Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis sings with a soaring, velvet purity that seems to float above the orchestra rather than sit inside it. Born in 1935, he started out cutting singles of standards and became something bigger, among the 20th century's biggest-selling recording artists and above all an album artist: 73 of his records have made the Billboard charts.

Heavenly, from 1959, is the romantic Mathis in full bloom, and "Misty" is its crown jewel, a slow, dreamy ballad that he sings as if he's lost in the fog of a first crush. He counted Lena Horne, Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby among his influences, and you can hear all three in the ease of his phrasing.

Though usually filed as a romantic singer, he ranged far wider, taking on show tunes and country, soul and the blues, Latin American songs and soft rock, and even a few disco songs on Mathis Magic in 1979. He has recorded seven Christmas albums, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, and has three recordings in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.