Big Chuck Salutes “King of Romance” Johnny Mathis on 83rd Birthday

Johnny Mathis turned 83 two days ago.  Seems impossible.

Mathis has a storied 60+ year recording career.  His 1958 album Johnny's Greatest Hits stayed on the Billboard chart for 490 consecutive weeks.  (I'll do the math for you...almost 10 years!).  It stayed there until Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon beat it by one week (491 weeks) in 1983.

So many classics to choose from:  Chances Are, It's Not for Me to Say, Gina, Wonderful Wonderful, Twelfth of Never, What Will my Mary Say and many others.

Here is my Johnny Mathis story.  I was living in Los Angeles in 1978 and went with some friends to see Johnny sing at the Hollywood Bowl.  It was a wonderful night of great music.  Halfway through the show, Johnny brought up singer Denise Williams to sing with him on their brand new song "Too Much Too Little Too Late."

It was exciting to see these two superb singers perform together.  Of that whole concert, now more than 40 years ago, that is what I remember best, Johnny and Denise singing that song together.

Happy 83rd Johnny Mathis, and thank you for the great music.