Legendary crooner and pop vocalist known for his romantic ballads, Johnny Mathis is retiring from the live music scene and will perform his final show at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 18 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center (BergenPAC) in Englewood, New Jersey.
“As many of you may already be aware, Johnny Mathis is approaching his 90th birthday this year,” according to a statement on his website. “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 & live concerts.”
The other concerts remaining on his 2025 Voice of Romance tour are April 10 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.; April 26 in Shipshewana, Indiana; and May 10 in Santa Rosa, California.
All shows after May 18 are canceled. “… refunds will be made through the original point of purchase,” according to a Facebook post.
“Johnny is just retiring from touring and concerts, so the good news is there is potentially new music in the works.” Mathis turns 90 on Sept. 30.
Tickets Are Sold Out
The BergenPAC show is sold out but some third-party sellers have seats available at high markups. Balcony seats start at approximately $425, with Mezzanine around $815, and left or right orchestra priced at a whopping $4,800. Center orchestra is completely sold out, and Center Mezzanine is close to sold out.
Note: There are no elevators to the mezzanine and balcony at BergenPAC. The mezzanine and balcony levels are only accessible via staircases.
The shows will not be livestreamed or recorded, nor can the audience use recording devices during the concert, per the post.
Johnny Mathis Early Years: Olympics or Music?
Mathis was born in a suburb near Dallas, Texas and then moved to San Francisco with his parents and seven siblings. Father Clem Mathis worked in vaudeville as a singer and pianist and encouraged the talent his saw in young Johnny, teaching him songs on an old upright piano and arranging for singing lessons.
Johnny Mathis was also a star athlete at George Washington High School and a champion high jumper at San Francisco State College, setting records at both schools. In the 1950s, he was ranked one of the best high jumpers in the state of California.
He also sang at the Black Hawk Club on the weekends, and it’s there that a record producer and talent scout with Columbia Records came to see him and invited him to record in New York City — at the same time he was invited to participate as a high jumper in the US Olympic team trials.
While he took his father’s advice and headed to NYC for a music career, he supported the university’s track & field team his entire life, making donations well into six figures.
Awards, Records, Television, Tours
Johnny Mathis shot to stardom after appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1957 and then released his first No. 1 hit, “Chances Are.” He recorded nearly 80 albums — 18 of which sold over 500,000 — and 43 songs hit the Billboard top 100. Mathis has sold over 360 million records worldwide, making him the third largest selling artist of the 20th century.
He was nominated for five Grammy Awards, had three recordings inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame — “Chances Are,” “It’s Not for Me to Say,” and “Misty” — and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
Johnny’s Greatest Hits, released in 1958, spent 490 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200, a record later broken by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, which spent 741 weeks (over 14 years) on the chart from 1973 to 1988. Several of his albums received gold and platinum status, and his catalog spanned romantic pop, jazz, Latin, soul, show tunes, disco, blues and country.
He was nominated for multiple Oscars and in June of 1972, he was awarded his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He remains Columbia Records longest signed recording artist.
On his official Facebook page, over 4K fans and even some co-workers and past collaborators, commented on the post that announced his retirement from touring. Many expressed gratitude for his music and for his presence as an artist.
“Thank you so, so much for the Mathis Magic, Johnny. Your music has been the backdrop to my life over so many years,” said a fan.
“I have enjoyed working on shows with Johnny for the past 25 years and he was a joy to work with… Amazing person…,” said Gehrig Peterson.
“It’s my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary and their wedding song was 12th of Never. I HAVE to get tickets. They LOVE Johnny Mathis like a son.”
Johnny’s social media manager often replied to many of the comments, giving the post a sense of community where fans could reminisce.
