Biography of Johnny Mathis

Mathis (born James Royce Mathis) made the smoothest makeout music ever recorded, and his rise to stardom in the mid '50s flew in the face of rock & roll's early domination. Staying almost exclusively with lushly orchestrated ballad material, Mathis racked up hit after hit and now has had albums in the charts for 30 years, an achievement few will better. ~ Cub Koda

Biography of Ray Conniff

Conniff came up through the big-band ranks of the late '30s, eventually landing staff work on network TV by the early '50s. Arranging slick pop studio hits for singers Johnnie Ray, Don Cherry, Johnny Mathis, and others, he became most successful with a long series of chorus-laden easy-listening albums for the non-rock-&-roll market. ~ Cub Koda