Top 3 Performers from San Francisco in 1956?

Almost everyone knows about K.C. Jones and Bill Russell from the U of San Francisco, but did you know that in 1954 Johnny Mathis of San Francisco State beat Russell's college high jump record by clearing the bar at 6'5"? Only four Olympic athletes at the time had done so, but Johnny passed up his Olympic tryout to cut a record and start his music career. Considering that he has since sold 350 million records - 3rd all time in the Guinness Book of Records (no pun intended), I think it's safe to say Johnny Mathis is the best performer to come out of San Francisco in the class of 1956.

Sorry Russ. Sorry K.C.

I saw/listened to Johnny in concert tonight. His voice was so strong and pure, his phrasing so delicate, his timing so perfect - I am shocked to think he turns 80 in September. Kudos Johnny. Kudos.

worcester wrote:Almost everyone knows about K.C. Jones and Bill Russell from the U of San Francisco, but did you know that in 1954 Johnny Mathis of San Francisco State beat Russell's college high jump record by clearing the bar at 6'5"? Only four Olympic athletes at the time had done so, but Johnny passed up his Olympic tryout to cut a record and start his music career. Considering that he has since sold 350 million records - 3rd all time in the Guinness Book of Records (no pun intended), I think it's safe to say Johnny Mathis is the best performer to come out of San Francisco in the class of 1956.

Sorry Russ. Sorry K.C.

I saw/listened to Johnny in concert tonight. His voice was so strong and pure, his phrasing so delicate, his timing so perfect - I am shocked to think he turns 80 in September. Kudos Johnny. Kudos.

Chances Are you could be right.

beat

W,

It's always exciting to learn that an old guy is still at the top of what has been an amazing game.  My friend, a professional singer and pianist for 45 years in Nassau (the guy whose son I became guardian for around 1971 so he could go to school in the U.S.) has a voice between Johnny's and Nat King Cole's, and he developed his performing chops by performing Johnny's songs such as Twelfth of Never, Pieces of Dreams, and Brian's song.

You are extremely fortunate to have seen Johnny in concert.  That's something I always hoped to do, and I hadn't known he is still performing.  What a thrill for you.

Go Johnny!

Sam

May 8 he performs in Hertford and May 10th in Portland Maine.

Being in the music business for over 45 years and having been a serious listener to radio (both AM at first, then FM) since the early '60s there's no way Johnny Mathis is third biggest record seller of all time (purportedly "well over" 350 million stated on his personal Wikipedia page). Guinness is not the official tally of that kind of thing if that's the source. Billboard and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) are. Billboard listed the 100 top artists of all time and Johnny Mathis is nowhere to be found:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/5557800/hot-100-55th-anniversary-by-the-numbers-top-100-artists-most-no

And from the RIAA here is their list of the top 90. Again, no Johnny Mathis:

http://www.statisticbrain.com/top-selling-music-artists-of-all-time/

When you look at both lists it becomes immediately apparent why. He would have to compete with the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, the Rolling Stones, Garth Brooks, the Eagles, Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, the Supremes and on and on and on.

While those artists (and many others) dominated radio (both AM and FM) for the past 50 years, the only place you ever heard Johnny Mathis played was easy-listening stations whose ratings were significantly smaller than the powerhouse AM and FM pop and rock stations of the day.

And here's Wikipedia's list of the 100 best selling music artists of all-time. Again, no Johnny Mathis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

He has a wonderful voice and "Chances Are" is a classic (though written by someone else) but he's not in the same sales ballpark as the artists in the upper echelon of all those lists. Just a glance at those names should make that obvious even without even looking at these three lists to confirm it.

Sorry to be Debbie Downer on this subject but I just couldn't believe what I was reading.

Steve, Everything I know about Johnny's record sales I learned from his bio at his website or otherwise on Wikipedia. This first post is from his own bio. What follows thereafter is the Wikipedia observation about selling 350 million records. Too bad my old patient Jerry Wexler has passed away. He'd know to the record how many Johnny had sold. The 350 record claim and 3rd in the 20th century claim was made by Guinness music chart historian Paul Gambacini.

