Johnny Mathis Quotes

The world changes. The world is completely different now from when I was growing up. Back then, you didn’t say things like they say now, out loud, about race and things. But that’s just progress. When are we going to find out that we’re all the same – we’re all absolutely, without a doubt, the same?

Sure, I’ve thought about retiring, but in my mind, if you can’t sing the song anymore, change the song and sing a different one!

Mancini was a big part of my life. I sang a lot of his music, and he became a good buddy.

It’s very much like opera singers. They do the same thing. The first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, the thing they think about is their voice and how to take care of it.

I think most people don’t understand: I have nothing to do with that. I just open my mouth, and it comes out that way.

I don’t think about the future. It sort of will take care of itself; there’s not really much that I can do other than fundamental things like taking care of my voice, keeping to my exercise routine, and getting some rest.

I believe it was Nat King Cole that my dad took me to see, and we were sitting in the dressing room, and I blurted out to him, ‘Why didn’t you sing this?’ Referring to whatever song I had wanted to hear, and he told me he was tired of singing it.

At this stage, most of the awards I get are concerned with my longevity. Even I’m amazed at myself because there have been new generations since I’ve been born and new music that they create, so it’s amazing to still be on the radar.

My parents were over the moon when I had some success with Christmas songs because that was the time of the year that meant so much to them. They were able to see their loved ones, and it was great to hear their son’s voice on the radio while they visited.

I’ve found that the more friends I have, the luckier I am.

No, I don’t regret my decision at all, especially after I started this music career. My eyes were as big as saucers.

The fact that I’m not a good musician – I throw it around, tell people that – it doesn’t matter that much. It only matters to me, because I idolized good musicians. I absolutely worshiped them.

I invite a lot of my friends to some of the performances that I do locally, and some of them know that I’m involved with music, but they’re not quite sure how. And so it’s kind of fun to play golf with a lot of my friends and then invite them to hear me sing once in a while.

I always have homemade chicken stock in the refrigerator. I’ll reduce it, maybe add a little cream and a few shallots. Before you know it, eureka! It’s the best.

I love Puccini and that oriental influence in his music.

When I was 12 and started to take singing lessons from a woman, she told me that I would probably spend the rest of my life taking care of my voice.

Even though there’s no forum for me on the radio for the kind of music I sing anymore, I am still excited about having a career where I can sing the best music in the world, and people will come and hear me because of the hit records I’ve had in the past.

I met a guy on the golf course who was a kinesiologist – after I looked up the word, I found out it meant exercise. I started working with him, and that was many years ago.

I’m known for mushy music.

I drank too much, only champagne.

I always felt like what I was doing wasn’t selling toys; I was making a happy sound at Christmas. When people hear something so familiar, it brings them back to a special place, and that’s been meaningful for me.

I’m always thinking about songs and how I can sing a song that would resonate with my voice, my persona. I want it to be a pleasant experience that’s not just about hearing my voice. I remember some singers whose voices were so pretty, it didn’t matter what they sang – you loved it.

My aspirations were never anything other than I really, really admired certain singers over the years, and I just wanted to do the best I could. And that has been kind of like the way I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to have a career, have some success, and yet continue to learn my craft.

I was always a little bit afraid because I found out at a very early age that once you make a record, all the mistakes and all the good things are there for eternity.

First, I try to take everything away that doesn’t matter to singing. It sounds simplistic, but it works. There is absolute focus on singing: producing sounds and emotions that I have always enjoyed. This is key.

I decided right away that whomever was going to advise me had to be fundamentally interested in music. This protected me from the skullduggery common to the music industry then and that still exists today. Of course, using this method meant that some things we didn’t know and just had to learn how to do it together.

Along the way, everyone’s been saying, ‘Make sure you take care of your voice because you’re going to want to do it the rest of your life.’ And it’s absolutely true.

I go to the gym rather early with a workout pal. I get there at 7, or a little before, and do weights and a little cardio for an hour, five days a week.

I would say three-quarters of what I do depends on the sincerity of it. You can croak, but if you croak good, they’ll still listen.

