Top 70 Johnny Mathis Quotes

I always felt like what I was doing wasn’t selling toys; I was making a happy sound at Christmas. When people hear something so familiar, it brings them back to a special place, and that’s been meaningful for me.

When I got a chance, I went back and shared those experiences that were important to me. George Washington High, the campus at San Francisco State, and even back to Emerson Elementary school and Roosevelt Junior High. I was happy to do it, to go back and see if all the same teachers were there.

The fact that I’m not a good musician – I throw it around, tell people that – it doesn’t matter that much. It only matters to me, because I idolized good musicians. I absolutely worshiped them.

That’s a big important deal, the way people see you from the stage. Once in a while, I’d ask people, ‘How did you enjoy the show?’ ‘Hey, you looked great.’ But how did I sound? That visual look is very important to people.

My claim to fame has always been that iconic picture that ended up in ‘The San Francisco Chronicle’ of Bill Russell jumping over my head.

It’s the most personal thing that I do is sing. Because I can’t tell a lie. I want them to know exactly what I’m feeling.

My music has always been enough.

Pavarotti’s is the best male voice, and Joan Sutherland had a big voice but also acquired great coloratura notes.

My favorite singer to this day is Nat King Cole. I’ve tried to emulate his phrasing. It is so absolutely beautiful to listen to his lovely voice.

You know the secret to dunking a ball? Big hands. You’ve got to be able to palm it, and I couldn’t.

I think there are a lot of people who really want to be famous, they really do. I don’t. It sort of gets in the way of the everyday things that I do.

First, I try to take everything away that doesn’t matter to singing. It sounds simplistic, but it works. There is absolute focus on singing: producing sounds and emotions that I have always enjoyed. This is key.

I would say three-quarters of what I do depends on the sincerity of it. You can croak, but if you croak good, they’ll still listen.

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.

There are not so many songs written about love today like there were in the past. It’s all changed, but that’s why my songs still last as big favorites today.

I’m still going strong. I have been very blessed and still am. I love singing. Obviously, at my age, I don’t tour with as many dates throughout the year as I did in the past. But I do this to honor my father who was also a singer. I still miss him and his encouragement.

Even though there’s no forum for me on the radio for the kind of music I sing anymore, I am still excited about having a career where I can sing the best music in the world, and people will come and hear me because of the hit records I’ve had in the past.

I was always a little bit afraid because I found out at a very early age that once you make a record, all the mistakes and all the good things are there for eternity.

It’s a joy to listen to someone at the top of their craft.

I was a mediocre basketball player. But I was there, and I could remember the plays. And my basketball coach, after he retired from teaching, would come to my performances all the time. And I was very happy about that, because I was not memorable as a basketball player.

Tony Bennett and me are all the same… and he’s still singing. I don’t know what else to do.

No, I don’t regret my decision at all, especially after I started this music career. My eyes were as big as saucers.

My aspirations were never anything other than I really, really admired certain singers over the years, and I just wanted to do the best I could. And that has been kind of like the way I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to have a career, have some success, and yet continue to learn my craft.

When you say, ‘I’m going to sing it once, and everyone is going to hear it forever,’ that’s kind of frightening.

I think it’s important to cultivate as many people as you can to see which ones you jive with. And it makes you happy. If one dies, you have another one. So living is a process that you have to do by yourself, and if you can learn a few little goodies along the way that might make it easier for you, so much the better.

I always have homemade chicken stock in the refrigerator. I’ll reduce it, maybe add a little cream and a few shallots. Before you know it, eureka! It’s the best.

I started off as a kid singing with my dad. My dad was my best pal. But he had seven kids, and I was the only one who was kind of interested in what he was playing and singing at the piano. And he was not only my dad, but he was my best pal, and I was interested in doing whatever he wanted to.

I met a guy on the golf course who was a kinesiologist – after I looked up the word, I found out it meant exercise. I started working with him, and that was many years ago.

Homosexuality is a way of life that I’ve grown accustomed to.

Every time I try to tell people things about my career, I wonder if that’s the truth or something I’m fantasizing about.

When I was 13, I used to go to a jazz club. The owner of the club became my first business manager. She was very gutsy and had a lot of friends, one of whom happened to be the head of jazz at Columbia at the time. That’s how it all began.

At this stage, most of the awards I get are concerned with my longevity. Even I’m amazed at myself because there have been new generations since I’ve been born and new music that they create, so it’s amazing to still be on the radar.

It’s just that some people are lucky and people still seem to enjoy the music.

I’d rather starve than not have what I really want to eat. I’m good at preparation.

I had stage fright for years and years, and I could hear it in my singing. But since I’ve done it so often for so many years, you’d think that I’d relax a little bit, and I think that I have.

I think most people don’t understand: I have nothing to do with that. I just open my mouth, and it comes out that way.

I’m always thinking about songs and how I can sing a song that would resonate with my voice, my persona. I want it to be a pleasant experience that’s not just about hearing my voice. I remember some singers whose voices were so pretty, it didn’t matter what they sang – you loved it.

It’s always nice to hear people say, ‘You sound the same,’ when I know I don’t.

Mancini was a big part of my life. I sang a lot of his music, and he became a good buddy.

The one who really captured me and became my absolute favorite was Nat King Cole. He was a genius at what he did. Most people don’t realize what a great pianist he was. After listening to him for years, I finally met him, and he was the nicest human being.

There are situations when, in your singing, in your interpretation of songs, for instance, when you want a straight tone. And I have to work really hard at getting a straight tone… That’s sort of like if you have curly hair, you have curly hair.

Sometimes being famous gets in the way of doing what you want to do.

In other words, the celebrity gets out of hand, and if you’re not careful, you will forget what you are about – and that is you are about making music that people want to hear.

I’ve recorded in Portuguese, too. I didn’t set out to just sing ballads or romantic songs.

I was very fortunate to have a wonderful woman as my voice coach when I started singing professionally. I was only 19, so now it’s been 60 years!

But I am very grateful for my success, and with success, of course, comes a whole lot of celebrity.

I got an invitation to go to the Olympic trials. And in the same week, I got a telegram from a… big executive at Columbia Records.

Sure, I’ve thought about retiring, but in my mind, if you can’t sing the song anymore, change the song and sing a different one!

Dad would come home from doing odd jobs, and sometimes he’d come home late at night with lumber, and he’d rumble around with all this wood in our small place. We’d finish putting it away, and then we’d play that piano. I’ll be eternally grateful to him.

I have one room off my kitchen filled with nothing but cookbooks and recipes that are sent to me from around the world. Every two years, I have to go through them and pick out ones to send to the local schools. There’s a need for books, especially cookbooks.

I love Puccini and that oriental influence in his music.

The world changes. The world is completely different now from when I was growing up. Back then, you didn’t say things like they say now, out loud, about race and things. But that’s just progress. When are we going to find out that we’re all the same – we’re all absolutely, without a doubt, the same?

I’ve lost a few notes on the top. But I’ve gained a little insight about what makes people comfortable when they’re listening or watching a performance of mine. It usually has to do with singing something that isn’t vocally too strenuous.

I thought I sounded a little like Eartha Kitt for a long time, and I didn’t like it.

For me, hearing my voice is sometimes a little nauseating, especially at Christmas.