Quotes from Johnny Mathis

I have one room off my kitchen filled with nothing but cookbooks and recipes that are sent to me from around the world. Every two years, I have to go through them and pick out ones to send to the local schools. There's a need for books, especially cookbooks.

When I do an album I try to find a producer that's excited about something that they want me to sing, and I check with the record company to find out what they think they can sell - which is their No. 1 priority.

I've recorded in Portuguese, too. I didn't set out to just sing ballads or romantic songs.

Some of the stuff, I absolutely don't remember recording it, it's been so long. But I do like to try to throw in something a little different for the audience once in a while. Because a lot of these people who come to see have come back many, many times.

Even though there's no forum for me on the radio for the kind of music I sing anymore, I am still excited about having a career where I can sing the best music in the world, and people will come and hear me because of the hit records I've had in the past.

For me, hearing my voice is sometimes a little nauseating, especially at Christmas.

Nat was my hero right from the very beginning. My dad brought his music into the house and played it over and over again.

I go to the gym rather early with a workout pal. I get there at 7, or a little before, and do weights and a little cardio for an hour, five days a week.

I believe it was Nat King Cole that my dad took me to see, and we were sitting in the dressing room, and I blurted out to him, 'Why didn't you sing this?' Referring to whatever song I had wanted to hear, and he told me he was tired of singing it.

I also met, early on Ella Fitzgerald. Her songbooks are some of the most amazing bodies of work.

I think there are a lot of people who really want to be famous, they really do. I don't. It sort of gets in the way of the everyday things that I do.

Sometimes being famous gets in the way of doing what you want to do.

It's very much like opera singers. They do the same thing. The first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, the thing they think about is their voice and how to take care of it.

No, I don't regret my decision at all, especially after I started this music career. My eyes were as big as saucers.

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.

Tony Bennett and me are all the same... and he's still singing. I don't know what else to do.

The light dims a little bit as you get older and new generations come along. But it's around the holidays when I am remembered the most. It is very special, and I get a kick out of it now as much as I did when I first started.

There are not so many songs written about love today like there were in the past. It's all changed, but that's why my songs still last as big favorites today.

I'm still going strong. I have been very blessed and still am. I love singing. Obviously, at my age, I don't tour with as many dates throughout the year as I did in the past. But I do this to honor my father who was also a singer. I still miss him and his encouragement.

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.

I love the house that I've been living in for over 40 years. I really am a homebody and I still love to play golf.

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.

When you say, 'I'm going to sing it once, and everyone is going to hear it forever,' that's kind of frightening.

My favorite singer to this day is Nat King Cole. I've tried to emulate his phrasing. It is so absolutely beautiful to listen to his lovely voice.