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Speaker 1: Pushkin. Today we're featuring the voice of Christmas, Johnny Mathis.

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Speaker 1: Over the years, mister Matthis has released six Christmas albums.

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Speaker 1: His iconic first one, Mary Christmas, was a tribute to

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Speaker 1: his mother and father and is one of the most

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Speaker 1: beloved collections of Christmas tunes ever. Now eighty seven years old,

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Speaker 1: Johnny's in his sixty sixth year as a recording artist

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Speaker 1: and still performing. In fact, we only had a brief

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Speaker 1: thirty minutes for this conversation because he needs to save

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Speaker 1: his voice for his rigorous performance schedule, which means we

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Speaker 1: didn't get to certain important landmarks in his life and career,

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Speaker 1: like releasing the first ever best of compilation Johnny's Greatest

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Speaker 1: Hits in nineteen fifty eight, and the beautiful story of

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Speaker 1: his coming out as a gay man in nineteen eighty two.

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Speaker 1: But we did get to talk about performing with his

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Speaker 1: musical heroes like Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole. Mister

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Speaker 1: Matthis also shares a story about how he turned down

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to qualify for the nineteen fifty six Olympics

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Speaker 1: to instead launch his music career. This is broken record

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Speaker 1: liner notes go the digital age. I'm justin Mitchell. Here's

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Speaker 1: my conversation with the legendary mister Johnny Mathis. Good morning,

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Speaker 1: mister Mathis, Yes, sir, Oh my lord, Wow, it is you.

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Speaker 1: You sound like you. Yeah. Earlier in the morning, I'm

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Speaker 1: really Johnny Mathis. Later on, I don't know when I am.

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Speaker 1: My dad was my best pal. I kind of sort

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Speaker 1: of turned into him in the evening. Oh you do well.

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Speaker 1: I sort of remember him because he had a large family.

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Speaker 1: He had seven kids, he and my mom, and I

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Speaker 1: was happy. It's about my career because I got a

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Speaker 1: chance to make some money and take care of my

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Speaker 1: brothers and sisters at an early time in my life.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, so there's eight of you total. Yeah, incredible.

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Speaker 1: Reading out your parents influence on you, particularly your dad's

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Speaker 1: in music, was so touching to me. Yeah. We were

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Speaker 1: a large family, and usually when you're a large family,

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Speaker 1: everybody had something to do to make it work. And

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Speaker 1: along the way, I was very involved in athletics as

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Speaker 1: a kid through high school and into college. In fact,

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Speaker 1: I was a high jumper and a hurdler, and I

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Speaker 1: my big train to fame, at least in the sports

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Speaker 1: section of a San Francisco Chronicle work that I broke

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Speaker 1: the great Bill Russell basketball players. I broke his high

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Speaker 1: jumper record in college, another Bay Area legend. They didn't

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Speaker 1: realize that Bill and I were pals and it didn't

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Speaker 1: matter who won. Were good buddies. Anyway, When did you

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Speaker 1: first meet Bill Russell, the great Celtics legend. Bill and

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Speaker 1: I went to school at the same time. I went

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Speaker 1: to San Francisco State, He went to u at Tests

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Speaker 1: and I left school and went to New York to

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Speaker 1: make my first recordings. So he ended up in Boston.

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Speaker 1: I ended up in New York, and we were real

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Speaker 1: close together. Who used to call each other all the

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Speaker 1: time because the last time we saw each other we

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Speaker 1: were playing basketball. And you did leave to go to

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Speaker 1: New York to do your first recordings, and interestingly enough,

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Speaker 1: I believe you were quite the athlete. As you mentioned,

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Speaker 1: you were scheduled to do two things pretty much at

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Speaker 1: the same time. One your first recording for Columbia Records.

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Speaker 1: Your first recording session was scheduled in New York, and

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Speaker 1: you were scheduled to go to the Olympic trials to

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Speaker 1: qualify for the fifty six Olympics. Those two things were

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Speaker 1: in conflict, and you decided to go to the recording sessions. Well,

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Speaker 1: my dad, he is a reason I thing, and so

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Speaker 1: when the occurrence happened, as you mentioned, there was no option.

