Music legend Johnny Mathis adds Spokane to golden tour

Nov 29, 2006

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 326-3136

SPOKANE: The legendary Johnny Mathis will be appearing with the Spokane Symphony as part of his 50th Anniversary Concert Tour on Sunday, Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m. at the INB Performing Arts Center. This master crooner, an icon of American pop music, who has been called the Velvet Voice and the best ballad singer in the world, will thrill audiences with his romantic ballads, jazz and pop standards, and songs from Broadway musicals.
This concert is a billed as a Symphony Special that is in addition to those that are in a subscription series and will certainly live up to the name. Spokane audiences will have the opportunity to hear the artist who has performed for more heads of state than any other performer, with six performances at the White House and two command performances for the British Royal Family; the Japanese Prime Minister, the President of Liberia and numerous other presidents, royalty and prime ministers. It will include music from Johnny's most recently released album The Fiftieth Anniversary Collection. This album was release on the golden anniversary of Johnny's first recording project: a pair of singles Wonderful, Wonderful and It's Not Easy To Say recorded in the fall of 1956.
Mathis is an immensely popular recording artist, who has recorded over 110 albums and sold more than 180 million records worldwide, with several dozens of his LPs receiving gold and platinum status. His Johnny's Greatest Hits album, released in 1958, was the first ever Greatest Hits album in the music industry, spent an unprecedented 490 consecutive weeks (almost ten years) on the Billboard Album Chart. This feat, unmatched by any other recording artist in history, earned him a place in the Guinness Book Of World Records.
Mathis' music has a timeless quality to it, as evidenced by the fact that he is one of only five artists to have a Top 40 hit in each one of the four decades since 1955. His second #1 hit, Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, came almost 21 years after his first #1 hit, Chances Are. He is a three-time Grammy award nominee, for Misty in 1960, for In a Sentimental Mood in 1992, and for Isn't It Romantic in 2006. In addition, he as been inducted into the Grammy hall of Fame twice and received a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of the Recording Arts and Sciences.
Tickets to this special event, which is expected to sell out, go on sale on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 9:30 a.m.
Tickets range from $25 to $60 and are available Monday through Friday from 9:30-5:00 p.m. at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office at 818 West Riverside Avenue or by calling (509) 624-1200. Tickets are also available with a service charge, at www.spokanesymphony.org or through TicketsWest at 325-SEAT or 1-800-325-SEAT.