BEFORE “MISTY,” ONE WOMAN HEARD SOMETHING IN JOHNNY MATHIS THAT THE WORLD HADN’T DISCOVERED YET. Johnny Mathis was only 13 when his father introduced him to vocal teacher Connie Cox. She recognized his potential and began teaching him proper breathing, classical technique and voice control—lessons that would help shape one of the most recognizable voices in popular music. Mathis studied with her for roughly six years, long before screaming audiences, gold records and sold-out theaters entered his life. What listeners later heard as effortless elegance was actually supported by years of discipline behind closed doors. Connie Cox never became the household name Johnny did, but every time that unmistakably smooth voice floated through a room, a little piece of her teaching was there.
Introduction: Long before “Misty” became one of Johnny Mathis’s signature songs, before his voice became synonymous with romance, there was a teenage…