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Speaker 1: I sang because he sang, and that was what we

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Speaker 1: were going to do, and nothing else we get in

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Speaker 1: the way. It didn't matter how good you were at

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Speaker 1: athletics and that you could go to the Olympics. You

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Speaker 1: knew because of those nights you spent with your dad

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Speaker 1: in the basement with him on the piano, you singing,

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Speaker 1: that was what brought you joy and your family brought

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Speaker 1: you joy. That's what you were going to do. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: thanks worked out really well, things worked out beautifully for

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Speaker 1: the both of you. Guys. I do want to talk

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Speaker 1: about you, of course, have some of the all time

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Speaker 1: great Christmas songs, some of the great renditions of Christmas songs.

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Speaker 1: It's the holiday season, it's the Christmas season. And another

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Speaker 1: person beyond you that I always think about around Christmas

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Speaker 1: is Nat King Cole. And you got to meet Nat

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Speaker 1: King Cole as a kid, Is that right? He was

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Speaker 1: my vocal hero as a youngster. My dad sang and

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Speaker 1: nobody heard him except that. But he loved Nat Cole

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Speaker 1: and he brought his records home, and that was an

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Speaker 1: occasion for me because occasionally that Cole would sing in

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Speaker 1: San Francisco and my dad would take me to see him,

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Speaker 1: and once in a while I reme a very vague

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Speaker 1: thing that I got a chance to sneak backstage and

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Speaker 1: as he was passing through or something, I got a

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Speaker 1: chance to shake his hand. And then years later after

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Speaker 1: I started recording NAT and I sang in some of

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Speaker 1: the same venues and I'd meet him coming and going

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Speaker 1: by the way, Do you remember me? I remember you

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Speaker 1: and say a little funny word, nacking hole is so

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Speaker 1: just brilliant? What did you learn from him? In terms

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Speaker 1: of phrasing and vocal stylings? But most people don't realize

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Speaker 1: that he was not only one of the greatest singers

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Speaker 1: in the world, but he is one of the great

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Speaker 1: piano players. I remember having a wonderful conversation later on

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Speaker 1: in life with the great ascapedistone and Oscar said to me, oh, John,

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Speaker 1: when I heard Nat, you know, he said, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to quit plan Anyway, the fact remains is that I

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Speaker 1: grew up in that situation in San Francisco. All these

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Speaker 1: famous musicians came through, all the time, and at a

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Speaker 1: very early time, my dad, God bless him. As seven kids,

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Speaker 1: he and my mom. My dad never lost his instincts singing,

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Speaker 1: and that's why I sing. So anytime anybody of stature

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Speaker 1: would come through San Francisco, my dad would take off

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Speaker 1: from work, come home, pick me up, and we'd drive

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Speaker 1: over and he'd sleep me in because I was too young,

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Speaker 1: and I would get a chance to meet some of

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Speaker 1: these great singers elephants still seriv on Lena Horne not called.

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Speaker 1: They all came through San Francisco. And eventually, after I

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Speaker 1: got my start and music and made it my life's work,

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Speaker 1: I worked in so many other venues along the way

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Speaker 1: that he did, and I met him coming and going

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Speaker 1: on so many occasions. Oh I remember you. Diana Washington

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Speaker 1: wrote in her book that she remembered, I think, playing

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Speaker 1: the black Hawk in San Francisco, and she heard you

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Speaker 1: sing and loved it, and you had to sing with

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Speaker 1: her a little bit, or sing with her band a bit.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Well, everybody. The lady who discovered me owned

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Speaker 1: the black Hawk in San Francisco. Her name was Helen Noga.

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Speaker 1: She and her husband and every famous jazz musician and

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Speaker 1: singer came through San Francisco and worked that place, and

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Speaker 1: of course I'm sitting in the back where nobody could

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Speaker 1: see me consective liquor, and I would meet them all

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Speaker 1: when I was sometimes I was sixteen, seventeen years old,

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Speaker 1: and they remembered me after I made my first recordings,

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Speaker 1: because my first recordings were made with George de Vakan,

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Speaker 1: who was head of jazz music at Columbia Records, and

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Speaker 1: that was that was my beginning. So it's been a

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Speaker 1: great kind of growing up life for me, and I

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Speaker 1: was very fortunate to be raised in a place like

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Speaker 1: San Francisco or all these wonderful people came through. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: your first recording session was quite a jazz affair, you know.

