Johnny Mathis has released his own version of Brendan Graham (pictured) and Rolf Lovland’s modern classic, ‘You Raise Me Up’. The track features on the new album Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American Songbook, highlighting the genius of one of the true legends of the world’s music scene over the past 50 years.

Produced by 11-time, Grammy-winning singer and producer, Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American Songbook features what is by now probably the most successful song of the 21st Century ‘You Raise Me Up’, the lyrics of which were written by Irish songwriter and novelist, Brendan Graham.

Mathis (81), who had his first No.1 hit, ‘Chances Are’, all of 60 years ago, in 1957, told CBS’ Nancy Giles: “I’m happy that now I’m doing some contemporary music that was written less than 50 years ago. Now that I am 81 years old, I can bust loose and have some fun.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/johnny-mathis-great-new-american-songbook/

This album of all new recordings also features Mathis’ classic take on contemporary hit songs from Whitney Houston, Pharrell Williams’ (‘Happy’), R. Kelly (‘I Believe I Can Fly’) and more...

Producer Babyface says of Mathis: “Johnny’s always had one of those voices you’ll never forget. It’s part of our fabric of American history, American music.”
‘You Raise Me Up’ was written in 2001, when Norwegian composer, Secret Garden’s Rolf Lovland, approached Graham (who wrote Ireland’s last two Eurovision-winning songs Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids (1994) and The Voice (1996) – with an instrumental piece called ‘Silent Story’ and asked the Irish songwriter to put words to the melody.

Graham came up with the title, ‘You Raise Me Up’, and lyrics, which are now known the world over – including the oft-quoted line “You Raise Me Up…to more than I can be.” Multi-Grammy Award-winning producer, David Foster has called ‘You Raise Me Up’ ‘’A darn near perfect song.” Professor and author of the book SMASH HITS – The 100 Songs That Defined America (from 1750 – 2016), James E. Perone, has called it ‘’A worldwide phenomenon… one of the most successful and frequently sung inspirational songs of the 21st Century.”

'You Raise Me Up' has been covered by over 1,000 different artistes in some 40 languages, including Josh Groban, Westlife, IL Divo, Selena Gomez, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Secret Garden, Andre Rieu, Germany’s multi-million selling Helene Boksle, Spain’s legendary pop artiste Sergio Dalma – and far too many more to list here – in the process selling over 100 million records and garnering over 1 billion internet views.

Of the news that Mathis had recorded his song, songwriter Graham said “Johnny Mathis has one of those instantly recognizable ‘Voices of America’ that has endured and been loved for over half a century. I grew up listening to him – and to think, out of all the songs he could have chosen for this special album that something I’d written would have this honour – well, it’s something for which we songwriters live .”
In the same week that YRMu was announced for the upcoming Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American Songbook album, the song also received another major American outing in last Sunday’s National Memorial Day Concert held on the West Lawn of the White House in Washington.

The line-up for the gig included Renee Fleming, Gary Sinise (CSI NY), Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds), Colin Powell, Vanessa Williams and Laurence Fishburne.

This is the second time that ‘You Raise Me Up’ has been performed at the National Memorial Day Concert and follows on from performances of the Irish/Norwegian song at 9/11 Official Commemorations, the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the opening of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the re-opening of America’s Civil Rights Museum, the Superbowl, the Olympic Games, the World Championships – and a whole host of other global events.

Meanwhile, the song has also featured in the new Netflix series, Girlboss. Inspired by Sophia Amoruso's best-selling book, the series follows the rise of Amoruso's multi-million dollar fashion empire, Nasty Gal. Britt Robertson plays the starring role of Sophia, a rebellious, impecunious anarchist, who decides to start selling vintage clothing online. As her passion – and her retail fashion empire – begin to grow, Sophia unexpectedly becomes a businesswoman, who starts realize the value (and difficulties) of being the boss of her own life.

Then in 2016, she files for bankruptcy, a year after the company had faced a lawsuit for allegedly illegally firing four women for being pregnant.

Alongside the likes of Charlize Theron and Kay Cannon, Sophia Amoruso serves as an executive producer. ‘You Raise Me Up’ (the version by Josh Groban) features twice in Season 1 Episode 4