Robert Scott

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. . . Rick Shaw

I was born in Rochester, NY and raised in Sacramento, CA. My involvement with music began at an early age but I didn't begin playing bass until High School. I played electric bass at first and, at 17, began studying acoustic bass.

After graduating High School I went to California State University, Sacramento and received a Bachelor of Music degree in perform ace. While at CSUS I played in many local bands and for 3 seasons with the Sacramento Symphony.

It was a great music environment in Sacramento in the mid-70s. There were so many great players around and where else would I have had a chance to play with a symphony orchestra one night, a Top 40 band the next night, a jazz band after that, and then a Broadway show?

After Sacramento I continued my education at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. I completed a Master of Music degree in performance there. Rochester was similar to Sacramento in many ways. Both cities were comparable in size and there were equal amounts of great music in both.

I moved to Los Angeles in 1983 to begin my professional music career. A scary move--going from smaller cities to a major city! I few contacts and no work lined up. I just figured I'd start working somehow.

It took a couple years to establish myself but work did start coming in. My first "road gig" was with the 60s vocal group, "The Lettermen." After that I played with Jazz greats Buddy Rich and Maynard Ferguson. Playing on both Buddy's and Maynard's bands was a great experience. Every night I got to play with two living legends!

While playing with Maynard in 1987 I got a call to audition for Johnny Mathis. I was in the middle of a tour but, fortunately, the audition was on one of our few days off. So after Maynard's gig I flew from Detroit to L.A., played the audition, and drove back to LAX to fly back to Detroit! While waiting for my flight I checked my messages. There was a message from Rojon, would I like to take the gig with Johnny Mathis? Would I?!! That began my association with John and everyone in Rojon.

Working for John has been one of the best jobs I've had. Now, I'm not saying that because this is going on his web site! You don't have to look too far in the music business to see that John and everyone at Rojon are some of THE best people to work with. The gig is definitely about John and his singing, but, unlike so many other stars there's so much appreciation of all the people involved that you never feel like you're being slighted; you feel an important part of the show.

Along with playing for Johnny Mathis, I freelance as a bass player in Los Angeles. I play for TV shows like JAG, Enterprise, and The Simpsons. I have a great time playing for another Johnny Mathis alumni, Gordon Goodwin, in his band (Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Band) as well as many of his recording projects.

Tomorrow is John's birthday. I can't help but think what a long and successful career John has had. Thanks for letting me be involved in a small part of it.

Mark Troyer

Many people have asked about the person responsible for maintaining our website. That person is our featured friend, Mark Troyer. In addition to his work on the site, he serves an even more important function, that of controller for Johnny’s companies. You will rarely see Mark on the road at concerts because he is always busy at the company offices in Burbank taking care of the finances.

While George Russell, Johnny’s promotions manager, has the record of being with Johnny the longest, Mark has the distinction of being on staff for the longest number of years. He first met Johnny in 1964 and began working as a part-time accountant in 1967 before there was a full-time office staff. During those early years his full-time job was working as controller of Los Angeles Federal Savings whose branch office was at the then new Sunset-Vine Tower in Hollywood. Johnny’s first business office was also located in that building, and for awhile he shared the same floor with Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini.

After eighteen years in the savings and loan business Mark left his job to start his own computer software company. He produced custom computer programs for various companies around Los Angeles. When Johnny bought his first computer to help run his businesses back in 1979, Mark wrote the software for the general ledger, accounts payable, payroll and fan club mailing list. These programs served a long and useful life until 2002 when all the accounting records were transferred to new desktop Mac computers. In 1986 Mark gave up his computer business to become a full-time employee of Johnny and his companies.

Besides loving his profession and working for Johnny, Mark’s passion in life is travel. In 1970 he accompanied Johnny on a tour of the Far East that included concerts in Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand. This literally began his fascination with world travel and every year since then he has traveled to new countries during his vacations. He has now been to 271 different countries and island groups (using the Travelers’ Century Club country list). He has a plaque on the wall at home attesting that he is "One of the World’s Most Traveled Persons" along with a world map strewn with colored pins showing all the destinations he has seen.

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George Russell

George Russell is Johnny’s long time friend and promotions manager. “Chances Are” if you’re listening to Johnny on the radio, George has had a hand in it. This gifted musician and promotions man has a very interesting life.

