Johnny Mathis (born September 30, 1935, Gilmer,Texas, U.S.) is an Americanpop singer who has achieved wide and enduring popularity as an angelic-voiced crooner ofromanticballads. He is perhaps best known for his affecting rendition of theErroll Garnercomposition “Misty” (1959).

Mathis grew up in a large working-class family inSan Francisco. He developed an appreciation ofmusic from his father, a formervaudeville performer, and, as a child, he sang regularly in church and at school events. From age 13 he also took vocal lessons, which provided him with a classical foundation for his burgeoning talent. Mathis meanwhile excelled at high-school sports and earned an athletic scholarship to San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University). While in college he begansinging at localjazz clubs, through which he attracted the attention of a Columbia Records representative. Although his skill at thehigh jump earned him an invitation to attend trials for the1956 Olympic Games, Mathis decided instead to pursue a musical career withColumbia, and he left school without graduating.

Mathis’s first recording,Johnny Mathis: A New Sound in Popular Song (1956), was in a jazz vein, with arrangements byGil Evans and others. It failed to make an impression with audiences, however, and Columbia executive and producerMitch Miller subsequently rebranded Mathis as a pop balladeer. The switch provedbeneficial, as the singer soon generated a string of hits, beginning with the lushly orchestrated “Wonderful! Wonderful!” (1956). The dreamily romantic tunes “It’s Not for Me to Say” (1957) and “Chances Are” (1957) further highlighted his smooth and precisely controlled tenor. Mathis found additional success with the albumsJohnny’s Greatest Hits (1958)—believed to be the first-evercompilation of an artist’s previously released hit singles—and the holiday-themedMerry Christmas (1958), both of which sold steadily for years after their release. In the late 1950s he also recorded songs for several movies.

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In 1964 Mathis founded his own management and production company, Rojon Productions. As the traditional pop standards and show tunes that dominated his early albums waned in popularity, he expanded his easy-listeningrepertoire with songs by such contemporary hit makers asthe Beatles,Burt Bacharach, andAntônio Carlos Jobim. With the albumI’m Coming Home (1973), Mathis also began to dabble insoul music. By then his most commercially successful days were behind him, although he scored a surprise number-one hit with “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (1978), a duet with rhythm-and-blues singerDeniece Williams. Additional duets with Williams followed, as well as with other performers, includingDionne Warwick andGladys Knight.

Greatly admired for his professionalism, Mathis performed and recorded regularly into the 21st century, his later albums ranging from the Henry Mancini collaborationThe Hollywood Musicals (1986) and theDuke Ellington tributeIn a Sentimental Mood (1990) toLet It Be Me: Mathis in Nashville (2010), a collection ofmellowcountry songs, andJohnny Mathis Sings the Great New American Songbook (2017), on which he covered popular hits of the 1990s and 2000s. Apart from several in the mid-1960s, all his albums (some 100) were released by Columbia. Among Mathis’s numerous honors was a Lifetime Achievement Award (2003) from the Recording Academy. In 2024 the U.S.Library of Congress added his 1957 single “Chances Are” to theNational Recording Registry, a list of audio recordings deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”