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Speaker 1: You had the great arranger, Gil Evans arranging some of

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Speaker 1: the great jazz players on that record, and then your

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Speaker 1: next record went in another direction. It seemed like that

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Speaker 1: determined your career because the next record, Wonderful, Wonderful, was

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Speaker 1: so warmly received and well received that you almost wanted

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Speaker 1: a more pop direction after your first record. Does that

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Speaker 1: seem fair? Yeah? Most people you talked to this thing

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Speaker 1: have many different aspects of their singing. For instance, I

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Speaker 1: was going to San Francisco State College, and my best

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Speaker 1: friend was my opera teacher, and of course later on

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Speaker 1: I got a chance to utilize my voice and voice

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Speaker 1: that were, you know, really reminiscent of the studies that

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Speaker 1: I had with my operataers. But those are the wonderful,

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Speaker 1: sort of vague kind of things that happened along the

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Speaker 1: way in my life that have made a great difference

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Speaker 1: in my being able to sing at such an early

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Speaker 1: age and to have some success. So the fact that

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Speaker 1: I was raised in San Francisco with all these extraordinary

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Speaker 1: people coming through all the time, and I got to

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Speaker 1: meet them and watch them and get a little idea

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Speaker 1: about what it might be like to stand on stage

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Speaker 1: and sing in front of people. And so it's I've

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Speaker 1: been very lucky in that regard. We're going to take

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Speaker 1: a quick break and then we'll be back with more

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Speaker 1: from a conversation with mister Johnny Mathis. We're back with

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Speaker 1: more from Johnny Mathis. What was New York like when

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Speaker 1: you first got there? New York was fast, loud, crazy, wonderful,

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Speaker 1: everything everything that you could think of. That's what New

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Speaker 1: York was. And I was all alone. I was by myself.

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Speaker 1: I had never traveled, but my mom and my dad

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Speaker 1: had seven kids, and we were home bodies all the time.

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Speaker 1: Any kind of money we made, you know, doing odd

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Speaker 1: jobs and things we brought home to show with the family.

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Speaker 1: But when I got to New York, I was alone.

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Speaker 1: But I was absolutely amazed at the kindness that was

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Speaker 1: showed me by so many people who just happened to

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Speaker 1: meet me. They didn't know who I was, I didn't

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Speaker 1: know who they were, but they treated me like a

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Speaker 1: brother or a son or what have you. And from

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Speaker 1: the time I went to New York, nobody knew who

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Speaker 1: I was, and I got a chance to meet some

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Speaker 1: extraordinarily gifted people, and later on in life I got

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Speaker 1: a sense to thanks them. For instance, the one that

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Speaker 1: comes to mind most three is the great Bart Howard,

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Speaker 1: who wrote fly Me to the Moon and so many

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Speaker 1: other wonderful songs, lovely composer. I was fantastics and he

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Speaker 1: was one of my best friends. He heard me sing

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Speaker 1: at an early age and some local nightclub, jab nightclub

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Speaker 1: in San Francisco, one of us doing nothing waiting for

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Speaker 1: the record people to have me come in and make

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Speaker 1: my first recordings. But I got a chance to wander

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Speaker 1: around New York and I, you know, I'd sit in

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Speaker 1: the audience and listen to these singers and occasionally one

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Speaker 1: of them would the heavy come up on stage and

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Speaker 1: sing with him. So it was a wonderful kind of

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Speaker 1: beginning for me. I got the best of the best

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Speaker 1: of some of the finest musicians and singers at an

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Speaker 1: early age, and it helped me a great deal. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: speaking of some of the best of the best. One

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Speaker 1: of my favorite, absolute favorite records of yours. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you've heard it recently or not, but Live

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Speaker 1: It Up, your sixty one album, Live It Up with

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Speaker 1: Nelson Riddle, produced by Irving Townsend. Yeah. I was overwhelmed

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Speaker 1: by being able to sing with Nelson Little. And you

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Speaker 1: mentioned it that and I forgot all about that album

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Speaker 1: because that was one of my favorite things in the

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Speaker 1: world is to work with Nelson Little. He was so

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Speaker 1: sweet and so kind to me, and he was the

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Speaker 1: top of the world at that moment, you know, because

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Speaker 1: of his successful thanks to Natza and et. When did

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Speaker 1: you first meet Nelson Riddle or how did that come

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Speaker 1: to be that you worked with them on that album.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, but people like Nelson liddle are so

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Speaker 1: gifted that they don't really equate you with other people.

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Speaker 1: What they want to do is they want to sure

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Speaker 1: they're not with you, and if it turns out good, fine,

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Speaker 1: and if it doesn't, and many times it doesn't, but

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Speaker 1: if it does, you know, all the better for both

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Speaker 1: of us. So I was very lucky in that regard,

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Speaker 1: and early on I met these wonderful composions and the

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Speaker 1: arrangers of music. Some of them I got a chance

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Speaker 1: to perform with. I don't think anything great happened. But oh,

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Speaker 1: what do you mean? That is a lot of great music.

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Speaker 1: You did a lot of great music. Come on, it's

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Speaker 1: so good. Thanks for reminding me you got it. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you listen to yourself or not, but

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Speaker 1: you should put that on. That is a hell of

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Speaker 1: a record. Oh my god. Good. I'll call the office

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Speaker 1: and have them send me a copy of it and

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Speaker 1: listen to it. Oh man, I don't know if you'll

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Speaker 1: be able to hear this too, but let me see

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Speaker 1: if I can play you the title track off Live

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Speaker 1: It Up. I'm planning to live a wild living. It's good.

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Speaker 1: I'd be good to fill my cup to the brown.

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Speaker 1: It's too hard not to sing along. I'm sorry, I

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Speaker 1: don't want to ruin so good I remember that, my goodness,

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Speaker 1: it was quite an exciting time for me. Yeah, when

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Speaker 1: you work with someone like Nelson Riddle, were you able

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Speaker 1: to make recommendations about the arrangements and things or would

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Speaker 1: you mostly just leave it to the arrangers? Now I

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Speaker 1: was so in awed of Nelson Riddle. He was so

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Speaker 1: kind to me, and fortunately the recordings that we made

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Speaker 1: were successful. Yeah, he was very kind and very embracing.

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Speaker 1: He knew that I didn't really know too much about

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Speaker 1: what I was doing, but he carried me in a

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Speaker 1: direction that worked out just fine. Oh yeah, did you

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Speaker 1: have a relationship with Frank Sinatra at all? I didn't

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Speaker 1: get close to Frank. I knew him because he lives

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Speaker 1: in California, very close to me, and I would see

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Speaker 1: him occasionally at get together that people would have in

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Speaker 1: that regard. And now I was never close to him.

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Speaker 1: But his daughter was one of my best friends, Nancy,

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Speaker 1: and she used to begged me sometimes to talk to

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Speaker 1: Frank and so that he would embrace her a little

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Speaker 1: bit more, because evidently he was traveling all the time,

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Speaker 1: so he didn't see it wasn't that close to his children. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but I was very close to her, and she would

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Speaker 1: always ask me, when you see my dad, tell him

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Speaker 1: we let me mean we ended seen. Did you get

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Speaker 1: the sense that Frank was maybe a little jealous of

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Speaker 1: you because your voice was so incredibly almost perfect, and

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Speaker 1: because you were kind of like the young kid coming up?

