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" Along the way, everyone's been saying, 'Make sure you take care of your voice because you're going to want to do it the rest of your life.' And it's absolutely true. "
Johnny Mathis
Saying
Rest
You
Related Quotes:
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Past
Age
Father
" When you say, 'I'm going to sing it once, and everyone is going to hear it forever,' that's kind of frightening. "
Johnny Mathis
You
Forever
Going
" 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! "
Johnny Mathis
Years
Coach
Now
" I've never been married, and I have no regrets about not starting my own family. I come from a large one, so there are so many people around all the time. I've been very happy, but I've never gotten married. That's about the size of it. I would have been a good father because I've been a father to my brothers' and sisters' children. "
Johnny Mathis
Good
Children
Family
" But I am very grateful for my success, and with success, of course, comes a whole lot of celebrity. "
Johnny Mathis
Grateful
Success
Lot
" No, I don't regret my decision at all, especially after I started this music career. My eyes were as big as saucers. "
Johnny Mathis
Music
Eyes
Regret
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
People
Happy
Process
" I'd rather starve than not have what I really want to eat. I'm good at preparation. "
Johnny Mathis
Rather
Good
Want
" When I was a kid, I had to try a lot of pyrotechnics just so people would know who I was. "
Johnny Mathis
People
Kid
Just
" People are stubborn about what they perceive to be the right thing or the wrong thing, and it takes a long time to filter this human condition. There's a waiting period until people catch up. But if you have patience - which it takes when someone thinks differently from you - everybody always catches up. That patience is a wonderful virtue. "
Johnny Mathis
Waiting
Time
People
" My mom and dad always tried to make Christmas special for us. We were poor, but it's funny because we had no idea. "
Johnny Mathis
Mom
Always
Christmas
" As long as those things are on vinyl or tape or what have you, the record companies are going to release them someday. "
Johnny Mathis
Things
Going
Vinyl
" It doesn't mean a thing when others tell you you're good. You have to feel it yourself. "
Johnny Mathis
Yourself
Good
Mean
" The thing that means most to me is the joy that my mom and my dad got because of my career... They raised seven children on domestic wages, in a city like San Francisco, and did nothing but work, work, work. "
Johnny Mathis
Work
Children
City
" It's just that some people are lucky and people still seem to enjoy the music. "
Johnny Mathis
Lucky
Music
People
" Most of the people I hang out with who sing love it, and they just want to do it until they die. I still look forward to the performances. And believe it or not, they're all kind of different. Even though you sing the same songs, and maybe you go to the same venues, it just feels completely different every time you go on stage. "
Johnny Mathis
Love
Look
Time
" My music has always been enough. "
Johnny Mathis
Always
Music
Enough
" I've recorded in Portuguese, too. I didn't set out to just sing ballads or romantic songs. "
Johnny Mathis
Sing
Songs
Romantic
" My parents were over the moon when I had some success with Christmas songs because that was the time of the year that meant so much to them. They were able to see their loved ones, and it was great to hear their son's voice on the radio while they visited. "
Johnny Mathis
Great
Moon
Parents
" 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? "
Johnny Mathis
Changes
Progress
World
" I also met, early on Ella Fitzgerald. Her songbooks are some of the most amazing bodies of work. "
Johnny Mathis
Amazing
Early
Her
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Listening
People
Singing
" I believe it was Nat King Cole that my dad took me to see, and we were sitting in the dressing room, and I blurted out to him, 'Why didn't you sing this?' Referring to whatever song I had wanted to hear, and he told me he was tired of singing it. "
Johnny Mathis
Believe
King
Tired
" When you do interviews, you have to talk about yourself - and I like to find out about other people. I am so familiar with everything that I do. I've said it over and over again. I think it is boring. "
Johnny Mathis
I Am
Think
Find
" Most of our physical education teachers were just teachers, and they had to do the extra stuff on their own. I remember very vividly that they would hold a cane pole between two of the students down low, and we would all jump over it. And they would raise it and raise it and raise it. "
Johnny Mathis
Jump
Own
Teachers
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Key
Away
Try
" When I was 12 and started to take singing lessons from a woman, she told me that I would probably spend the rest of my life taking care of my voice. "
Johnny Mathis
Singing
Life
Me
" When I was very young, it was all, 'Here's little Johnny,' and I got stuck with it, but I prefer John. There comes a time in a man's life when he shouldn't have a name ending in 'y'. "
Johnny Mathis
Time
Young
Name
" The voice muscle doesn't last forever. I have a lot of friends who are classical and opera singers. My friend Beverly Sills stopped singing in her 50s, so I'm careful with mine. But I'll keep going as long as it lets me. "
Johnny Mathis
Voice
Friend
Keep Going
" I used to stay up all night, roam around, drink, and carry on like everybody else. That all changed when I got older, started to exercise and play golf. I knew by the time the day was over I would not feel like exercising, so I made it a point to exercise early. "
Johnny Mathis
Exercise
Time
Night