Johnny Mathis, the US pop singer whose career stretches back to 1956, has announced his retirement from performing live.
A statement posted to Facebook reads: “As many of you may already be aware, Johnny Mathis is approaching his 90th birthday this year. So, it’s with sincere regret that due to Mr Mathis’s age and memory issues which have accelerated, we are announcing his retirement from touring and live concerts.”
“Johnny Mathis and his entire staff send their heartfelt gratitude to all Mathis fans worldwide for your continued love and support of his music! It’s truly been ‘Wonderful, Wonderful.’”
Mathis, 89, had a number of concerts booked for 2025 but will only perform four more scheduled dates, ending in Englewood, New Jersey, on 18 May.
That show will bring a remarkable performing career to an end. Mathis is regarded as one of America’s great romantic balladeers, whose rich, sincere voice lit up hits such as Misty, Chances Are, and his 1976 UK Christmas No 1 When a Child Is Born. The last is one of Mathis’s many festive classics which remain popular today, including versions of Sleigh Ride and It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.
Mathis was once the record holder for the album with the most weeks spent on the US chart: his compilation Johnny’s Greatest Hits, which was on the chart for 490 weeks between 1958 and 1968. Six of his albums became platinum sellers and he had 10 Top 10 albums in a row during the late 1950s and early 60s.
Pop fashions changed and his crooning style fell out of favour come the middle of the 60s, but Mathis’s core fans stood by him while he maintained an extraordinary work rate, recording 53 studio albums between 1960 and 1990.
The mid to late 70s were another successful phase for him, with his Christmas No 1 plus a US chart-topping duet with Deniece Williams – Too Much, Too Little, Too Late – and a deft embrace of the era’s disco sound. A lost album from this period made with Nile Rodgers, I Love My Lady, was eventually released in 2017. Mathis’s most recent studio album is Christmas Time Is Here, released in 2023.
In 2018, he spoke about how the quality of his health would influence the length of his career. “It revolves around whether or not you’re physically able and in good health,” he said. “That’s the most important thing because you won’t feel like doing anything if you’re not healthy. And being a vocalist, you have another thing to worry about. The vocals cords are flesh and blood so anything can happen to them … You take care of the thing that got you to the dance.”
