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" It's a joy to listen to someone at the top of their craft. "
Johnny Mathis
Top
Someone
Listen
Related Quotes:
" 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
" For me, hearing my voice is sometimes a little nauseating, especially at Christmas. "
Johnny Mathis
Voice
Me
Hearing
" 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
" 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
" 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
" My mom loved my Christmas music, so I did an awful lot of it! "
Johnny Mathis
Did
Music
Mom
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Curly
Singing
Want
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Decisions
My Own
Doing
" Homosexuality is a way of life that I've grown accustomed to. "
Johnny Mathis
Way
Life
Accustomed
" 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
" I was really active athletically, definitely. I was a hurdler, a sprinter. I played basketball for years. I was a serious athlete. "
Johnny Mathis
Serious
Basketball
Athlete
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Christmas
Happy
Place
" I drank too much, only champagne. "
Johnny Mathis
Champagne
Too
Too Much
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
People
Good
Matter
" Years ago, I went to Brazil and fell in love with it. I really like the music, samba, bossa nova, the language and the people. "
Johnny Mathis
Love
People
Music
" My music has always been enough. "
Johnny Mathis
Always
Music
Enough
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Amazing
Born
Create
" 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
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Listening
Me
King
" 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
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Trials
Invitation
Big
" Mitch Miller knew exactly what he wanted me to sing. He didn't want me to improvise at all. "
Johnny Mathis
Improvise
He
Want
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Place
Night
Grateful
" Every time I try to tell people things about my career, I wonder if that's the truth or something I'm fantasizing about. "
Johnny Mathis
Time
Truth
Try
" 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
" It's just that some people are lucky and people still seem to enjoy the music. "
Johnny Mathis
Lucky
Music
People
" It doesn't mean a thing when others tell you you're good. You have to feel it yourself. "
Johnny Mathis
Yourself
Good
Mean
" 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
" 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
" 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. "
Johnny Mathis
Voice
Experience
Loved