By Michael P Coleman
Throughout the music world, for decades, there had been rumblings and rumors. A complete album recorded by the legendary Johnny Mathis with Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards was said to have been languishing in the proverbial vaults.
In lieu of the lush romantic ballads for which the legend had been associated, Mathis was said to have recorded a funky, up-tempo album. For some inexplicable reason, fans gossiped, an executive at Columbia Records had decided to shelve the project, keeping it from those of us who’d been afflicted with an incurable case of boogie fever.
36 years after it was completed, Mathis’ collaboration with Rodgers and Edwards, I Love My Lady, is being released as a stand-alone vinyl album, accompanying a digital download, this Saturday, April 21. Sacramento’s Dimple Records will have a limited number of the album at each of their locations when they open at 10am.
Mathis is as excited about I Love My Lady’s release as his legions of fans will be.
“I’m such a big fan of Nile’s,” the 82-year-old icon said by phone just after his morning workout. “Unfortunately, Bernard passed away a few years ago, but Nile is very much on my mind all of the time. I’ve been waiting for the stuff I did with Nile and Bernard to come out, and I’m so happy about it. It was a new kind of thing for me. It wasn’t much singing, really, as much as it was just performing in whatever way was necessary to get the songs across. It was fun — a LOT of fun!”
For fans of Mathis’ romantic ballads, this album will be a very pleasant — almost shocking — surprise. In fact, I Love My Lady is one of the sharpest artistic right turns in pop music history. Music fans will recall that, just two years before they partnered with Mathis in 1982, Rodgers and Edwards stripped the powder and paint off of Diana Ross, and she delivered the best-selling album of her career, diana.
Similarly, I Love My Lady delivers a serious groove. Who knew that the ever-genteel Mathis had a pair of boogie shoes in his closet? And he wears those shoes exceptionally well.
Mathis said I Love My Lady’s departure from the lush orchestral music for which he is perhaps best known made recording the album particularly memorable.
“I think most people who do what I do, and have had some success with it, love to venture out and try new stuff,” Mathis said. “Some of it works, and some of it doesn’t, but we put our stamp on it, and it has meaning to us and for us. If it works, fine: the record company is happy. If it doesn’t, nobody’s happy except us!”
“I remember the first time I wanted to record a song with another singer, and that first duet was [with] Deniece Williams,” Mathis warmly recalled. “And then, boy! The floodgates opened and I was singing with everybody, and I loved it! That’s one of the aspects of this business, the opportunity to try new things, that keeps your interest level up.”
As Mathis typically didn’t write his own material, I was curious about the song selection process for I Love My Lady.
“Nile and Bernard told me they wanted to write some things especially for me,” Mathis recalled with a wry smile. “They asked me to tell them about the things I was interested in, so I told them I was a high jumper and a hurdler, and I played golf, and I asked them how they were going to write about THAT! Eventually, they got a little personal with me, and asked what kind of people I like, whether I was a romantic person, and what my thoughts were about society. They asked me all sorts of crazy, off the wall things: what did I listen to? What did I like to eat? How did I like to dress? And they took little aspects of my answers and wrote songs about them.”
I asked the icon whether he’d thought about recording more dance-oriented music during that period.
“Well, you know, it’s like having a meal,” Mathis warmly laughed. “There are certain things that are on the plate that you just gobble up! And there are other things that you take a little taste of and you say “Hmmmm…THAT’s interesting! And that’s about it! You don’t make a meal out of it, but you take a little taste of it every once in awhile.”
As I took a little taste of I Love My Lady, I wondered whether, perhaps, there were other Mathis masterpieces that, for one reason or another, haven’t been released. Can Mathis’ fans look forward to more “new” music from the man who’s celebrating his 62nd year as a recording artist?
“You know what,” Mathis chuckled. “I’ve spent so much of my time in the recording studio over the years, there’s got to be something else that’s going to raise its head pretty soon. I’ll be surprised along with you when it rears its head. Hopefully, it’ll be something that’s interesting. I hope so.”
Given the quality of Mathis’ recorded output, I think you’ll agree with me: that’s a sure bet!
For more on I Love My Lady, and Mathis’ upcoming tour dates, go to johnnymathis.com
For more on freelancer Michael P Coleman and Coleman Communications, go to michaelpcoleman.com.
