Johnny Mathis? Like or dislike?

He has a great voice, but I don't like his choice in songs. A few were good but most of his song choices were mediocre.

Johnny Mattress

[quote]Johnny Mathis? Like or dislike?

Could this have been a poll?

[quote] Could this have been a poll?

Chances are!

He's wonderful -

Only at Christmastime and in small doses.

He's beautiful and quite the athlete in his college days, Olympic caliber. Very interesting llfe story and gorgeous in person.

Too much vibrato going at all times equates to being too vocally intense. At all times.

Chances are… you like or dislike him.

Love him.

He is an excellent golfer and has achieved NINE hole in ones.

[quote] He is an excellent golfer and has achieved NINE hole in ones.

Oh, DEAR.

'...NINE [bold] holes [/bold] in [bold] one. {/bold]

Undoubtedly, a great singer and handsome, too. I am just really not that interested in his easy listening style of music.

He sounded great as nostalgia music, enjoying him in the 80s and 90s, long after his peak Its now 2021 and eventually old pop music loses its fun factor

Like or dislike? Many think he is wonderful, wonderful, but then again, it's not for me to say.

He's DREAMY.

Like

Come on...What's not to like?? Anytime you here 2 words of a song & immediately know exactly who it is that is singing it, how amazing is that. so often singers are not distinct, all blend in sound the same. To have someone who is utterly unique..that a hit with me.

"Hole in ones" is also correct! He did not knock nine balls into ONE HOLE.

Always liked him, even though I'm not so crazy about his material.

Is he Hindu or AA?

Vivian Vance

I like Johnny Mathis, but I can't do that stuff!

R6 must be Nat King Cole. I have his Christmas albums on repeat the day after Thanksgiving until New Years. And on a cold, stormy night, I'll pour myself a brandy, light a fire in my library fireplace and put on Chances Are and think of my dearly departed.

In the top five, of singers from the Sinatra era.

The first time I ever heard someone say out loud, "He likes men," was in reference to Johnny Mathis.

I love his album, "Open Fire, Two Guitars." Nothing to do with "opening fire," kids. Just simple and beautiful--a classic.

Better track record than mine. I know someone who was involved w him for many years. Only good things to say.

I think he's so handsome and talented and a true gentleman. I think it's a shame he hasn't been honored by the Kennedy Center.

[quote] The first time I ever heard someone say out loud, "He likes men," was in reference to Johnny Mathis.

Nat King Cole's oldest daughter repeatedly begged her father to set her up with Johnny Mathis. Finally, after he couldn't put her off any longer, he had to tell her that she wasn't his 'type' -- still quite scandalous in the 50s.

Completely beautiful as a young man.

I'm sure he's great at putting balls in holes!

Love him, great voice

So dreamy

I wish those nudes he did back in the 70s would surface.

I was like 9 or 10 when “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” came out. I listen to it all the time, even now.

Mathis' 1950s recordings are amazing. His 1959 Greatest Hits is a good sample of it. After that he became a hit or miss, but still a great singer with a lot of worthy material. He also seems to be a nice and classy guy.

85 years old

some of the 50s Columbia album cover art is perfection

With all due rerspect, may I say that when Johnny was 25 and I was 20 he was jnown as The African Queen.

respect, known - its one thirty in the west coast!

Johnny Mathis, just like Tony Bennett, is another artist we remember today because they were fortunate enough to have been signed to the Columbia label and recorded by their amazing sound engineers. The clarity of those 1950s recordings with their slight reverb is what makes them playable today.

Mathis was paired up with Percy Faith & Orchestra for his Christmas album. Faith’s arrangements are almost timeless.

He seems to be a somewhat humble guy.

Love (and Jane Olivor). He's one of those few people about who I've never heard an ill word spoken. I admire that. And I love his voice.

Also: I designed this play years ago, and LOVED it. It's a costume designer's show. I can't wait to do it again.

[quote] "about who"

Oh, dear.

"about whom"

The "whom" troll.

R43 below.

I love you, R44.

Mom always called him "old quiver-voice".

I like the take on him and his closet in “marvelous mrs maisel”

Beautiful voice

He's unforgettable.

He never filled my water bowl.

Love. Have seen him in concert, and he was magnificent.

This may seem weird, but my parents listened to him a lot growing up, and it wasn't until a few years ago that I realized that he's black.

Johnny is the real deal. A real singer from the era of real talent. No autotune, no gimmicks, no comping, splicing, and intercutting. Legendary singles that were recorded in one live take in frequently less than an hour. See if Rhianna or Beyonce could accomplish it. Better yet listen to them with a dry mike and a piano and evaluate their tones. He is the last of the Mohicans and sounds virtually unchanged from his 1950s-60. At 85, he still tours over 150 gigs a year (until Covid), and how he has been denied the Kennedy Center Honors is unfathomable.

It makes you wonder, once again, about homophobia and racism.

R52, my mum had a lot of his records when I was growing up, and I honestly never knew he was Black. Mr. Mathis' house burned down a few years ago, but thankfully he wasn't hurt.

r1

I agree, nice voice, bad song choices.

Let’s list singers who can cover his songs live on stage when Johnny finally DOES receive his long-overdue Kennedy Center Honor.

Too gay

Too pop

One of my favorites.

He was such a talented vocalist.

