Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis is an American singer who became one of the 20th century's best-selling recording artists. Born in Gilmer, Texas, and raised in San Francisco, he studied voice for six years and competed in track and basketball in high school and college before choosing music. Helen Noga, who heard him sing at a San Francisco jazz club, became his manager and persuaded Columbia's George Avakian to sign him in 1956. Producer Mitch Miller shaped his soft romantic sound with arranger Ray Conniff, and songs such as Wonderful! Wonderful! and It's Not for Me to Say, along with the million-selling Chances Are, were among his biggest early hits. His album Johnny's Greatest Hits stayed on the Billboard chart for 490 weeks. In 1978 he reached number one again with the duet Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, sung with Deniece Williams. Mathis received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and appeared as himself in Just Getting Started (2017).