From the bio on his website:
The fourth of seven children, John Royce Mathis was born on September 30, 1935 in Gilmer, Texas to Clem and Mildred Mathis. As a small boy, the family moved to Post Street in San Francisco. It was there that he learned an appreciation of music from his father who taught him his first song, “My Blue Heaven”. At age eight, his father purchased an old upright piano for $25. When he brought it home, it wouldn't fit through the front door. So that evening, Johnny stayed up all night to watch his father dismantle the piano, get it into the small living room of their basement apartment and then reassemble it. Clem Mathis, who worked briefly as a musician back in Texas playing the piano and singing on stage, would continue to teach his son many songs and routines. Johnny had proven to be the most eager of the children to learn all about music. He sang in the church choir, school functions, community events, for visitors in their home as well as amateur shows in the San Francisco area.

Johnny was 13 years old when Clem took him to see Connie Cox, a Bay Area voice teacher, who agreed to take on the youngster in exchange for his doing odd jobs around her house. Johnny studied with Connie for six years learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic skills.

At George Washington High School, Johnny was known not only for his singing ability but his athleticism as well. He became a star athlete on the track and field team as a high jumper and hurdler and played on the basketball team.

In 1954, Johnny enrolled at San Francisco State College (now called San Francisco State University) with the intention of being an English and Physical Education teacher. While there, Johnny set a high jump record of 6’-5 1/2”. This is still one the College’s top jump heights and was only two inches short of the Olympic record of the time. Just as when he was in high school, Johnny’s name was frequently mentioned in the sports sections of the Northern California newspapers. In fact he & future NBA star Bill Russell were featured in a 1954 sports section article of the San Francisco Chronicle demonstrating their high jumping skills (Russell #1 & Johnny #2 in the City of San Francisco at that time). During one meet at the University of Nevada Johnny beat Russell’s highest jump attempt that day. He was often referred to as “the best all-around athlete to come out of the San Francisco Bay Area”.

A fellow student, whose sextet was working at the Black Hawk nightclub, brought Johnny in for a Sunday afternoon jam session. It was at the Black Hawk that Helen Noga, co-owner of the club, first heard him sing. She decided that she wanted to manage his career.

In early September of 1955, Johnny landed a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club. After repeated attempts, Helen convinced George Avakian, then head of Jazz A&R at Columbia, to see him. Avakian came to the club, heard Johnny sing and sent the now famous telegram to his record company: “Have found phenomenal 19 year old boy who could go all the way. Send blank contracts.”

Avakian left for New York after telling Johnny that he would eventually send for him. Johnny continued his studies at San Francisco State and gained additional fame as a high jumper. In early 1956, Johnny was asked to attend the trials for the 1956 Olympic teams that would travel to Melbourne, Australia that summer. At the same time, Columbia Records requested that Johnny come to New York to start arrangements for his first recording session. Clem helped his son decide that his future and best interests were with the recording company. So, Johnny gave up his chance to become a member of the USA Olympic Team. He went to New York to record his first album in March of 1956.

The first album was a collection of jazz oriented renditions of popular standards entitled: Johnny Mathis: A New Sound In Popular Song. It included jazz musicians Gil Evans, John Lewis and Teo Macero and songs like “Angel Eyes”, “Easy to Love” and “Babalu”. The album enjoyed only moderate success because jazz vocal albums were not good sellers. Nevertheless, Johnny remained in New York and landed bookings at some of the leading nightclubs such as the Village Vanguard, The Blue Angel and Basin Street East.

Soon, Columbia placed Johnny under the supervision of producer Mitch Miller. Mitch favored using Johnny’s voice to sing soft, romantic ballads. At his second recording session, in the fall of 1956, Johnny recorded two singles. These songs were to become among his most popular all-time greatest hits: “Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It’s Not For Me To Say.” Subsequently, MGM Studios signed Johnny to sing “It’s Not For Me To Say” in the film Lizzie . He played a tavern piano bar singer. In 1958, Johnny made another motion picture appearance. This time it was for 20th Century Fox in A Certain Smile. In this movie, he sang the title song playing himself in an elegant nightclub scene. Since then, Johnny’s voice has been used in countless Hollywood movies for theme songs, background music and to enhance a particular setting or segment.

“Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It’s Not For Me To Say” reached their peaks on the BILLBOARD pop chart in July of 1957. These successes were followed by the monumental single “Chances Are” which became Johnny’s first #1 hit.

In June of 1957, Johnny appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show where he was introduced to the record buying public and became a national celebrity and household name. Columbia Records continued to release albums of Johnny singing beautiful and romantic ballads, classic standards and the best songs from Broadway musicals. These albums, like the singles, became immediate successes with sales in the millions. It was not uncommon for Johnny to have as many as four albums on the BILLBOARD Top Albums chart at the same time. In late 1959, Johnny recorded another song that became synonymous with the name of Johnny Mathis, the Erroll Garner composition, “Misty”.

Johnny’s accomplishments are numerous and varied. He holds many records and has set many precedents in the music industry. In 1958, two years after being signed by Columbia Records, Johnny’s Greatest Hits was released. It began a “Greatest Hits” tradition copied by every record company since then. Johnny’s Greatest Hits went on to become one of the most popular albums of all time and spent an unprecedented 490 continuous weeks (almost ten years) on the BILLBOARD Top Albums Chart. This record has been noted in the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS.

At one point in his career, according to record historian Joel Whitburn, Johnny was one of only five recording artists to have Top 40 Hits spanning each of his first four decades as a recording artist. And as of 2013 he has now had a hit in every decade of his career thanks to his lovely song with Jim Brickman “Sending You a Little Christmas” peaking at #4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart! Amazingly, his second #1 Hit Single, “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (recorded with Deniece Williams), came almost 21 years after his very first #1 Hit Single, “Chances Are”.

Johnny has been honored to make several appearances before various heads of state. Starting in June of 1973, he sang at a State Dinner held in honor of the President of Liberia. In 1978, Johnny sang for the British Royal Family at A Command Performance held at The London Palladium. He performed for President and Mrs. Reagan at the State Dinner held in honor of the Prime Minister of Japan in April of 1987. Four years later in April of 1991, he sang for President and Mrs. Bush in honor of the President of Nicaragua. Most recently, in May of 1994, Johnny sang for President and Mrs. Clinton (along with the other five living First Ladies) at a very special First Ladies Tribute.

He has also been honored by entertainment heads of state. In June of 1972, he was awarded his own star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, and has also participated in the Oscars presentation many times performing the song nominated in the “Best Song” category.

Johnny has received five Grammy nominations during his career. The first was for “Misty” in 1960 in the category of Best Male Vocal Performance - Single Record or Track. The second was in 1992 for "In a Sentimental Mood / Mathis Sings Ellington" in the category of Best Traditional Pop Performance. He also was nominated in 2006 for “Isn’t it Romantic”, and again in 2011 for “Let It Be Me – Mathis In Nashville” in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. His latest nomination occurred in 2014 for “Sending You A Little Christmas” also for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Johnny has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame three times so far for "Chances Are", "Misty", and “It’s Not For Me To Say”. Most impressive of all is his 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

In 2004 he sang “Over the Rainbow” with Ray Charles on Mr. Charles’ “Genius Loves Company”. (Johnny was very honored that Mr. Charles requested the song be played at his memorial service.) Also in 2004, Johnny recorded “Isn’t It Romantic” a standards CD that was released in February 2005.

2006 was a very busy year for Johnny, marking his impressive 50th anniversary as a recording star. “Johnny Mathis – Gold: A 50th Anniversary Celebration” and “A 50th Christmas Celebration” were both released and PBS taped a special called “Wonderful, Wonderful”. The PBS special was later released on DVD as “Johnny Mathis – Gold: A 50th Anniversary Celebration”. 2006 also marked the year that he was honored with receiving the Society of Singers coveted Ella Award.

As if this weren’t enough, Johnny continues to be honored in many different ways. In 2011 he performed for former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and received the Gold Medal of the Academy of Achievement at the Academy’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., acknowledging his many accomplishments throughout his career. Most recent honors and accolades include: 2013 Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award from the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters for Radio & Television; 2013 Induction into the brand new America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame; 2014 induction into the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame, as well as receiving the New Standard Award for his continuing career achievements.


