THEY SWEAR A SECOND VOICE JOINED HIM — BUT THE MAN IT BELONGED TO DIED 47 YEARS AGO
It was supposed to be a simple tribute beneath the soft California night — a moment of remembrance, not revelation. Yet when Johnny Mathis, now 89, stood before the grave of lyricist Al Stillman and began to sing “Chances Are,” something extraordinary stirred the still air at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Witnesses recall the moonlight resting on the marble stones, the crowd holding its breath as Mathis’s timeless voice filled the silence. Then came a second sound — faint, trembling, and eerily in tune. Some said it was feedback. Others, visibly shaken, whispered that it was Stillman himself, answering the song he wrote decades ago.
When asked later about the moment, Mathis smiled softly and said, “I don’t know what it was… but I felt him there, keeping time with my heart.”
For those few minutes, it wasn’t just a performance — it was a bridge between worlds, a duet between memory and eternity. As the final note faded into the October wind, Mathis looked to the sky and whispered, “Guess we finally sang it together, old friend.”
And maybe that’s the truth about songs like “Chances Are.” They never really end — they just wait for the right silence to come back around.