Johnny Mathis turns 90 today

LOVE him! My grandmother would play his music so much when I was young, I still have such fond memories. Back then, I didn't appreciate him as much. Now I realize how truly beautiful his voice is/was

My favorite male singer, and so handsome and sexy back in the day. This is from the Olympic Gala back in 1984.

Johnny Mathis ~ Misty

R1 I could've written that post myself, only it was my mother and father / aunts and uncles who absolutely loved him. My mother would play his albums all day long for background music in the house (along with Dionne Warwick's 60s albums). That was in the 70s and - like you - I and my sister (as well as my cousins my age) didn't have an appreciation for him (though that's when I fell in love with DW). I always knew what i was buying my mother for birthdays and Christmas each year - his newest album. He used to always make a stop in the summer at our outdoor 'musical theater' and we went as a family to see him in concert every summer. I would grow bored with his music (keep in mind I was only in my early teens). I learned to appreciate his talents as I got much older, but my mom and dad weren't around anymore to see how my taste in music changed.

One thing I do remember is at one of his concerts, we bought a 'souvenir book' (I think it was around 1977) for a whopping $3. The book was filled with photos of him (mostly album photos and concert photos from years past), and then there were some personal photos included. Those had him in shorts, tees and casual clothing 'in his garden' or 'in his kitchen'. He looked so damn sexy in those photos (one was him in Boston, with a Celtics 'basketball shirt' on, which you could see his toned arms and a little hair on his chest). Whenever I had the chance and I was alone, I 'enjoyed' those photos very much.

Johnny Mathis ranks right up there with all the greats who ever were or will be.

Mathis is in a class by himself regarding vocals, delivery, breath control, stage presence, humility, choice of material, rapport with his audience and quality of his voice.

We are fortunate to have have lived with a singer like Mathis in our midst. He was supremely talented from the time he stepped onto the stage in the 1950s until today. There are just a few who are among the greatest vocalists in the past century...Streisand, Sinatra, Jane Oliver, (add one of your own), and then there is Johnny Mathis.

I honestly wish Streisand would have recorded more with Mathis - possibly a whole album after 'Back to Broadway'. She had three outstanding duets in her recording career: Garland, Summer* and Mathis. All the other duets she has done doesn't even touch what she accomplished with those three.

*And when I say the Donna Summer duet, I'm most impressed with the opening ballad between the two which served as the intro to 'No More Tears'. It's nothing less than a pop music masterpiece.

R4. Speaking of Johnny Mathis and Jane Olivor...

Jane and Johnny Mathis at the 1979 Oscars singing Best Song nominee 'The Last Time I Felt Like This' from the film 'Same Time, Next Year,' written by Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Marvin Hamlisch. 'The Last Time I Felt Like This' was robbed. The winner that year was: Thank God It's Friday, 'Last Dance' in "Thank God It's Friday" Music and Lyrics by Paul Jabara, very good but not as great as Jane and Johnny.

Love love love his Christmas recordings.

Rumor has it that the Bergmans and Hamlisch, once again, wanted Streisand to record the duet with Mathis back then. And once again, Streisand said 'no' - she was not going to record a movie theme song for a movie she was not going to star in. She also refused her friend Hamlisch the year before, when he begged her to sing 'Nobody Does It Better' for 'The Spy Who Loved Me'.

She did record the theme 'Prisoner' from 'Eyes of Laura Mars' (a movie her partner Jon Peters wanted her to star in, but she refused) in 1978. But that was only because Peters asked her to, hoping it would help make the film a hit. The Streisand single peaked at #21.

Mathis is a textbook example of living in the closet for your whole life in order to keep your career. It worked, and we benefit from his many wonderful recordings. But I hope he was able to find peace with his sexuality, even if in private.

The African Queen

"Take off your hat and your gloves..."

My Mom was a big fan and took us all as kids to see him at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. I knew who he was from her records but I remember sitting there and thinking, how could that beautiful sound come out of somebody like that. He sang live as well as his recordings.

Highlight of "To Wong Foo ..."

[quote]In a 1982 Us magazine article,[37] Mathis said, "Homosexuality is a way of life that I've grown accustomed to."[38] He later said the comment was supposed to have been off the record[39] and did not publicly discuss his sexual orientation for many years. In 2006, Mathis said that his silence had been due to death threats he received as a result of that 1982 article.[40][41] In April 2006, he addressed the subject again on the podcast The Strip and said his reluctance to speak about it was partly a generational issue.[42] In a 2017 interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, Mathis discussed the Us magazine article and confirmed that he is gay, saying: "I come from San Francisco. It's not unusual to be gay in San Francisco. I've had some girlfriends, some boyfriends, just like most people. But I never got married, for instance. I knew that I was gay." Mathis spoke to many news sources, including CBS, about his sexuality and his coming out story.[43][39]