George’s love of music started at an early age, and, at sixteen, he formed his first band, The Hyde Parkers, named after the part of Chicago he was from. With his parents grudging permission, he temporarily dropped out of school for two years to tour with his band. During that time, they visited 36 states and Canada. The tour lasted until, “My folks forced me home. They said, ‘you will finish school and go to college.’” After completing his high school education, he was offered music scholarships to Texas A&M and Duke. He decided instead to go to the Chicago Conservatory where he earned a teaching certificate.

After school, George joined the army in 1942 and, right after Pearl Harbor, was sent to the Aleutians. He began his army career in the 31st Field Artillery and later was a DJ for Armed Forces Radio.

After the army, George continued to be a very busy man. He attended the L. A. Conservatory under the GI Bill and, more importantly, met and married his lovely wife Tess. George and Tess have been married since 1950.

In addition to his work with The Hyde Parkers, George formed The Bachelors who were on the MGM label and has two solo Guitar albums – one recorded in L.A. and one in London. He has also performed on the recordings of many people. When asked who his favorite person to work with was, he responded Nelson Riddle. When asked why, he explained that other than being such a huge talent Nelson Riddle was a great person. “And, in a moment of weakness, he said ‘George can I call you on a date.’ He wasn’t really my type, but, he called me in, and it was wonderful. It was with the great Capitol orchestra. At one point, he introduced me to the orchestra and said, ‘I’d like you to meet our guitarist, George Russell. He’s not only going to play these dates he’s going to promote this and make me a star.’”

George’s first promotional job was with Mercury records for West Coast promotions, from there he went to Capitol, then to Columbia around 1960. “I was at Columbia for about a year when I decided I was too young to die. I then became an independent record promoter. About two months later, I got a call from Helen Noga and I’ve been with Johnny ever since.”

To cover all of the entertainers that George has promoted over the years while at a label or independently would take much more space than we have for this column. So, the following is just a sampling.

Mercury –
Patti Page, The Platters, Anita O’Day, The Eddie Howard Orchestra, Dinah Washington, Erroll Garner

Capitol -
Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, George Shearing, Frank Sinatra, The Four Freshmen, Billy May, Jonah Jones, Stan Kenton, Ray Anthony, Tenessee Ernie Ford, The Beach Boys, The Kingston Trio

Columbia –
Johnny, Tony Bennett, Marty Robbins, Jerry Vale, Vic Damone, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Charlie Byrd, Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Independent –
Julie Andrews, The Sherman Brothers, Vickie Carr, Spike Jones, Julie London, Willie Nelson

George also has the distinction of promoting the classic rock operas “Hair” and “Jesus Christ Superstar”, as well as the plays “Cats” and “Evita”. His story about working on “Jesus Christ Superstar” is one of many, many stories about promoting the unpromotable. “I tried to take it to a couple of stations and their response was, ‘Is this something about religion?’ So, I took it out of their hands and went to the colleges. I took some librettos from the musical to drama departments and went to the college radio stations. They loved it.” To further promote it, he set up clergy from different religions on a San Diego radio station to discuss the rock opera and take calls. Three days later people were still calling on it.

George can tell you about having cocktails with Billie Holiday, or “going up the fire escape and through the kitchen” to get air play for a song, or composing “Birthstone Suite” which he recorded in 1988 with the Royal Philharmonic, and more. He’s been with Johnny professionally longer than anyone, having joined him in 1961 and shows no sign of slowing down.

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Joe Lizama

Joseph Lizama is Johnny’s accomplished percussionist whom many fans single out for questions and comments. In response to those queries, Joe was kind in providing the following:

I grew up in Atwater, a small town in the San Joaquin Valley of California. I followed in the footsteps of my two older brothers and joined the school band when I was in the fourth grade. Within a few months, I was promoted from the fourth grade beginning band into the fifth and sixth grade intermediate band; it seems that I always excelled in music. When I was in the eighth grade I purchased the largest drum set pictured in the Ludwig Drum Catalog, paid for it with my own savings. That same drum set would later be used for my first few years touring with Johnny Mathis. Today, as the parent of two middle school students myself, I sometimes reflect on how satisfying that might have been for my parents to have seen a teenage investment transition into the tools of a professional career.

Gil Reigers