In spite of a very busy tour schedule & many charity events, Johnny still finds time to enjoy a little free time. Johnny was an avid tennis player until the late 1960s, when a good friend turned him on to his now life-long love of golf. He plays golf almost every day when he's not traveling and has sung at many golf banquets such as the Ryder Cup. In 1985 and 1986, Johnny hosted his own golf tournament, The Johnny Mathis Seniors PGA Classic, which was held in Los Angeles. Johnny has also hosted a charity golf tournament, The Shell / Johnny Mathis Golf Classic, which was held in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Johnny’s other favorite avocation is cooking. He is a gourmet cook who cooks for himself and often others when he's home or traveling. His mother taught him at an early age how to cook up a storm and do it well. He has enjoyed doing so all his life.

After almost 60 years as a recording artist, what’s next for Johnny? “I don’t think about retiring. I think about how I can keep singing for the rest of my life. I just have to pace myself.”

From Wikipedia:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2009)

Johnny Mathis
Birth name
John Royce Mathis

Born
September 30, 1935 (age 79)
Gilmer, Texas, United States

Genres
Pop, soul, jazz, easy listening

Occupation(s)
Singer, songwriter, actor

Years active
1956–present

Labels
Columbia, Mercury

Website
www.johnnymathis.com

John Royce "Johnny" Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts to date. Johnny Mathis has sold well over 350 million records worldwide as confirmed by Guinness music chart historian Paul Gambacini, this makes Mathis the 3rd most successful recording artist of the 20th century and of the last 60 years.

And then there's this:

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mat0bio-1

Somehow it's impossible for me to believe Mathis did not sell more records than Cindi Lauper considering his greatest hits album was owned by everyone I know and was onn the Billboard top 100 chart for 450+ months - or was it weeks?

worcester wrote:Steve, Everything I know about Johnny's record sales I learned from his bio at his website or otherwise on Wikipedia. This first post is from his own bio. What follows thereafter is the Wikipedia observation about selling 350 million records. Too bad my old patient Jerry Wexler has passed away. He'd know to the record how many Johnny had sold. The 350 record claim and 3rd in the 20th century claim was made by Guinness music chart historian Paul Gambacini.

From the bio on his website:
The fourth of seven children, John Royce Mathis was born on September 30, 1935 in Gilmer, Texas to Clem and Mildred Mathis. As a small boy, the family moved to Post Street in San Francisco. It was there that he learned an appreciation of music from his father who taught him his first song, “My Blue Heaven”. At age eight, his father purchased an old upright piano for $25. When he brought it home, it wouldn't fit through the front door. So that evening, Johnny stayed up all night to watch his father dismantle the piano, get it into the small living room of their basement apartment and then reassemble it. Clem Mathis, who worked briefly as a musician back in Texas playing the piano and singing on stage, would continue to teach his son many songs and routines. Johnny had proven to be the most eager of the children to learn all about music. He sang in the church choir, school functions, community events, for visitors in their home as well as amateur shows in the San Francisco area.

Johnny was 13 years old when Clem took him to see Connie Cox, a Bay Area voice teacher, who agreed to take on the youngster in exchange for his doing odd jobs around her house. Johnny studied with Connie for six years learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic skills.

At George Washington High School, Johnny was known not only for his singing ability but his athleticism as well. He became a star athlete on the track and field team as a high jumper and hurdler and played on the basketball team.

In 1954, Johnny enrolled at San Francisco State College (now called San Francisco State University) with the intention of being an English and Physical Education teacher. While there, Johnny set a high jump record of 6’-5 1/2”. This is still one the College’s top jump heights and was only two inches short of the Olympic record of the time. Just as when he was in high school, Johnny’s name was frequently mentioned in the sports sections of the Northern California newspapers. In fact he & future NBA star Bill Russell were featured in a 1954 sports section article of the San Francisco Chronicle demonstrating their high jumping skills (Russell #1 & Johnny #2 in the City of San Francisco at that time). During one meet at the University of Nevada Johnny beat Russell’s highest jump attempt that day. He was often referred to as “the best all-around athlete to come out of the San Francisco Bay Area”.