[quote] Let’s list singers who can cover his songs live on stage when Johnny finally DOES receive his long-overdue Kennedy Center Honor.

Gregory Porter

Brian McKnight

Josh Groban

John Legend

Also, Johnny adores female singers (surprise!) and once said Lena Horne was his idol. So maybe a female or two sprinkled in to his tribute.

My mother LOVED him. She was very positive about his sexuality, and thought he could do no wrong. However this is the woman who refused to believe that Rock Hudson was gay.

R53 pretends to care about racism but singles out Beyonce and Rihanna for supposedly not being able to sing......over Britney Spears, Selena Gomez, etc. Beyonce has performed live plenty of times and she sounds good.

Does Johnny have a current boytoy that anyone knows about? I'm willing and able to be said toy.

I know that at one point, Val Kilmer allegedly was his houseboy. Before he hit it big.

Met him in a gay bar in September of 1984. He invited me back to his hotel as he was on tour.

In all honesty, I was expecting to top him but he most definitely wanted to top me and did - outstandingly.

Beautiful, tick cock and pounded me for at least a half hour.

He asked me to stay the night and first thing in the morning he did it again, before we parted. He was as good in bed as he is singing one of his distinctive hits.

I love him and his songs.

To me Sinatra got the best material to sing but Johnny and Tony Bennett had superior voices.

Johnny does have some good songs in his song book but the song I think of when his name is mentioned is from West Side Story, Maria. I got chills the first time I heard it, I think the recording is on a compilation album.

The only time this movie came alive....

Play Misty for me.

OMG I forgot about Misty. Whoa how great is that song sung by Johnny. The first line killer, utterly. Cannot believe no Kennedy honors yet

I think he’s a sweetheart & I’ve always loved his voice.

He also seems really humble. Years ago Channel 4 (in the UK) did a show about the greatest Christmas songs. JM was briefly interviewed and said that when he first sang “When A Child Is Born” he had no idea it was about Jesus & the nativity….just thought it was a sweet song about babies being born.

Did she ever come out?

I heard his career died because he wouldn't play straight & marry some girl the moguls claimed he was engaged to. He was out, not screaming from the rooftops, but wasn't pretending he was straight, so they basically let his career fizzle out.

Johnny Mathis...one of the greatest male singers of all time.

Reportedly worth $400 million.

Johnny Mathis deserves a Kennedy Center Honor. (So does Liza Minnelli.)

What's wrong with those people?!

He recorded a whole album with Chic in 1981.

The record company got nervous (that his blue-haired biddy fanbase would abandon him) and shelved it.

It was a criminal waste of talent.

Another one of the Chic-produced tracks.

Mathis said it was the most fun he ever had singing on an album.

He was the first celebrity I ever heard of coming out. I can vividly remember being a kid and reading US Magazine. He casually mentioned he was gay. It was surprising how little of a deal was made about it in the press.

Love his version of Misty! Pure magic

Maybe he's turned down the Kennedy Honors. It seems pretty unfathomable that they'd give it to Garth Brooks (!) before they give it to Johnny Mathis.

[quote]I heard his career died because he wouldn't play straight & marry some girl the moguls claimed he was engaged to. He was out, not screaming from the rooftops, but wasn't pretending he was straight, so they basically let his career fizzle out.

When did his career fizzle out? He had been touring all over the world for decades and still recording in 2013. Do you actually think a singer needs number 1's every year to be successful?

Great album and collaboration.

Mom was a huge fan, grew up listening to him,. As a family, the first concert I ever went to was Mathis at the Westbury Music Fair which holds a lot of people yet is very intimate in design. So even as a kid I could appreciate how good this guy standing ten feet in front of me was.

R77 He came out in 2017 in US.

He is worth 400-600 million dollars.............

He has 8 fat inches.....

^^and he's intact too!

One of the most gorgeous duets ever...

Jane Oliver and Johnny Mathis sing the Oscar-nominated "The Last Time I Felt Like This" from 1979's "Same Time, Next Year."

86 - I just watched that movie ( I'm meant to be working from home) on some excellent Russian streaming site. And I came here to see if there was a thread on Johnny Mathis because I recognised his voice as the singer of the theme tune!

R87. Well, what a coincidence. Jane Oliver and Johnny Mathis are two of my all-time favorite singers.

Oh Johnny! Love any artist on any medium who can move me. He does it in the first line of a song & keeps it rolling. What's not to like?

[quote]they basically let his career fizzle out.

[quote]Johnny Mathis...one of the greatest male singers of all time. Reportedly worth $400 million.

Doesn't sound like his career fizzled, R72. Maybe you're thinking of Tommy Sands.

Can’t deny that voice. Massive talent.

ever notice that he STILL can hit the high notes, (in the same register and key) that he did when he was in his 30's???.........absolutely phenomenal.. Roy Orbison is the only other male pop singer that I have heard that can do that in what can only be called old age..............

[quote] Roy Orbison is the only other male pop singer that I have heard that can do that in what can only be called old age

Is 52 'what can only be called old age?'

Roy Orbison died in 1988 at the age of 52.

Except for "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late", he hasn't been near the top of the singles charts since 1963. But he's never stopped touring---pretty much the same pattern as other people who emerged as pop (not rock) stars during or a bit before his time

I would have done him seventy years ago.