1985 Johnny Mathis – Right From The Heart

Right From The Heart is an album by the American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on March 18, 1985, by Columbia Records. It was his first album without songs that were previously recorded by other artists. The title track is one of the album’s four ballads that, along with four of the remaining six up-tempo tracks, delve into the subject of relationships, but it is the synth-driven “Step by Step” and the anthemic “Hold On” on which Mathis take a break from the usual focus on love songs. The former offers the hope that can be found in change that comes gradually until “I can see the way free from yesterday to a new beginning”. The latter stresses the importance of being oneself: “Life is a party. Why don’t you come the way you are?”

Even though the title track was used on the ABC soap opera Ryan’s Hope, the album did not make it onto Billboard magazine’s Top Pop Albums chart. The song “Right from the Heart” did reach number 38 during its two weeks on the magazine’s list of the 40 Hot Adult Contemporary songs of the week in the US in May that year