A fellow student, whose sextet was working at the Black Hawk nightclub, brought Johnny in for a Sunday afternoon jam session. It was at the Black Hawk that Helen Noga, co-owner of the club, first heard him sing. She decided that she wanted to manage his career.

In early September of 1955, Johnny landed a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club. After repeated attempts, Helen convinced George Avakian, then head of Jazz A&R at Columbia, to see him. Avakian came to the club, heard Johnny sing and sent the now famous telegram to his record company: “Have found phenomenal 19 year old boy who could go all the way. Send blank contracts.”

Avakian left for New York after telling Johnny that he would eventually send for him. Johnny continued his studies at San Francisco State and gained additional fame as a high jumper. In early 1956, Johnny was asked to attend the trials for the 1956 Olympic teams that would travel to Melbourne, Australia that summer. At the same time, Columbia Records requested that Johnny come to New York to start arrangements for his first recording session. Clem helped his son decide that his future and best interests were with the recording company. So, Johnny gave up his chance to become a member of the USA Olympic Team. He went to New York to record his first album in March of 1956.

The first album was a collection of jazz oriented renditions of popular standards entitled: Johnny Mathis: A New Sound In Popular Song. It included jazz musicians Gil Evans, John Lewis and Teo Macero and songs like “Angel Eyes”, “Easy to Love” and “Babalu”. The album enjoyed only moderate success because jazz vocal albums were not good sellers. Nevertheless, Johnny remained in New York and landed bookings at some of the leading nightclubs such as the Village Vanguard, The Blue Angel and Basin Street East.

Soon, Columbia placed Johnny under the supervision of producer Mitch Miller. Mitch favored using Johnny’s voice to sing soft, romantic ballads. At his second recording session, in the fall of 1956, Johnny recorded two singles. These songs were to become among his most popular all-time greatest hits: “Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It’s Not For Me To Say.” Subsequently, MGM Studios signed Johnny to sing “It’s Not For Me To Say” in the film Lizzie . He played a tavern piano bar singer. In 1958, Johnny made another motion picture appearance. This time it was for 20th Century Fox in A Certain Smile. In this movie, he sang the title song playing himself in an elegant nightclub scene. Since then, Johnny’s voice has been used in countless Hollywood movies for theme songs, background music and to enhance a particular setting or segment.

“Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It’s Not For Me To Say” reached their peaks on the BILLBOARD pop chart in July of 1957. These successes were followed by the monumental single “Chances Are” which became Johnny’s first #1 hit.

In June of 1957, Johnny appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show where he was introduced to the record buying public and became a national celebrity and household name. Columbia Records continued to release albums of Johnny singing beautiful and romantic ballads, classic standards and the best songs from Broadway musicals. These albums, like the singles, became immediate successes with sales in the millions. It was not uncommon for Johnny to have as many as four albums on the BILLBOARD Top Albums chart at the same time. In late 1959, Johnny recorded another song that became synonymous with the name of Johnny Mathis, the Erroll Garner composition, “Misty”.

Johnny’s accomplishments are numerous and varied. He holds many records and has set many precedents in the music industry. In 1958, two years after being signed by Columbia Records, Johnny’s Greatest Hits was released. It began a “Greatest Hits” tradition copied by every record company since then. Johnny’s Greatest Hits went on to become one of the most popular albums of all time and spent an unprecedented 490 continuous weeks (almost ten years) on the BILLBOARD Top Albums Chart. This record has been noted in the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS.

At one point in his career, according to record historian Joel Whitburn, Johnny was one of only five recording artists to have Top 40 Hits spanning each of his first four decades as a recording artist. And as of 2013 he has now had a hit in every decade of his career thanks to his lovely song with Jim Brickman “Sending You a Little Christmas” peaking at #4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart! Amazingly, his second #1 Hit Single, “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (recorded with Deniece Williams), came almost 21 years after his very first #1 Hit Single, “Chances Are”.

Johnny has been honored to make several appearances before various heads of state. Starting in June of 1973, he sang at a State Dinner held in honor of the President of Liberia. In 1978, Johnny sang for the British Royal Family at A Command Performance held at The London Palladium. He performed for President and Mrs. Reagan at the State Dinner held in honor of the Prime Minister of Japan in April of 1987. Four years later in April of 1991, he sang for President and Mrs. Bush in honor of the President of Nicaragua. Most recently, in May of 1994, Johnny sang for President and Mrs. Clinton (along with the other five living First Ladies) at a very special First Ladies Tribute.

