#9: Very Much In Love by Johnny Mathis

City: Hull, PQ
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: June-July 1958
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Cashbox Top 100 Best Sellers ~ #88
YouTube: “Very Much In Love”
Lyrics: “Very Much In Love”

Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer (TX) in 1935. His family moved to San Francisco when he was 5-years-old. His father was a vaudeville singer and piano player. Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father. Mathis’ first song was “My Blue Heaven”. He started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school, and at church functions. When Mathis was 13, voice teacher Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for housework. Mathis studied with Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic singing. In 1955, Mathis got a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club in San Francisco.

Concurrently, At San Francisco State, Mathis had become noteworthy as a high jumper, and in 1956, he was asked to try out for the U.S. Olympic Team that would travel to Melbourne that November. But given Johnny Mathis had received an offer of a record contract from Columbia Records, on his father’s advice, Mathis opted to embark on a professional singing career.

On December 1, 1958, Johnny Mathis was photographed by the Associated Press high jumping, a sport he was pretty good in while attending San Francisco State College.

In July 1956, Johnny Mathis’ debut album, Johnny Mathis, was a slow-selling jazz album. He performed at night clubs in Manhattan. Near the end of the year he recorded “Wonderful Wonderful!” and “It’s Not For Me To Say”. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. It was also featured in the 1957 film noir movie Lizzie, where Mathis was cast as a piano player and singer. Later in 1957, “Chances Are” became his biggest selling hit and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. It was number-one on October 21, 1957, on the Billboard Most Played by Jockeys chart. The B-side, “The Twelfth Of Never” was also a Top Ten hit in 1957. In 1958, “Wild Is The Wind” was the theme song from the movie of the same name. For his performance, Mathis received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in 1958, where he also sang the song at the event.

In March 1958, Columbia Records released Johnny’s Greatest Hits. The album reached number-one and remained on the Billboard pop album chart for 490 weeks, almost nine-and-a-half years. He was again a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show on October 26, 1958, singing “Sweet Lorraine”. In the summer of 1958, Johnny Mathis’ “A Certain Smile” was the theme song from the film of the same name, and a #4 hit in the UK and #7 in Norway. That winter his Christmas album featured the track, “Winter Wonderland”, which became a Top 20 hit in the UK.

In addition, Johnny Mathis released “Someone”, a Top 30 hit in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. The B-side was “Very Much In Love” in 1958.

“Very Much In Love” was written by Al Stillman and Ray Ellis.

Albert Irving Silverman was born in Manhattan in 1901. Stillman’s first hit record was the Freddy Martin treatment of “Tell Me That You Love Me”, a #7 hit in 1935. In 1938, Jan Garber and His Orchestra had a #8 hit with “Bambina”. And in 1940, the Andrews Sisters took Stillman’s “Say Si Si” to #4 on the Billboard pop chart. Later that year, Jimmy Dorsey landed Al Stillman with his first #1 hit titled “The Breeze And I”. In 1942, the Glenn Miller Orchestra had a #7 hit with “Jukebox Saturday Night”. Stillman’s biggest selling hit was Frankie Laine’s “I Believe”, a #2 hit in 1953, which was ranked number-ten for the year by Billboard magazine. In 1954, Stillman wrote a string of hits for Perry Como, including a #8 hit “(There’s No Place Like) Home For the Holidays”. He wrote several #2 hits for the Four Lads: “Moments To Remember” and “No Not Much”. While in 1957, he penned Johnny Mathis’ “It’s Not For Me To Say” and the number-one hit for Mathis, “Chances Are”. The following year, Pat Boone’s “If Dreams Came True” reached #7 on the US national pop charts. A final Top Ten hit written by Al Stillman was “The Way Of Love” by Cher, which climbed to #7 in 1972. Stillman died in 1979 at the age of 77.

Ray Ellis was born in 1923 in Philadelphia. He began playing the saxophone from age twelve, and learned all the reed instruments by age fifteen. Around 1949-50, he was a studio musican in Philadelphia with the band at WCAU TV with host Ed McMahon. He was also playing in the orchestra on TV station WFIL doing a Paul Whiteman teenage club. When those gigs faded away and he was playing weddings and parties, he got a job in distribution through Marvin Holtzman of Columbia Records. When Holtzman moved on to Epic, Ellis created some arrangements for him, including two arrangements for the Four Lads when they came to Philadelphia. One of the first arrangements for Four Lads was for “Moments to Remember” (written by Al Stillman), where Ellis got his feet wet in directing an orchestra for the first time. The song became a hit, rising to #2 in March of 1955 and more Four Lads hits followed.

