Johnny Mathis Interview (page: 2 / 7) Grammy Hall of Fame	Print Interview

You speak very warmly of your parents.

Johnny Mathis: I love to talk about my mom and my dad, because they were my best friends. We had a wonderful, extraordinary relationship. They were the kindest, most generous people I've ever known, and I don't know how they managed with seven kids. I just don't know how.

They must have been very proud of you. I'm sure the whole family was.

Johnny Mathis: The thing that I did, sort of inadvertently, was I wanted to include them in my life a little bit more, so I made my mom and my dad my fan club presidents. They would get all this mail from all over the world and sit down into the wee hours of the morning, writing in long hand these replies to all of these people from far off lands and what have you.

Was this at the beginning of your career, when you were only 19?

Johnny Mathis: Yes, I was 19, and I always wanted to include them. They were inclusive to all of their children. There was no mystery about what they did, or about the family. There was no discord. We were all just kind of people who got along together a lot. I think it's helped me a great deal in my life.

Living in San Francisco you can meet people of many different ethnic backgrounds. At that time were you one of the few African American families in your neighborhood or in your school?

Johnny Mathis: Yes. We were fortunate, because we lived and went to school with a lot of Chinese from Chinatown. San Francisco, I think, has the largest Chinese settlement outside of the Orient. So really we were accustomed to seeing and interacting with people of different races. We never really had any problems in that respect, even later on after I became an entertainer.

Those were difficult times for many African Americans, entertainers or not. What was it like for you? You became famous at such an early age.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Johnny Mathis: Yes, I did get famous at an early age because of my recordings. And I was so fortunate, I followed people like Lena Horne, Billy Eckstine, and Nat King Cole, and people -- icons in the music business when I was growing up -- and eventually I got to meet all of them and even become close friends with them. But they are the ones who did all the work for me as far as race relations were concerned. Fortunately they were all intelligent, bright people who were looking to improve relationships between black entertainers and white entertainers and just in general, the public as a whole. So I had good role models to follow. But they were the ones who went to the nightclubs and to the concert hall before me and paved the way. When I came along I really was judged by my music and nothing more.

You opened a lot of doors you're not giving yourself credit for. You say your father encouraged you a lot, but did he say this is what he wanted you to do? Did he say you ought to be a singer, because you have such a great voice?

Johnny Mathis: No. My dad said, "Son, let's sing this song." And he said, "How would you like to learn some more songs? How would you like to do this with your voice? How would you like to do that?" That's sort of the way he treated me.

Do you remember any of his songs?

Johnny Mathis: Oh sure. Yes.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. "Molly and me... And baby makes three... We're happy in my blue heaven." He played the piano quite well and he would play these wonderful... "Going to Kansas City... Kansas City here I come." Dad never sang above a whisper. He always whispered his songs. He was that polite! I think it was just a sense of politeness about him. But he was quite good at what he did. Yeah, I learned from him. And every time I hear myself on records, I hear my dad.

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