Johnny Mathis - Chances Are (Columbia Records 1957)

"Chances Are" is a popular song with music by Robert Allen and lyrics by Al Stillman that was recorded by Johnny Mathis in 1957. It reached number one on various record charts in Billboard and Cash Box magazines. It was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Johnny Mathis had a top 10 hit in 1957 with "It's Not for Me to Say", which was written by Robert Allen and Al Stillman. Allen later told Mathis they had a new song for him called "Chances Are", but until Mathis heard it, he was skeptical of it having as much success. He recorded the song on June 16, 1957, with Mitch Miller and Al Ham producing.

"Chances Are" was released on August 12, 1957, with the B-side "The Twelfth of Never". "Chances Are" spent 28 weeks on Billboard magazine's Top 100 record chart, a predecessor to the Hot 100 that combined the statistics from the magazine's Best Sellers in Stores and Most Played by Jockeys charts. It made its debut on the Top 100 in the issue dated September 16, 1957, and later peaked at number 5 there and number 4 on the Best Sellers chart. It spent a week at number 1 on the magazine's list of songs Most Played by Jockeys for the survey week ending October 12, 1957. On the magazine's R&B Best Sellers chart, it peaked at number 12. It also reached number 1 on Cash Box magazine's best seller list. In Canada, the song reached number 3 on the CHUM Charts. On Billboard's year-end list of the top 50 singles of 1957, the song came in at number 22. Cash Box's year-end ranking for the song was number 5.

When Billboard commemorated the 60th anniversary of Mathis's career in 2016, "Chances Are" was number 1 on their list of his 10 top-charting hits.

Regarding the success of "Chances Are", Mathis said in 2015, "It was the biggest thrill and the biggest kind of thing that made me want to continue to sing or try to sing well, because I knew that anything that I did from then on was going to be heard by a lot of people."

"Chances Are" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. It was listed at number 175 on the Songs of the Century list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2001. In 2024 it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry, based on its "cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage". American Songwriter included "Chances Are" on its list of 5 Songs that Show Johnny Mathis Is the King of the Classic Ballad Singers.

John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as an album artist, with several of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts.

Mathis has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for three recordings. Although frequently described as a romantic singer, his discography includes traditional pop, Latin American, soul, rhythm and blues, show tunes, Tin Pan Alley, soft rock, blues, country music, and even a few disco songs for his album Mathis Magic in 1979. Mathis has also recorded seven albums of Christmas music. In a 1968 interview, he cited Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby among his musical influences.

Mathis has undergone rehabilitation for alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, and has supported many organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes, the YWCA and YMCA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the NAACP.

In a 1982 Us magazine article, Mathis said, "Homosexuality is a way of life that I've grown accustomed to." He later said the comment was supposed to have been off the record and did not publicly discuss his sexual orientation for many years. In 2006, Mathis said that his silence had been due to death threats he received as a result of that 1982 article. In April 2006, he addressed the subject again on the podcast The Strip and said his reluctance to speak about it was partly a generational issue. In a 2017 interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, Mathis discussed the Us magazine article and confirmed that he is gay, saying: "I come from San Francisco. It's not unusual to be gay in San Francisco. I've had some girlfriends, some boyfriends, just like most people. But I never got married, for instance. I knew that I was gay." Mathis spoke to many news sources, including CBS, about his sexuality and his coming out story.

Johnny has retired from performing and his final concert was held on May 18, 2025, at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ. Mathis had been touring for nearly 70 years. His team stated that the decision to retire was made due to the increasing toll that age and memory loss were taking on his ability to perform.