John Royce Mathis (b. September 30 1935), known popularly as Johnny Mathis, is an American Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter of popular music.

The last in a long line of traditional male vocalists who emerged before the rock-dominated 1960s, Mathis concentrated on romantic jazz and pop standards for the adult contemporary audience through to the 1980s. Starting his career with a standard flurry of singles, Mathis was far more popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums receiving gold and platinum status and seventy three making the Billboard charts to date. Mathis has sold more than 350 million records and albums.

The fourth of seven children, John Royce Mathis was born on September 30, 1935 in Gilmer, TX to Clem and Mildred Mathis. As a small boy, the family moved to Post Street in San Francisco. It was there that he learned an appreciation of music from his father who taught him his first song, “My Blue Heaven”. At age eight, his father purchased an old upright piano for $25. When he brought it home, it wouldn’t fit through the front door. So that evening, Johnny stayed up all night to watch his f