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Speaker 1: You know, I have no idea what someone like him

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Speaker 1: would think of me, other than the fact that vocally

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Speaker 1: I was completely different from his voice. Of course, the

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Speaker 1: one who I was the most indemnied with or whatever

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Speaker 1: the world is, was not cold to me. He would

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Speaker 1: the beginning and the end of music because he was

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Speaker 1: not only a singer, but he was a great physician,

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Speaker 1: and on occasion I would get his chance to see

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Speaker 1: him while he was rehearsing. Occasionally I would have my buddy,

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Speaker 1: who was a piano player, and after he would finish

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Speaker 1: rehearsing that with his group, I would, you know, rehearse

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Speaker 1: with my group. And he remembered that from the time

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Speaker 1: I was about thirteen years old. Yeah, beautiful, beautiful. You

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Speaker 1: know there was a time in sixty three where you

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Speaker 1: left Columbia Records and went to Mercury. Big mistake. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: tell me about that. How come? Oh, it's all money.

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Speaker 1: And the person who was my business manager was all

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Speaker 1: about money. She was a very dynamic Armenian lady. She

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Speaker 1: owned a club called the Black Hawk in San Francisco.

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Speaker 1: Woman who owned the Black Dad. Yeah, and she became

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Speaker 1: your manager. Yeah, he became my manager. And she pulled

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Speaker 1: all the strings as far as who I was gonna

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Speaker 1: be with and what have you. Her best friend turned

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Speaker 1: out to be Georgia Vakan, who was the man's who

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Speaker 1: signmate to Columbia Records. So we made a jazz album

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Speaker 1: with some of the great jazz musicians in the world,

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Speaker 1: but they used funny names. They couldn't use their name

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Speaker 1: because they all signed a record company. You had Art

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Speaker 1: Farmer on there. I mean, you had so many great

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Speaker 1: players on that record. Oh my gosh. Yeah, and the

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00:17:39,676 --> 00:17:42,796
Speaker 1: one if you look really your clothes. They got some

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Speaker 1: funny names, and they were very famous musicians because they

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Speaker 1: couldn't use the right name because yeah, there was times

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Speaker 1: recording wise to somebody else, hilarious. A couple of those songs,

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Speaker 1: I think fly Me to the Moon and Prelude to

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Speaker 1: a Kiss. You got to play with Oscar Peterson's trio

293
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Speaker 1: without Oscar, but you got to play Herbellis on guitar

294
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Speaker 1: was on that one and Ray Brown on bass. Yeah,

295
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Speaker 1: that trio of Oscar Urban Ray, that's one I think

296
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Speaker 1: one of the great bands ever. And you got to

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Speaker 1: have like two of them are on your first record.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing. Yeah. I was absolutely over the move,

299
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Speaker 1: probably stepped into something that I wasn't ready for vocally artistically.

300
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Speaker 1: But if you make an effort, and if you're in

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Speaker 1: the right place at the right time, your opportunity to

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Speaker 1: meet some of these people and even perform with some

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00:18:33,196 --> 00:18:35,956
Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, and that was a situation with me

304
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Speaker 1: on that first recording that I did with George Bakin,

305
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Speaker 1: who is the nicest human being I ever met in

306
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Speaker 1: my life, and he's the reason that I reshigned to

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Speaker 1: Columbia Records. We'll be right back with more from mister

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Speaker 1: Mathis after a quick break. We're back with the rest

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Speaker 1: of my conversation with Johnny Mathis. I want to play you,

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Speaker 1: just briefly, just a little bit of your rendition of

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Speaker 1: Manage a Carnival from your LA record which was on Mercury. So,

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Speaker 1: even if it was a mistake to go I loved

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Speaker 1: that La record. Yeah don't. It is just mesmerizing hearing that.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. I had so many wonderful opportunities early on

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Speaker 1: because I was signed by the head of jazz, George Vatkin,

316
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Speaker 1: so nothing was taboo as far as my singing was concerned.