I’d rather starve than not have what I really want to eat. I’m good at preparation.

For me, hearing my voice is sometimes a little nauseating, especially at Christmas.

Nat was my hero right from the very beginning. My dad brought his music into the house and played it over and over again.

Most of our physical education teachers were just teachers, and they had to do the extra stuff on their own. I remember very vividly that they would hold a cane pole between two of the students down low, and we would all jump over it. And they would raise it and raise it and raise it.

My music has always been enough.

I was a mediocre basketball player. But I was there, and I could remember the plays. And my basketball coach, after he retired from teaching, would come to my performances all the time. And I was very happy about that, because I was not memorable as a basketball player.

In other words, the celebrity gets out of hand, and if you’re not careful, you will forget what you are about – and that is you are about making music that people want to hear.

My mom and dad always tried to make Christmas special for us. We were poor, but it’s funny because we had no idea.

When I was very young, it was all, ‘Here’s little Johnny,’ and I got stuck with it, but I prefer John. There comes a time in a man’s life when he shouldn’t have a name ending in ‘y’.

I’ve lost a few notes on the top. But I’ve gained a little insight about what makes people comfortable when they’re listening or watching a performance of mine. It usually has to do with singing something that isn’t vocally too strenuous.

I have one room off my kitchen filled with nothing but cookbooks and recipes that are sent to me from around the world. Every two years, I have to go through them and pick out ones to send to the local schools. There’s a need for books, especially cookbooks.

I’ve recorded in Portuguese, too. I didn’t set out to just sing ballads or romantic songs.

I think it’s important to cultivate as many people as you can to see which ones you jive with. And it makes you happy. If one dies, you have another one. So living is a process that you have to do by yourself, and if you can learn a few little goodies along the way that might make it easier for you, so much the better.

Years ago, I went to Brazil and fell in love with it. I really like the music, samba, bossa nova, the language and the people.

I’ve been very happy to see some of the success that I’ve had along the way in opening the eyes of people, especially people who listen to music.

When I was a kid, I had to try a lot of pyrotechnics just so people would know who I was.

I also met, early on Ella Fitzgerald. Her songbooks are some of the most amazing bodies of work.

Tony Bennett and me are all the same… and he’s still singing. I don’t know what else to do.

There was a time when I was in the South, singing, and someone came to me before the show and said, ‘There’s been a threat on your life. Someone had phoned in and said they were going to shoot you if you go on stage.’ I was singing ‘Chances Are,’ and I kept moving so they wouldn’t have a shot at me.

Christmas is never going to go away, and it’s always going to be there. And there’s always room for one more Christmas song, I think.

My claim to fame has always been that iconic picture that ended up in ‘The San Francisco Chronicle’ of Bill Russell jumping over my head.

There are situations when, in your singing, in your interpretation of songs, for instance, when you want a straight tone. And I have to work really hard at getting a straight tone… That’s sort of like if you have curly hair, you have curly hair.

There are not so many songs written about love today like there were in the past. It’s all changed, but that’s why my songs still last as big favorites today.

That’s a big important deal, the way people see you from the stage. Once in a while, I’d ask people, ‘How did you enjoy the show?’ ‘Hey, you looked great.’ But how did I sound? That visual look is very important to people.

I have to remember that no matter how often I perform, there are certain songs that the audience truly wants to hear, and even though I’ve sung it 100,000 times, it may be their first time hearing them.

Sometimes being famous gets in the way of doing what you want to do.

It doesn’t mean a thing when others tell you you’re good. You have to feel it yourself.

Homosexuality is a way of life that I’ve grown accustomed to.

As a child, all I knew was that people kept asking me to sing, and because I liked to please, I would sing. It wasn’t until my dad told me that my singing made him happy that I began to think my voice might be good.

I love the whole aspect of music, especially the singing; I never get tired of finding new songs to sing and sing them in a way that’s interesting for the public.

It’s the most personal thing that I do is sing. Because I can’t tell a lie. I want them to know exactly what I’m feeling.