Fine and Dandy

This chapter explores how Johnny Mathis launched his career successfully by maneuvering the racial and gender norms of the 1950s. Through projecting a culturally respectable, sexually neutral, and musically inoffensive persona, marked by visual dandyism, he was appealingly ambiguous. Vocally, Mathis’s sweet tenor sound was somewhat unconventional yet soothing enough to make him a premier interpreter of love songs. Similarly, though jazz, R&B and pop crooning influenced him, his “raceless” sound helped him appeal across races and ages. Culturally, Mathis adheres to the “race man” persona prominent among postwar black male celebrities, but his muted politics and lack of a romantic relationship helped him avoid scandals. His queer black dandy persona has parallels among other performers including Bobby Short and Luther Vandross.