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Speaker 1: I had signed to Columbia by the head of jazz,

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Speaker 1: and of course the head of popular music was Amanda

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Speaker 1: the name of Mitch Miller, and he hated me. Why

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Speaker 1: he didn't like when I was singing, and he was

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Speaker 1: the person that you had to talk to if you

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Speaker 1: were going to make popular music at Columbia Orchestra at

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Speaker 1: that time. He was a headman and he didn't like

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Speaker 1: me at all and what I was doing. But somehow,

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Speaker 1: some way, the management at Record finagled him to record

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Speaker 1: with me, and we went in and did the chances

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Speaker 1: are top of No, you did great records with Mitch Miller.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know he didn't like you. To start. Oh

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Speaker 1: my goodness, what do you think of Brazilian music? I

330
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Speaker 1: adore Brazilian music. I was raised on it because in

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Speaker 1: San Francisco, so many of the Latins came through there,

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Speaker 1: and that that something that I desperately wanted to do

333
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Speaker 1: all my life was to make Latin music like Antonio Carlos,

334
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Speaker 1: Joe Beam, and I just imagine some of these people

335
00:20:46,836 --> 00:20:49,796
Speaker 1: must have just been big for you. You know. I

336
00:20:49,956 --> 00:20:52,796
Speaker 1: met so many of them in Brazil. Oh you did

337
00:20:52,836 --> 00:20:55,596
Speaker 1: you lived in Brazil? When did you live in Brazil? Oh?

338
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Speaker 1: When I was about nineteen or twenty. Yeah, I lived

339
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Speaker 1: there and made so many wonderful friends. I loved the langue,

340
00:21:04,596 --> 00:21:07,636
Speaker 1: love singing in the Portuguese, the way they speak it,

341
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Speaker 1: like Louise Bonfa and all these just gorgeous composers, and oh,

342
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Speaker 1: it's amazing. It was amazing to live there as I

343
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Speaker 1: did at an early age. They never go to bed.

344
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Speaker 1: All they do is have music in their life and

345
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Speaker 1: food and occasionally a little drink, maybe a lot of drink,

346
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Speaker 1: maybe a lot of drink, maybe a lot of drink.

347
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Speaker 1: When you went to Mercury, were you friends with Quincy

348
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Speaker 1: Jones who was there at the time same time as you.

349
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Speaker 1: Oh he was the dearest, sweetest, kindest man in the

350
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Speaker 1: world and one of the greatest musicians. Of course. Yeah,

351
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Speaker 1: And all my life, musicians have embraced me because we're

352
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Speaker 1: doing the same things, except we do it all differently. Yeah,

353
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Speaker 1: and some of us are better than others, but we're

354
00:21:59,236 --> 00:22:01,556
Speaker 1: all pals, and you know, we all know that we

355
00:22:01,676 --> 00:22:05,916
Speaker 1: struggle here and struggle there. And my goodness, some of

356
00:22:05,916 --> 00:22:09,396
Speaker 1: the greatest musicians in the world I met when I

357
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Speaker 1: was all alone in New York and I'd go to

358
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Speaker 1: jazz clubs sit there all by myself, and they'd come

359
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Speaker 1: over and sit with me, and we'd have a beer

360
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Speaker 1: or something. And I got to meet them very early

361
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Speaker 1: in life and had some lifelong friendships in that regard.

362
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Speaker 1: Did you ever get to meet Duke Ellington? What a

363
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Speaker 1: lovely human being, not only musically but personally as a

364
00:22:35,756 --> 00:22:39,516
Speaker 1: as a person. He was so kind to me and

365
00:22:39,556 --> 00:22:42,036
Speaker 1: so loving. I remember meeting that I had with him

366
00:22:42,036 --> 00:22:45,036
Speaker 1: when we sat and we played. He played the piano,

367
00:22:45,636 --> 00:22:49,356
Speaker 1: because everybody came through San Francisco and they had time

368
00:22:49,396 --> 00:22:51,876
Speaker 1: off in the day and they would walk around or something,

369
00:22:51,916 --> 00:22:56,996
Speaker 1: and I meet them and do met me, and I

370
00:22:57,116 --> 00:22:59,796
Speaker 1: sang it for him. He loved it. I remember him

371
00:22:59,836 --> 00:23:03,516
Speaker 1: sitting down with me at one point, I must have

372
00:23:03,516 --> 00:23:07,596
Speaker 1: been nineteen years old, and he played the piano and

373
00:23:08,716 --> 00:23:13,236
Speaker 1: wrote down some things, wrote eve in some a few words,