He has also been honored by entertainment heads of state. In June of 1972, he was awarded his own star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, and has also participated in the Oscars presentation many times performing the song nominated in the “Best Song” category.

Johnny has received five Grammy nominations during his career. The first was for “Misty” in 1960 in the category of Best Male Vocal Performance - Single Record or Track. The second was in 1992 for "In a Sentimental Mood / Mathis Sings Ellington" in the category of Best Traditional Pop Performance. He also was nominated in 2006 for “Isn’t it Romantic”, and again in 2011 for “Let It Be Me – Mathis In Nashville” in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. His latest nomination occurred in 2014 for “Sending You A Little Christmas” also for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Johnny has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame three times so far for "Chances Are", "Misty", and “It’s Not For Me To Say”. Most impressive of all is his 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

In 2004 he sang “Over the Rainbow” with Ray Charles on Mr. Charles’ “Genius Loves Company”. (Johnny was very honored that Mr. Charles requested the song be played at his memorial service.) Also in 2004, Johnny recorded “Isn’t It Romantic” a standards CD that was released in February 2005.

2006 was a very busy year for Johnny, marking his impressive 50th anniversary as a recording star. “Johnny Mathis – Gold: A 50th Anniversary Celebration” and “A 50th Christmas Celebration” were both released and PBS taped a special called “Wonderful, Wonderful”. The PBS special was later released on DVD as “Johnny Mathis – Gold: A 50th Anniversary Celebration”. 2006 also marked the year that he was honored with receiving the Society of Singers coveted Ella Award.

As if this weren’t enough, Johnny continues to be honored in many different ways. In 2011 he performed for former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and received the Gold Medal of the Academy of Achievement at the Academy’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., acknowledging his many accomplishments throughout his career. Most recent honors and accolades include: 2013 Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award from the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters for Radio & Television; 2013 Induction into the brand new America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame; 2014 induction into the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame, as well as receiving the New Standard Award for his continuing career achievements.


In spite of a very busy tour schedule & many charity events, Johnny still finds time to enjoy a little free time. Johnny was an avid tennis player until the late 1960s, when a good friend turned him on to his now life-long love of golf. He plays golf almost every day when he's not traveling and has sung at many golf banquets such as the Ryder Cup. In 1985 and 1986, Johnny hosted his own golf tournament, The Johnny Mathis Seniors PGA Classic, which was held in Los Angeles. Johnny has also hosted a charity golf tournament, The Shell / Johnny Mathis Golf Classic, which was held in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Johnny’s other favorite avocation is cooking. He is a gourmet cook who cooks for himself and often others when he's home or traveling. His mother taught him at an early age how to cook up a storm and do it well. He has enjoyed doing so all his life.

After almost 60 years as a recording artist, what’s next for Johnny? “I don’t think about retiring. I think about how I can keep singing for the rest of my life. I just have to pace myself.”

From Wikipedia:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2009)

Johnny Mathis
Birth name
John Royce Mathis

Born
September 30, 1935 (age 79)
Gilmer, Texas, United States

Genres
Pop, soul, jazz, easy listening

Occupation(s)
Singer, songwriter, actor

Years active
1956–present

Labels
Columbia, Mercury

Website
www.johnnymathis.com

John Royce "Johnny" Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts to date. Johnny Mathis has sold well over 350 million records worldwide as confirmed by Guinness music chart historian Paul Gambacini, this makes Mathis the 3rd most successful recording artist of the 20th century and of the last 60 years.

Worcester - I've seen it. Doesn't change my opinion or the black and white of those three lists I included links to above. If his website asserts this, I'd like to see the whole list they got this from with the numbers listed for each artist. Here's another list of the biggest 127 singles of all-time and "Chances Are" (by far Johnny's biggest hit) is not even listed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles

worcester wrote:And then there's this:

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mat0bio-1

Somehow it's impossible for me to believe Mathis did not sell more records than Cindi Lauper considering his greatest hits album was owned by everyone I know and was onn the Billboard top 100 chart for 450+ months - or was it weeks?

