Age can't catch Johnny Mathis

Recording songs for 60 years, legendary crooner shows no sign of slowing down

Johnny Mathis, 80 and still going strong, touring when he wants to tour and singing whatever he wants to sing, says he continually seeks music that piques his interest.

And, he always finds it.

“I always wondered, ‘What’s going to happen when I get tired of singing?’” he says. “I never get tired of singing.”

Mathis has sold millions, recording 80 original albums, including six Christmas albums, the latest being “The Complete Christmas Collection: 1958-2010,” and before that it was “Sending You A Little Christmas” from last year, for which he received his fifth Grammy nomination (Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album). Unbelievably, he has never won a Grammy during his legendary career. Next year, he’ll celebrate 60 years as a recording artist, and it’ll be 57 years with Columbia Records— he’s Columbia’s longest-running artist, and a Columbia compilation boxed set is in the works.

Mathis visits Portland on a Christmas tour, 7:30 p.m Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, singing with the Oregon Symphony (tickets start at $60, http://www.orsymphony.org).

The Tribune chatted with Mathis recently:

Tribune: What’s your favorite place to visit and perform?

Mathis: I have a fondness for Brazil, mostly because of the people, and the music is extraordinary. At a young age, I used to travel to Brazil, and I love how they speak the Portuguese language. I started doing songs in Portuguese; my guitar player loves it.

Tribune: How have you managed to stay active since the 1950s?

Mathis: Sometimes you do one too many concerts and you’re so tired and vocally not up to par. Everybody in every walk of life has those moments when you want to run away. I run away and go to the golf course and play golf for a couple weeks. Then I look around, my golf game is horrible, and I think I’ll go back to singing again. ... There’s always something you can do to pique your interest. You’re constantly trying to keep your enthusiasm up.

Tribune: You have such eclectic taste in music, why?

Mathis: There’s no end to the enjoyment I get out of all kinds of music. I just have a great appreciation for so many musical genres, and I can’t even mention songs. My head is full of all sorts of songs and people who have influenced me. You get influenced by everybody (including Billy Eckstine and Mabel Mercer and Luciano Pavarotti).

Tribune: You’ve always enjoyed Christmas concerts?

Mathis: I do four or five concerts a year, and I love Christmas music. The reason I started to record Christmas music was because of my mom and dad, they made it so special. I sang with all the choirs in school, and always went into the department stores during Christmastime and sang for people who were shopping. I learned a lot of songs, sometimes sung in different languages; my teacher would tell me to learn this song in French and German. Over the years that really kind of opened up a nice window for me. ... I sing a lot of them. Each one of the little lovely songs reminds me of when you’re pressing your face against the window looking into the Christmas displays. I’ve never gotten over that.

Tribune: Singers these days go on “American Idol,” “The Voice” and YouTube to get attention, thoughts?

Mathis: You got to have some way of letting the public know what you do. I do think sometimes the kids shortchange themselves by trying to take shortcuts when, in fact, if they want to sing, the first thing you have to do if you want to learn how to count or read is take some lessons.

Tribune: Your house in the Los Angeles area recently burned, how badly?

Mathis: I’m living with friends now. The insurance people went the extra mile for me. They’re going to restore it. There’s no rush, really. I’m kind of a vagabond anyway. ... They told me my clothes are never going to be any good anymore (from smoke). The things that I’m very happy about, all the mementos, as far as reviews and music books and recordings and things of that nature, are fine.

Tribune: Do you still play golf?

Mathis: I do, but I give up every week. I used to be pretty good. Had about seven hole-in-ones. I got down to about a seven or eight handicap. Golf is fascinating to me.

Tribune: Can you put your career in perspective?

Mathis: I have to kind of chuckle when I think about the process that I’ve gone through from the time I was a little kid. People would say, “You’ll do this and get involved in this, don’t get discouraged.” That was all well and good, but I often wondered if what I did, vocally, was going to mean anything to anyone. I still think that.