The Holidays Ring Out with The JOHNNY MATHIS CHRISTMAS Show, 12/12

The Johnny Mathis Christmas Show will put Orange County's holiday season into full swing. America's beloved singer returns to the Center for an evening decked with holiday favorites and many of his most popular hits on Saturday, December 12 in Segerstrom Hall. Since his first two hits, "Wonderful, Wonderful" and "Chances Are" hit the top of the charts in 1956, Mathis has been inducted into the Grammy Award Hall of Fame twice and the public has continued to love the singer, his music and that distinct Mathis voice ever since. Mathis will be joined by comedian/singer Gary Mule Deer for part of the evening.

The fourth of seven children, John Royce Mathis was born in Gilmer, Texas, later moving to San Francisco with his family. He learned an appreciation of music from his father and as a child, Mathis sang in the church choir, school functions, community events, for visitors in their home as well as amateur shows in the San Francisco area. While at college, a fellow student invited Mathis to the Black Hawk Night Club for a jam session. Helen Noga, co-owner of the club, heard him sing and decided to manage his career. When Noga finally convinced George Avakian – then head of Jazz A&R at Columbia – to see Mathis perform at the club, he sent the now-famous telegram to his record company: "Have found phenomenal 19 year old boy who could go all the way. Send blank contracts."

In 1956, Mathis was asked to attend the trials for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia as a high jumper. At the same time, Columbia Records requested Mathis to come to New York to start arrangements for his first recording session. His father helped his son decide that his future best interests were with the recording company. So, Mathis gave up his chance to become a member of the USA Olympic Team. He went to New York and recorded his first album in March of 1956 which was a collection of jazz oriented renditions of popular standards entitled Johnny Mathis: A New Sound In Popular Song.

Mathis remained in New York and landed bookings at the Village Vanguard, The Blue Angel and Basin Street East. Under the tutelage of Columbia producer Mitch Miller, he recorded two singles, "Wonderful, Wonderful" and "It's Not For Me To Say." These songs were to become among his most popular all-time greatest hits. Both songs reached their peaks on the Billboard pop chart in July 1957. These successes were followed by the monumental single "Chances Are" which became Mathis' first No. 1 Hit.

Columbia Records continued to release albums with Mathis singing beautiful and romantic ballads, classic standards and the best songs from Broadway musicals. These albums, like the singles, became immediate successes with sales in the millions. It was not uncommon for Mathis to have as many as four albums on the Billboard Top Albums chart at the same time.

In late 1959, Mathis recorded another hit song, the Erroll Garner composition, "Misty." In 1958, two years after being signed by Columbia, Johnny's Greatest Hits was released. It began a "Greatest Hits" tradition copied by every record company since then. Johnny's Greatest Hits went on to become one of the most popular albums of all time and spent an unprecedented 490 continuous weeks (almost ten years) on the Billboard Top Albums Chart. This record has been noted in the Guinness Book of World Records.

According to record historian Joel Whitburn, Mathis is one of only five recording artists to have Top 40 Hits spanning each of the four decades since 1955. Amazingly, his second No. 1 Hit Single, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" (recorded with Deniece Williams), came almost 21 years after his very first No.1 Hit Single, "Chances Are".

In June 1972, he was awarded his own star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has participated in the Academy® Awards presentation many times to sing songs nominated in the Best Song category. He has received two Grammy® nominations. The first was for "Misty" and the second came for "In a Sentimental Mood/Mathis Sings Ellington."

Mathis has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame two times. In 1998, he made the famous Hall's List with "Chances Are" (Columbia Traditional Pop Single 1957). In 2002, he made the list again with "Misty" (Columbia Traditional Pop Single 1959). Most impressive of all is his 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

2004 was a very busy year for Johnny. He sang "Over the Rainbow" with Ray Charles on Charles' Genius Loves Company. Also in 2004, Johnny recorded Isn't It Romantic, a standards CD that was released in February 2005. And 2006 marked Mathis' 50th anniversary as a recording artist.

Tickets to see The Johnny Mathis Christmas Show are $52 - $110 and are available online at OCPAC.org, at the Center's Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling 714.556.2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746.

For more information, visit OCPAC.org. The Center can also be found online at Blogger, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr.

Photo Credit: Jeff Dunas

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