The Johnny Mann Singers

Johnny Mann is best known for the thirty-nine albums he arranged and conducted for his Johnny Mann Singers resulting in five GRAMMY AWARD nominations and two GRAMMY AWARDS. He is a composer, arranger, conductor, entertainer and recording star. His group of super-talented young singers appeared with him in Chevrolet’s weekly syndicated series, “Stand Up and Cheer” which enjoyed a three-year run on national TV and many tours around the country. Johnny’s start in Hollywood was arranging scores for seven full-length motion pictures for Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox and Columbia Studios. He then became the choral director of the “NBC Comedy Hour,” which led to the formation of The Johnny Mann Singers and a record contract. Along with being musical director of the original “Alvin and The Chipmunks” TV series, he sang the voice of “Theodore”. Mann has worked over the years with George Gobel, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Julie London, Steve Allen, and was Danny Kaye’s conductor on a twelve week tour.

With limitless energy and enthusiasm, Mann sincerely espouses the positive and good of America through his entertainment. He was invited to perform at The White House twice during President Nixon’s reign to entertain Imelda Marcos and first-time Russian visitor to the U.S., Leonid Breschnev, General Secretary of The U.S.S.R. Mann’s devotion to his country has made him the recipient of four consecutive awards from The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, top awards from The Disabled American Veterans, The Medal of Honor from The National DAR, The Silver Helmet Award from the AM VETS, The National Honor Medal from The Veterans of Foreign Wars, and numerous citations from The American Legion. Mann has appeared twice as Guest Conductor of the world famous United States Air Force Band and Singing Sergeants in Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C.

Johnny has composed, arranged and produced hundreds of radio and TV product commercials, and is well-known for his original radio station I.D. Jingle Packages such as 93 KHJ “Boss Radio,” KFWB Channel 98, K-EARTH 101 (KRTH) in Los Angeles, and a multitude of other stations in cities around the United States, as well as Canada, Taiwan, Honolulu and Australia. Recently, he produced jingles for The ABC Radio Network and the 145 affiliated “Oldies” format stations. Active in many charities, Mann has hosted eight celebrity golf tournaments. He resides in Anderson, SC with his wife, Betty.

Discography

Sixties Mann

One of the giants of easy listening, the trademark smooth voices and gentle melody of the Singers is the sound of the pop 60s as much as the Byrds or Simon & Garfunkel. In contrast to Dr. Timothy Leary's "Turn on, tune in and drop out," the mantra of the Johnny Mann Singers, dressed in white turtlenecks and red v-neck sweaters on their weekly Chevrolet TV show, was "Stand Up and Cheer," a positive attitude that led advertisers to use their sound to sell everything from soap to cereal. Crisp, upbeat covers of top 40 standards "She Loves You," "Never My Love," "Windy," "Mrs. Robinson," "Invisible Tears," "Love Is Blue," "I'll Remember You," "Daydream," "To Sir With Love," "Cherish"—led to millions of record sales, five Grammy nominations and two Grammy winners. Their definitive recording, a superb version of Jimmy Webb's "We Can Fly! Up, Up and Away," reached #6 on the UK singles chart in the summer of 1967. Twenty three accompanied pop tunes, as bright, cheerful, romantic, and familiar as you can imagine! The smooth sound of the sixties!

Nearer My God to Thee

Johnny Mann paid some serious dues, boasting 39 albums arranged and conducted for his Singers, a 3-year stint on national tv on Chevrolet's "Stand Up and Cheer," 5 nominations and two Grammies merely scratch the iceberg of this man's musical resume. "Nearer" is a collection of 10 hymns plus "The Star Spangled Banner," and it lets you know immediately that here is a deep, talented ensemble, trained and directed by a master arranger, and every song touches us, no matter how many times we may have heard it before. Listen to the sweet tenor solo on "Fairest Lord Jesus," the harmonies on "Shadows of the Evening," "The Church is One Foundation," the title tune, "Hark, Hark My Soul," "Hosanna" and "Now the Day is Over." This is how these hymns should be directed and sung, and, forgive us, Johnny was the Mann who could make it happen!

Invisible Tears / We Can Fly! Up Up and Away

This CD combines the original album art, front and back, songlist labels and of course the remastered music of two Johnny Mann CDs, "Invisible Tears" from 1964 and "We Can Fly" from 1967. The Singers were famous for "easy listening," upbeat covers of pop hits that sold millions of records and even won a couple of Grammys. There are 23 much-beloved, all accompanied hits here: "People," "Love Me With All Your Heart," "The Girl From Ipanema," "Hello, Dolly!," "Shangri-La," "A World Without Love," "Blue Velvet," "Somethin' Stupid," the Mamas & the Papas' "Go Where You Wanna Go," "Dedicated to the One I Love" and "Monday, Monday," "This is My Song," and "Release Me."

Great Band With Great Voices / Swing The Great Voices

Si Zentner was a top trombonist with Les Brown, Harry James and Jimmy Dorsey before forming his own band. Johnny Mann, at a very young age, was a recognized music director, conductor, arranger and composer. Liberty Records blended chorus and orchestra for these two lps from 1961 and 1962, an "exciting new sound" for the time, and still a fresh, bright, powerful sound today. 12 songs on each remastered lp, "Serenade in Blue," "Breezin' Along With The Breeze," "Flamingo," "Ol' Man River," "St. Louis Blues," "Deep Purple," "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," "Dream," "Little White Lies," "Mississippi Mud," "Chattanooga Choo Choo," "At Last," "Paper Doll," "The Hut Sut Song," "It Happened In Monterey," "I'll Never Smile Again" and "Rum and Coca-Cola" are some favorites. But in fact, each of these songs is a production number, a little symphony if you will. "Great Band with Great Voices," "Great Voices of the Great Bands"—we'd like to buy an adjective for these titles, but in fact there's some very powerful, entertaining stuff here from the early sixties for not very much dough—so enjoy!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Legendary, Grammy-winning arranger/conductor Johnny Mann and his prolific Singers apply their bright, smooth, spirited Sixties sound to this excellent Christmas collection. Traditional carols like “As Lately We Watched,” “Lo How a Rose,” “Deck the Halls,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “O Christmas Tree,” “The First Noel,” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” of course are here, wonderful and sincere; but we especially liked lesser known tunes like “Johnny Bring The Pine Tree In,” “Sleep, Sleep Jesus, Sleep” and the lovely “Susan Belle.” The kind of Christmas album they just don’t make any more, and the kind that will be enjoyed again, year after year! Some light accompaniment, but mostly a cappella.

For More of The Primarily A Cappella On-Line Catalog

RSS - New Releases

Site Map | A Cappella News | RSS a cappella feeds

To find a specific song on any recording (or to find recordings by group name or CD title),
pick the search method and type the item you are searching for here: