Johnny was 13 years old when Clem took him to see Connie Cox, a Bay Area voice teacher, who agreed to take on the youngster in exchange for his doing odd jobs around her house. Johnny studied with Connie for six years learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic skills.
At George Washington High School, Johnny was known not only for his singing ability but his athleticism as well. He became a star athlete on the track and field team as a high jumper and hurdler and played on the basketball team.
In 1954, Johnny enrolled at San Francisco State College with the intention of being an English and Physical Education teacher. While there, Johnny set a high jump record of 6’-5 1/2”. This is still on the College’s Top 15 list and was only two inches short of the Olympic record of the time. Just as when he was in high school, Johnny’s name was frequently mentioned in the sports sections of the Northern California newspapers. He was often referred to as “the best all-around athlete to come out of the San Francisco Bay Area”.
A fellow student whose sextet was working at the Black Hawk nightclub brought Johnny in for a Sunday afternoon jam session. It was at the Black Hawk that Helen Noga, co-owner of the club, first heard him sing. She decided that she wanted to manage his career.
In early September of 1955, Johnny landed a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club. After repeated attempts, Helen convinced George Avakian, then head of Jazz A&R at Columbia, to see him. Avakian came to the club, heard Johnny sing and sent the now famous telegram to his record company: “Have found phenomenal 19 year old boy who could go all the way. Send blank contracts.”
Avakian left for New York after telling Johnny that he would eventually send for him. Johnny continued his studies at San Francisco State and gained additional fame as a high jumper. In early 1956, Johnny was asked to attend the trials for the 1956 Olympic teams that would travel to Melbourne, Australia that summer. At the same time, Columbia Records requested that Johnny come to New York to start arrangements for his first recording session. Clem helped his son decide that his future and best interests were with the recording company. So, Johnny gave up his chance to become a member of the USA Olympic Team. He went to New York to record his first album in March of 1956.
The first album was a collection of jazz oriented renditions of popular standards entitled: Johnny Mathis: A New Sound In Popular Song. It included jazz musicians Gil Evans, John Lewis and Teo Macero and songs like “Angel Eyes”, “Easy to Love” and “Babalu”. The album enjoyed only moderate success because jazz vocal albums were not good sellers. Nevertheless, Johnny remained in New York and landed bookings at some of the leading nightclubs such as the Village Vanguard, The Blue Angel and Basin Street East.
Soon, Columbia placed Johnny under the supervision of producer Mitch Miller. Mitch favored using Johnny’s voice to sing soft, romantic ballads. At his second recording session, in the fall of 1956, Johnny recorded two singles. These songs were to become among his most popular all-time greatest hits: “Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It’s Not For Me To Say.” Subsequently, MGM Studios signed Johnny to sing “It’s Not For Me To Say” in the film Lizzie . He played a tavern piano bar singer. In 1958, Johnny made another motion picture appearance. This time it was for 20th Century Fox in A Certain Smile. In this movie, he sang the title song playing himself in an elegant nightclub scene. Since then, Johnny’s voice has been used in countless Hollywood movies for theme songs, background music and to enhance a particular setting or segment.
“Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It’s Not For Me To Say” reached their peaks on the BILLBOARD pop chart in July of 1957. These successes were followed by the monumental single “Chances Are” which became Johnny’s first #1 hit.
In June of 1957, Johnny appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show where he was introduced to the record buying public and became a national celebrity and household name. Columbia Records continued to release albums of Johnny singing beautiful and romantic ballads, classic standards and the best songs from Broadway musicals. These albums, like the singles, became immediate successes with sales in the millions. It was not uncommon for Johnny to have as many as four albums on the BILLBOARD Top Albums chart at the same time. In late 1959, Johnny recorded another song that became synonymous with the name of Johnny Mathis, the Erroll Garner composition, “Misty”.
Johnny’s accomplishments are numerous and varied. He holds many records and has set many precedents in the music industry. In 1958, two years after being signed by Columbia Records, Johnny’s Greatest Hits was released. It began a “Greatest Hits” tradition copied by every record company since then. Johnny’s Greatest Hits went on to become one of the most popular albums of all time and spent an unprecedented 490 continuous weeks (almost ten years) on the BILLBOARD Top Albums Chart. This record has been noted in the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS.
According to record historian Joel Whitburn, Johnny is one of only five recording artists to have Top 40 Hits spanning each of the four decades since 1955. Amazingly, his second #1 Hit Single, “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (recorded with Deniece Williams), came almost 21 years after his very first #1 Hit Single, “Chances Are”.
Johnny has been honored to make several appearances before various heads of state. Starting in June of 1973, he sang at a State Dinner held in honor of the President of Liberia. In 1978, Johnny sang for the British Royal Family at A Command Performance held at The London Palladium. He performed for President and Mrs. Reagan at the State Dinner held in honor of the Prime Minister of Japan in April of 1987. Four years later in April of 1991, he sang for President and Mrs. Bush in honor of the President of Nicaragua. Most recently, in May of 1994, Johnny sang for President and Mrs. Clinton (along with the other five living First Ladies) at a very special First Ladies Tribute.
Johnny has also been honored by entertainment heads of state. In June of 1972, he was awarded his own star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has participated in the Academy Awards presentation many times to sing the song nominated in the “Best Song” category. He has received two Grammy nominations. The first was for “Misty” in 1960 in the category of Best Vocal Performance Single Record or Track Male. The second came in 1992 for In a Sentimental Mood/Mathis Sings Ellington in the category of Best Traditional Pop Performance.
1996 marked Johnny’s 40th Anniversary as a recording artist. He celebrated by releasing All About Love. He then released The Global Masters (songs from his three year contract at Mercury Records) in 1997, and 1998 saw the release of The Ultimate Hits and Because You Loved Me.
In his free time, Johnny loves to golf. He plays golf almost every day when he’s not traveling and has sung at many golf banquets such as the Ryder Cup. In 1985 and 1986, Johnny hosted his own golf tournament, The Johnny Mathis Seniors PGA Classic which was held in Los Angeles, California.
Johnny’s other favorite avocation is cooking. He is a gourmet cook who cooks for himself and often others when he’s home or traveling. His mother taught him at an early age how to cook up a storm and do it well. He’s enjoyed doing so all his life.
Break Up To Make Up
Johnny Mathis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Never seem to make you happy though heaven knows I try
What does it take to please you? Tell me just how
I can satisfy you woman, you're drivin' me wild
Break up to make up, that's all we do
First you love me then you hate me, that's a game for fools.
Break up to make up that's all we do,
When I come home from workin', you're on the phone
Talkin' about how bad I treat you, now tell me I'm wrong
You say it's me who argues, I'll say it's you
We have got to get together or baby, we're through.
Break up to make up, that's all we do
First you love me then you hate me, that's a game for fools.
Break up to make up, that's all we do
Yeah, first you love me then you hate me, that's a game for fools.
Break up to make up, that's all we do
Yeah, first you love me then you hate me, that's a game for fools.
Break up to make up, that's all we do,
First you love me then you hate me, that's a game for fools.
The lyrics to Johnny Mathis's song Break Up To Make Up are a melancholic account of a tumultuous relationship. The lyrics start with the singer asking his partner what is wrong with her and why he can never seem to make her happy despite his best efforts. He appears to be struggling to understand what it takes to please her and satisfy her needs.
As the song progresses, we come to know that their relationship is nothing but a series of breakups and makeups, a game for fools. Despite their love for each other, they are unable to stay together and often end up breaking up. The singer acknowledges that this is all they seem to do, break up to make up, and that it's a vicious cycle.
The lyrics point to a lack of communication and trust in the relationship, with both partners blaming each other for the problems. They argue and refuse to own up to their own mistakes and shortcomings, leading to a constant cycle of fights and reconciliations. The ending of the song is ambiguous, leaving the listener to question if the couple will ever be able to break free of the cycle or if they will continue their game for fools.
Overall, the song speaks to the universal experience of love and heartbreak, and the difficulty of maintaining a healthy relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Tell me what's wrong with you now , tell me why I
Please explain what's troubling you at present, tell me why I am incapable of making you content despite my best efforts.
Never seem to make you happy though heaven knows I try
I always seem to fall short of pleasing you, despite putting in my sincerest efforts.
What does it take to please you? Tell me just how
What exactly do I need to do to fulfill your desires? Please explain it to me with clarity.
I can satisfy you woman, you're drivin' me wild
I have the potential to satiate all your needs, but your unrelenting discontent is frustrating me.
When I come home from workin', you're on the phone
Whenever I get home from a hard day's work, I find you talking on the phone.
Talkin' about how bad I treat you, now tell me I'm wrong
You often complain about my ill-treatment of you, but please let me know if I am mistaken in my behavior.
You say it's me who argues, I'll say it's you
You're accusing me of always starting arguments, but I believe it's the other way around.
We have got to get together or baby, we're through.
We need to resolve these issues and work together, or else our relationship will come to an end.
Break up to make up, that's all we do
We keep breaking up and then patch things up, it has become a repetitive cycle between us.
First you love me then you hate me, that's a game for fools.
You alternate between loving me and hating me, it's an unwise and pointless game which we both are playing.
Yeah, first you love me then you hate me, that's a game for fools.
Yes, you keep going back and forth between loving and hating me, it's an irrational game that we should stop playing.
Break up to make up, that's all we do,
We frequently break up and then reconcile with each other, it has become our default way of dealing with our problems.
Break up to make up, that's all we do,
We rely on breaking up and then patching things up to solve our issues, it should not be the only way we address our problems.
First you love me then you hate me, that's a game for fools.
You oscillate between loving and hating me, it's a pointless game that will only lead to further turmoil in our relationship.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KENNETH GAMBLE, KENNY GAMBLE, LINDA CREED, LINDA DIANE CREED, THOM BELL, THOMAS RANDOLPH BELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind