One of the most interesting aspects of writing about a Boomer era celebrity each month is the path taken from obscurity to fame. This is what makes the story of Johnny Mathis, now 86 years young, so remarkable.
Not long after his birth in Gilmer, in East Texas, Mathis’ parents, Clem Mathis and Mildred Boyd moved him and his six siblings to San Francisco’s Richmond District where he grew up. His father, a singer, and pianist who had worked in vaudeville noticed that his young son had singing talent after watching him perform at church and school functions.
