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" 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. "

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" I have no memories of my childhood in Texas. When I was about four, we moved to San Francisco. I was in the middle of seven brothers and sisters: three girls and four boys. Most of my older brothers and sisters got the blame for everything, and the little ones had a free ride. We loved each other but fought like cats and dogs. "

Johnny Mathis

Ride

Cats

Childhood

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I invite a lot of my friends to some of the performances that I do locally, and some of them know that I'm involved with music, but they're not quite sure how. And so it's kind of fun to play golf with a lot of my friends and then invite them to hear me sing once in a while. "

Johnny Mathis

Friends

Music

" 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. "

" I go to the gym rather early with a workout pal. I get there at 7, or a little before, and do weights and a little cardio for an hour, five days a week. "

Johnny Mathis

Early

Days

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

" I've been very happy to see some of the success that I've had along the way in opening the eyes of people, especially people who listen to music. "

" I also met, early on Ella Fitzgerald. Her songbooks are some of the most amazing bodies of work. "

" 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. "

Johnny Mathis

Past

Last

" 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. "

" 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'm just one of the lucky people. I have no other reason for my longevity. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I've had relationships with people from all over the world, but there has never been enough time in a day for me to have anything other than just close relationships. I've never been one to give myself over to anybody. I don't know what is wrong with me, but it never happened. "

" I love Puccini and that oriental influence in his music. "

" 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. "

Johnny Mathis

Chance

Happy

" Mitch Miller knew exactly what he wanted me to sing. He didn't want me to improvise at all. "

Johnny Mathis

Improvise

Want

" 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. "

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

Johnny Mathis

Same

" 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

" When I was a kid, I had to try a lot of pyrotechnics just so people would know who I was. "

" 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. "

" All of a sudden, I was in charge of my own decisions in the studio, and I didn't have someone to guide me on what I was doing, right or wrong... I wasn't a producer, and I didn't realize until then how important producers were and how much they assisted me in my work. I tried to do what I could, but I had no idea what would be good for the market. "

" It's very much like opera singers. They do the same thing. The first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, the thing they think about is their voice and how to take care of it. "