Retirement? Not till the Twelfth of Never
Known for his Christmas albums, silky voiced crooner Johnny Mathis is busy recording a new record
Peppermint extract, stockings on the mantel, bustling shopping malls and, of course, the Christmas music repertoire of Johnny Mathis are all classic standards of every holiday season.
For more than six decades, Mathis has serenaded every holiday party across the globe with his silky vocals on “Silver Bells,” “White Christmas,” “Silent Night,” and so on. Although the 81-year-old has had a prosperous career as a multiGrammy Award-nominated original recording artist, he still makes time during the holiday season to tour and perform his seasonal favourites.
His music is known to make many reminisce of holiday memories over the years — not excluding Mathis himself. Born into a family of seven kids, Mathis said he was very close to his parents, who are now deceased, and the holiday tunes he sings in concert brings back many memories of them.
“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,” said Mathis.
“They were very low key about my success and what I had accomplished musically in my life. They weren’t terribly excited about things because they were right there in the beginning; so to surprise them and please them was a great deal to me, and I remember how much they enjoyed hearing my songs at Christmas time.”
With more than 90 albums under his belt, Mathis has plenty of songs to choose from, which he said helps to ward off any boredom an artist can get from performing the same tunes over and over again for decades. He also has some tricks that help keep his enthusiasm every show.
For instance, Mathis said he always mixes up his set lists so that he surprises even himself when he is on stage. He also said he and his guitarist for over 40 years, Gil Reigers, performs a random selection of songs during every concert to keep it different and refreshing.
However, Mathis said he always recognizes there are songs that “equate to Johnny Mathis for people” — including “Chances Are” and “Twelfth of Never” — that he must sing in every concert, and he has understood the importance of that for his audiences since he was a young boy.
“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,” said Mathis. He said this idea has always stuck with him since he was about 13 years old and his father took him to see one of his vocal heroes backstage.
“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,” Mathis laughed, “I will always remember that because there are songs that the audience wants to hear, so you have to get over your boredom with singing them and remember you’re in show business.”
Currently in the midst of recording a new album that includes a few tracks that are being produced by Jay Landers & Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, the crooner clearly has no plans of retiring.
“I was thinking about what would happen if I retire. It’s not something I just do to make money; it’s something that is very much a part of my whole being and my whole life. 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.”
Mathis’ best selling Christmas album is still his 1958 album “Merry Christmas,” which has sold more than 5 million copies as of its last certification in November of 1999. He has six original Christmas albums, not including compilations, including “The Sounds of Christmas” (1963), “Give Me Your Love for Christmas” (1969), “Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis” (1986), “The Christmas Album” (2002) and his Grammy-nominated “Sending You a Little Christmas” (2013).
His Christmas concerts have a different feel than his regular performances, Mathis said, and this has also helped boost his excitement to perform each year. Since most people know the holiday standards, he said there is a lot of singing along from the audience, which has helped him to remember the words at times.
“You can actually feel the physical attraction from the audience when you sing certain songs and at Christmas time, they react to almost every one I sing,” he said. “I get very excited about the performances because it’s actually challenging.
“There’s so many songs that have a lot of the same meaning and are just sung in a different way, so I really have to concentrate when I sing during Christmas time, which keeps it fun and interesting.”