374
00:23:13,876 --> 00:23:17,596
Speaker 1: and handed me the sheet to go and learn, and

375
00:23:18,316 --> 00:23:21,196
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, it was the most magical

376
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Speaker 1: place for a kid like me to go up in

377
00:23:24,196 --> 00:23:29,236
Speaker 1: San Francisco. Everybody felt comfortable there, all the musicians who

378
00:23:29,316 --> 00:23:32,996
Speaker 1: came through, and I got to meet them and become

379
00:23:33,076 --> 00:23:36,636
Speaker 1: pals with them. Wow. Did you ever connect with Billy Strayhorn,

380
00:23:36,716 --> 00:23:40,436
Speaker 1: who composed with Duke. I did have a meet meeting

381
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Speaker 1: with Billy, and I knew that he was the reason

382
00:23:44,876 --> 00:23:47,996
Speaker 1: for so much of the music that I loved. Yea,

383
00:23:48,076 --> 00:23:51,236
Speaker 1: and yes, I met him and he was very very

384
00:23:51,316 --> 00:23:53,756
Speaker 1: kind to me. Wow, what a lovely human being he

385
00:23:53,836 --> 00:23:56,076
Speaker 1: must have been. I was just to love what the

386
00:23:56,116 --> 00:23:58,716
Speaker 1: work you did with with Duke Ellington. It was a

387
00:23:58,796 --> 00:24:01,636
Speaker 1: magical time for me. Yeah. And I love the record

388
00:24:01,676 --> 00:24:05,316
Speaker 1: you did in nineteen ninety all renditions of Duke ellington songs.

389
00:24:05,356 --> 00:24:08,636
Speaker 1: It's such a lovely album as well, in a sentimental mood,

390
00:24:08,956 --> 00:24:10,716
Speaker 1: and you interpreted a lot of a lot of those

391
00:24:10,796 --> 00:24:13,676
Speaker 1: those tunes that we all love. How important was Christmas

392
00:24:13,716 --> 00:24:16,236
Speaker 1: to you growing up, mister Matthis, Oh Christmas is a

393
00:24:16,236 --> 00:24:19,196
Speaker 1: big deal. I come from a large family and of

394
00:24:19,236 --> 00:24:23,036
Speaker 1: course no money, but we didn't need money. We had

395
00:24:23,076 --> 00:24:27,356
Speaker 1: each other and we had fins and crazy stuff that

396
00:24:27,396 --> 00:24:30,796
Speaker 1: we played with. And Christmas was the very loving time.

397
00:24:31,556 --> 00:24:33,756
Speaker 1: Is the only time that my mom and my dad

398
00:24:34,436 --> 00:24:37,116
Speaker 1: and my brothers and sisters and I were all together

399
00:24:37,636 --> 00:24:39,676
Speaker 1: because my dad and my mom had to work their

400
00:24:39,756 --> 00:24:42,276
Speaker 1: butts off all the time and they were never home

401
00:24:42,356 --> 00:24:46,796
Speaker 1: really until late in the evening. So Christmas was wonderful

402
00:24:46,876 --> 00:24:50,076
Speaker 1: because they had to stake a stay around with a

403
00:24:50,196 --> 00:24:52,836
Speaker 1: family to make sure everybody was, you know, doing what

404
00:24:52,836 --> 00:24:56,956
Speaker 1: they were supposed to do. Yeah, and so Christmas time

405
00:24:57,076 --> 00:25:01,396
Speaker 1: was a very special time because everything was shared at Christmas,

406
00:25:01,436 --> 00:25:05,116
Speaker 1: it seems. So that was a big deal for me.

407
00:25:05,876 --> 00:25:09,156
Speaker 1: And the first thing that I did when I I

408
00:25:09,196 --> 00:25:11,956
Speaker 1: met this wonderful man, George Avakians who signed me to

409
00:25:11,996 --> 00:25:16,996
Speaker 1: Columbia Records, was telling him that if he was really

410
00:25:17,716 --> 00:25:20,116
Speaker 1: as nice as he seems to be, even let me

411
00:25:20,156 --> 00:25:23,396
Speaker 1: make a Christmas album for my mom and my dad. Yeah.

