Today, we are featuring “The Voice of Christmas,” Mr. Johnny Mathis. Over the years, Mr. Mathis has released six Christmas albums. His iconic first holiday record, Merry Christmas, is a tribute to his mother and father and still stands as one of the most beloved collections of Christmas music ever. Now 87 years-old, Johnny is celebrating his 66th year as a recording artist. And he’s still performing. In fact, we only had a brief 30 minutes to speak with him because he needs to save his voice for his rigorous performing schedule.
On today's episode, Justin Richmond talks to Johnny about his illustrious career, and performing with greats like Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole. And Johnny shares the story about how he turned down the opportunity to qualify for the 1956 Olympics to launch his music career.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Johnny Mathis songs HERE.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From Story of the Week with Joel Stein: The Hallucinogenic Toad Doctor
John Frusciante Returns, Part 4
John Frusciante Returns, Part 3
Stormzy
Neil Young
Scoring Bad Women
Jacob Collier, Part 2
Jacob Collier, Part 1
Maggie Rogers
From Inside Voice: Lake Bell and the Mechanics of Singing
John Frusciante Returns, Part 2
Gabriels
Anaïs Mitchell
John Frusciante Returns, Part 1
Bartees Strange
Sylvan Esso
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Jack White
Bon Iver: Broken Record Classic
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Revisionist History
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos
The Last Archive
Solvable