From 1956 into the early ’60s, Ellis was one of the most prolific and popular arrangers and conductors in music. In these capacities, Ellis was in the studio for the Four Lads “No Not Much”, Sal Mineo’s “Start Movin'”, Ivory Joe Hunter’s “Since I Met You Baby”, Clyde McPhatters’ “A Lover’s Question”, “Lover Please”, and “Little Bitty Pretty One”, Sarah Vaughan’s “Broken Hearted Melody”, Connie Francis’ “Lipstick on Your Collar”, “Among My Souvenirs” and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”, Bobby Darin on “Splish Splash”, Billie Holiday’s Lady in Satin album, Danny Valentino’s “Biology“, The Drifters’ “Some Kind Of Wonderful”, Paul Anka’s “Love Me Warm And Tender”, LaVern Baker’s “See See Rider”, Barbra Streisand’s “People”, Brook Benton’s “It’s Just A Matter Of Time”, “So Many Ways”, and “Endlessly”, as well as Liza Minelli, Esther Phillips, Ben E. King, and Lena Horne. Ellis died in 2008 at the age of 85.

In “Very Much In Love” a lover reflects on their advancing years, and how when they were young they fell in love. Though they “know a thing or two” now that they’ve aged, one thing hasn’t changed. As they were in their youth, they remain in their advancing years “so very much in love with you.”

“Very Much In Love” peaked at #1 in Hull (QC), #12 in Memphis, and #24 in St. Louis.

In 1959, Johnny Mathis recorded “Misty”. The song later was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. His other Top 20 hit of the year was “Small World”. On April 26, 1959, and November 8, 1959, Johnny Mathis appeared again on The Ed Sullivan Show.

In 1960, Johnny Mathis released a version of the hit song from West Side Story, “Maria”, which was a minor hit. This was followed by “My Love For You”.

On October 16, 1960, Johnny Mathis appeared on See American with Ed Sullivan: San Francisco performing the Frank Sinatra album hit “Come Dance With Me”. He was back on The Ed Sullivan Show on November 26, 1961, and April 29, 1962. After “Misty”, Johnny Mathis went three years without having a Top 20 hit across the USA. It was his recording of “Gina” in the winter of 1962 that took him to #6. He remained on the pop charts into 1963 with “What Will Mary Say?”, which peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 that March.
Later that year, “Every Step Of The Way” was his last To 40 hit until 1978.

Between 1957 and 1963, Johnny Mathis had 14 Top Ten albums, including ten studio albums and four greatest hits albums.

On November 12, 1967, Mathis sang “Up, Up and Away” on The Ed Sullivan Show. On January 21, 1968, and January 5, 1969,  Johnny Mathis was again a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show. On November 22, 1970, Johnny Mathis returned as a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing “My Funny Valentine”.

In 1975, Mathis recorded a cover of the Stylistics song “I’m Stoned In Love With You”. It climbed to #8 in Ireland and #10 in the UK. In the winter of 1976, Mathis had a number-one hit for three weeks in the UK with “When A Child Is Born”. In 1978, Johnny Mathis continued his comeback with a number-one hit in a duet with Deniece Williams titled “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late”. In 2003, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. In 2013, Mathis had a #4 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart with “Sending You a Little Christmas”.

Over the decades Johnny Mathis appeared on The Tonight Show on 54 occasions, variously with Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. To date, Johnny Mathis has appeared in concert in Canada on 48 occasions. This includes concert dates in Niagara Falls, Orillia, Toronto, Ottawa, and Windsor (ON), Richmond, Coquitlam and Vancouver (BC), Montreal and Quebec City (QC), and Edmonton (AB).

In 2015, a fire engulfed and destroyed his home in the Hollywood Hills. And in 2023, a hillside beside his home collapsed and crushed his Jaguar. Mathis is the third best-selling artist of the 20th century, selling 360 million records worldwide. He disclosed in an interview in 1982 that he was ‘gay.’ But the publicity led to death threats and he made no more public statements about his sexuality for several decades.

Mathis continues to tour into the fall and winter of 2024. According to setlist.fm Johnny Mathis has appeared in concert in Canada on 48 occasions. This included appearances in Edmonton (AB), Coquitlam, Richmond, and Vancouver (BC), Niagara Falls, Orillia, Ottawa, Toronto, and Windsor (ON), Montreal and Quebec City (QC). His first concert dates in Canada were a 7-night stand at the El Morocco in Montreal from June 9 to 15, 1958.

On September 30, 2024 Johnny Mathis turned 89.

November 4, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
“We weren’t poor, we just didn’t have any money,” American Academy of Achievement, 2011.
Karen Heller, “Johnny Mathis, the Voice of the 50s, was always ahead of his time, now he’s ready to talk about it,” Washington Post, August 2, 2018.
Leanne Suter, “Fire tears through singer Johnny Mathis’ Hollywood Hills home,” ABC, November 2, 2015.
Leanne Suter, “Hillside collapses in front of Johnny Mathis’ Hollywood Hills home, crushes singer’s Jaguar,” ABC, January 18, 2023.
Steven Gaydos, “Johnny Mathis remembers his jazz roots,” Variety, January 4, 2019.
“Johnny Mathis concert dates – Canada,” setlist.fm.
“Al Stillman,” Wikipedia.org.
Jon Thurber, “Ray Ellis Dies at 85; Arranger worked with Bobby Darin, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, scores of others,” Los Angeles Times, November 5, 2008.

CKCH 970-AM Hull (QC) Top Ten | July 3, 1958