412
00:25:23,476 --> 00:25:25,036
Speaker 1: So you did that for your mom and your dad.

413
00:25:25,076 --> 00:25:27,916
Speaker 1: That was your way of giving back to your mom

414
00:25:27,916 --> 00:25:29,716
Speaker 1: and your dad. Yeah, because maybe are the ones that

415
00:25:29,796 --> 00:25:33,876
Speaker 1: made Christmas happen for us. That fifty eight Christmas record,

416
00:25:33,916 --> 00:25:38,716
Speaker 1: Man Marry Christmas with Mitch Miller producing, That was great record.

417
00:25:39,156 --> 00:25:41,756
Speaker 1: I love that it's so good. I don't want to

418
00:25:41,756 --> 00:25:44,316
Speaker 1: take up too much of your time, if you don't mind,

419
00:25:44,356 --> 00:25:46,236
Speaker 1: If I could play one more thing for you, I

420
00:25:46,276 --> 00:25:49,876
Speaker 1: gotta say recently, I was with my grandmother recently and

421
00:25:49,916 --> 00:25:53,796
Speaker 1: I played her Marvin Gay's version of Maria, and I said, Grandma,

422
00:25:53,836 --> 00:25:55,596
Speaker 1: listen to this if what do you think about this?

423
00:25:55,676 --> 00:25:58,316
Speaker 1: Because I just was I loved Marvin's version of Maria.

424
00:25:58,356 --> 00:26:00,676
Speaker 1: And she goes, you know, that's really nice. But have

425
00:26:00,756 --> 00:26:03,356
Speaker 1: you heard have you heard Johnny Mathis version? And I said,

426
00:26:03,396 --> 00:26:04,636
Speaker 1: you know what I have and let me pull it up.

427
00:26:04,636 --> 00:26:07,516
Speaker 1: And I pulled it up and I was, I was floored,

428
00:26:07,716 --> 00:26:09,516
Speaker 1: And I just want to play a little bit of

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00:26:09,556 --> 00:26:28,716
Speaker 1: it if I feel comfortable with that that high note

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Speaker 1: at the end, when you listen to that song on

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00:26:30,316 --> 00:26:34,756
Speaker 1: that high note at the end, Wow. Yeah. That was

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Speaker 1: always a traumatic thing when you're recording, because you get

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Speaker 1: one shot at it the first thing with the orchestra.

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Speaker 1: But fortunately I was in a good voice at the time. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: amazing version. You have one of the great voices of

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00:26:51,636 --> 00:26:54,956
Speaker 1: all time, you know. Thank you so much for all

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00:26:54,956 --> 00:26:57,236
Speaker 1: you've done in music and for taking the time to

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00:26:57,276 --> 00:27:02,556
Speaker 1: speak with me today. Thank you. Thanks again to Johnny

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00:27:02,556 --> 00:27:05,236
Speaker 1: Mathis for taking the time to talk with me. You

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00:27:05,276 --> 00:27:07,356
Speaker 1: can hear all of our favorite Johnny Mathis songs on

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00:27:07,396 --> 00:27:10,916
Speaker 1: a playlist at broken Record byecast dot com. Be sure

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00:27:10,916 --> 00:27:13,396
Speaker 1: to subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com

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00:27:13,436 --> 00:27:16,356
Speaker 1: slash Broken Record Podcast, where we can find all of

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00:27:16,396 --> 00:27:19,436
Speaker 1: our new episodes. You can follow us on Twitter at

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00:27:19,476 --> 00:27:23,116
Speaker 1: broken Record. Broken Record is produced with help from Leah Rose,

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00:27:23,476 --> 00:27:28,876
Speaker 1: Jason Gambrell, Ben Holliday, Eric Sandler, Jennifer Sanchez. Our editor

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00:27:28,876 --> 00:27:33,996
Speaker 1: Sophie Crane. Our executive producer is Mia LaBelle. Broken Record

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00:27:34,076 --> 00:27:37,436
Speaker 1: is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you love this

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Speaker 1: Hendy Beats. I'm justin Richmond,