Artist:Johnny Mathis f/Deniece Williams
Song:Too Much, Too Little, Too Late
Album:The Very Best of Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis topped the charts in the 50s with the classic Chances Are. Though he was successful in the Easy Listening market, he had a long dry spell in pop until he topped the charts again with the 1978 single Too Much, Too Little, Too Late. The decline of Mathis started when he split with his manager in 1964. He also left Columbia Records for Mercury. As much as they tried, Mercury couldn't seem to get anywhere with Mathis and he returned to Columbia in 1967. When Mathis returned to Columbia, they had him record covers of pop hits and Christmas albums. Though the Christmas albums were successful, Mathis hadn't scored a top ten pop hit since 1962. So they decided to pair him with up and coming R&B singer Deniece Williams. She had recorded two albums for Columbia and scored a top 30 pop hit with the 1976 single Free. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late was written by John Vallins of the Australian band Tin Tin. They recorded a couple of albums in the early 70s. His songwriting partner Nat Kipner is the father of Tin Tin's Steve Kipner. The single was produced by Columbia house producer Jack Gold and arranged by Gene Page who worked a lot with Barry White. Surprisingly the single topped the charts. I think Page deserves much of the credit for his contemporary arrangement. Mathis and Deniece recorded the album That's What Friends Are For but Too Much, Too Little, Too Late wasn't on the album. It appears on this budget comp. Though Mathis hasn't had a hit single since then, he continues to record for Columbia most recently in 2017. Here's Johnny Mathis featuring Deniece Williams performing Too, Much, Too Little, Too Late on Top Of The Pops 1978.
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