It certainly wasn't months because 450+ would have him on the Billboard top 100 chart for nearly 40 years.

But the key words in the article you provided the link to are "it is estimated" and it doesn't say by who. Billboard and the RIAA don't estimate. They have the actual figures and printed them on those lists.

One other thing, that article says this: "To date, 73 of his nearly 100 albums have reached the Billboard Top Album charts, with 13 Gold Records (sales of over 500,000) and eight platinum, (sales of over a million copies), including three with sales of over two million."

It mentions in the last part of that sentence he has three "with sales over two million." If he had albums with any sales HIGHER than that - say three or four million (or more) it certainly would have pointed that out but it doesn't. Many of the artists on the lists I posted have had INDIVIDUAL albums that have sold from 25 to 50 million (like Michael Jackson, Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Pink Floyd, Eagles, AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac, Shania Twain, etc.).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums

The article says he's made 100 albums and claims 350,000,000 total. That would AVERAGE to 3.5 million per album but it states he has just three with sales of over two million. That means the vast majority of them sold less (some significantly less) than a couple million each. Many of them didn't even make a dent.

I'll be calling Columbia tomorrow for an official count. Someone there should know.

Considering all the gold and platinum records he's sold, I am amazed he's not showing up on your lists. It doesn't compute.

http://www.johnnymathis.com/discography.php

worcester wrote:I'll be calling Columbia tomorrow for an official count. Someone there should know.

Considering all the gold and platinum records he's sold, I am amazed he's not showing up on your lists. It doesn't compute.

http://www.johnnymathis.com/discography.php

That won't tell you anything. Labels (and their PR departments) always inflate the sales of their artists for their own purposes. That's like asking Wilt Chamberlain how many women he slept with. Wilt: "20,000!"

Wilt was being modest.

Today is a big day for Johnny Mathis. And it should be noted on his Wikipedia page: Who would've ever thought he would have his own thread on Sam's Celtics Forum?

That's mighty impressive.

Lol.

worcester wrote:And then there's this:

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mat0bio-1

Somehow it's impossible for me to believe Mathis did not sell more records than Cindi Lauper considering his greatest hits album was owned by everyone I know and was onn the Billboard top 100 chart for 450+ months - or was it weeks?

One last (absolutely last) point in this discussion - since you brought up Cyndi Lauper: You said it's impossible for you to believe Cyndi has sold more records than Johnny Mathis, but if you go to this site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums

you will see that Cyndi's She's So Unusual album sold 22 million copies. On Johnny's own site that you referenced it says he's had "three albums that have sold more than two million copies," meaning he hasn't had ANY that have even sold three million or they would have mentioned it. Cyndi's follow-up album to She's So Unusual - True Colors (which included her massive hit "Time After Time") - also sold several million. So it shouldn't be too hard to understand when she's had one album alone that sold 22 million.

As far as the ridiculously high number of albums Johnny's website says he's made in his career - 100 (!?!) - the only artists that release that many albums release many that are purely re-packaging the same hits over and over and since most of those artists' fans already have the hits, those albums sell miniscule amounts and are often obligations to record companies to fulfill a contract. The really creative artists don't release all that many but they make them count. Do you know how many albums Led Zeppelin made? Ten. That's it. Nine studio albums and one live one. And they are one of the biggest selling acts of all time. Look where they are listed on the three links I provided.

Numbers will never be the defining measure of an entertainer's talent or influence.  Sometimes I think that numbers are more a testament to the talent to public relations people and promoters like Steve.  The quality of Johnny Mathis' impact on millions of people far outstrips any quantifiable measure in terms of his contributions.

I sort of liked Cyndi Lauper for many years (she was a bit too flamboyant for my taste), but I became a real admirer when she performed at a tribute to Joni Mitchell in 2001.  Cyndi sang a very slowed-down version of Joni's "Carey," and—despite the dramatic difference from the original, Cyndi seemed to capture the emotions of the song beautifully.  Joni seemed to love it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK7y3o2WtqE

Sam