Young Johnny Mathis, a San Francisco superman.

 

Teen Magazine, May 1958 - tells all about Johnny Mathis and his agent Helen Noga, petite, dynamic, blonde, a former San Francisco café owner who discovered him, got him a recording contract with Columbia Records, then bought him two new suits and a round-trip ticket to New York where he subsequently cut his first hit, 'Wonderful, wonderful'.  

Johnny has always had everything that would spell success, but there was one hitch: husky-throated 23-year-old has always been incredibly shy - and still is. That's why he needed Helen Noga.

Johnny Mathis & Alan Freed in the late 1950s.

young Johnny Mathis and MC & DJ Alan Freed before the fall...

'Daily Independent Journal', San Rafael, California, 23rd November 1959; Alan Freed is linked to a pay-per-play scheme that eventually brought him down and ultimately killed him. Revenge of the white-supremacist crowd against Freed who championed the Blackman cause.