The house in the Hollywood Hills, where the star has lived for more than 50 years, was gutted by the blaze, which reportedly started in a room full of electrical equipment before spreading to the rest of the property.

Mathis was returning home following a concert in Ohio when he saw his house was on fire. Nobody was hurt in the blaze, but the star has lost nearly all his possessions.

"I just drove up and someone said that there was a fire at the house," he told Abc7.com. "I was thinking maybe a little fire - (it was a) big fire... The house is totalled, absolutely totalled. There's nothing left (but) a few little mementos..."

Firefighters helped save some of the 80 year old's memorabilia, including his prized piano, but Mathis is adamant he just feels lucky to have escaped unscathed.

"Those are just things, you know?," he said. "I'm a very lucky man. I could have been here, I could have been in bed, I could have had some of the people who help me with the house, so I'm very lucky."

"Any time the fire department arrives on scene, we take all measures to protect property of the residents," explains Dean Zipperman of the Los Angeles Fire Department. "And due to the fact that neighbours had said something, we immediately got his all trophies and some of his memorabilia that's irreplaceable."

An investigation into the cause of the fire has been launched.