| The Heart of a Woman | |
| Type: | album |
| Artist: | Johnny Mathis |
| Cover: | Mathis-Heart.jpg |
| Released: | November 25, 1974[1] |
| Recorded: | June 28, 1974 September 6–7, 1974[2] |
| Studio: | Larrabee Sound, Los Angeles, California, Devonshire Sound, Los Angeles, California[3] |
| Length: | 35:00 |
| Label: | Columbia |
| Producer: | Johnny Bristol Jerry Fuller |
| Prev Title: | Johnny Mathis Sings the Great Songs |
| Prev Year: | 1974 |
| Next Title: | When Will I See You Again |
| Next Year: | 1975 |
The Heart of a Woman is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on November 25, 1974, [1] by Columbia Records. Produced by ex-Motowner Johnny Bristol, the LP is made up mostly of new material, in that only three of the 10 songs had already been recorded by other artists.
The album made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's & Tapes chart in the issue dated December 28, 1974, and remained there for seven weeks, peaking at number 139.[4] It also began a two-week run on the UK album chart on April 5, 1975, during which time it made it to number 39.[5]
The only song from the album that ever charted as a single by Mathis was "Sail on White Moon", which entered Billboards list of the 50 most popular Easy Listening songs in the US in the issue of the magazine dated February 15, 1975, and peaked at number 35 during its five weeks there.[6] However, the title track from the album was used in a commercial for Helena Rubinstein's Courant perfume.[1]
Billboard asserted, "With Johnny Bristol handling the production, we may have the most contemporary commercial LP Mathis has come up with in several years."
This album's CD release as part of the 2017 box set included two bonus tracks that were previously unavailable:
From the liner notes for :[2]
Of the three covers on this album, only "Feel Like Makin' Love" had been released as a single by the original artist. Roberta Flack's recording of the song spent five weeks at number one on Billboard magazine's list of the 100 most popular Soul songs in the US,[7] two weeks at number one on its Easy Listening chart,[8] and a week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100[9] in addition to receiving Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.[10] "Sail On White Moon" was first recorded by Boz Scaggs for his 1974 album Slow Dancer,[11] and "Wendy" was originally performed by The Impressions on the soundtrack of the 1974 film Three the Hard Way.[12]
From the liner notes of the original album:[3]