference ↗
Past Tunes’ listening notes are original editorial interpretation. Release years refer to the particular album or recording identified in each article.