Andy Williams
Williams was active in the music industry for over 70 years until his death in 2012. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including more than 10 million certified units in the United States. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a television variety show, from 1962 to 1971. The Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, is named after the song for which he is best known.
About Andy Williams in brief
Williams was active in the music industry for over 70 years until his death in 2012. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including more than 10 million certified units in the United States. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a television variety show, from 1962 to 1971 along with numerous TV specials. The Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, is named after the song for which he is best known—Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini’s \”Moon River\”. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold-certified and 3 platinum- Certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa, to Florence and Jay Emerson Williams, who worked in insurance and the post office. He and his brothers formed the Williams Brothers quartet in late 1938, and they performed on radio in the Midwest. The Williams Brothers sang with Bing Crosby on his 1944 hit record \”Swinging on a Star\”. They appeared in four musical films: Janie, Kansas City Kitty, Something in the Wind and Ladies’ Man. A persistent myth alleges that as a teenager, the future singing star dubbed the singing for Lauren Bacall’s character in the 1944 feature film To Have and Have Not. This myth is refuted in Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide in the entry for this film. Williams revealed in his memoir Moon River and Me that he and Thompson became romantically involved while on tour despite the age difference. The act broke up in 1949 but reunited for another hugely successful tour from the fall of 1951 through the summer of 1953.
Williams sang backup on many of Thompson’s recordings through the 1950s, including her Top 40 hit Eloise, based on her bestselling books about the mischievous little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Williams and Thompson, however, remained very close, both personally and professionally. He also served as a creative consultant and arranger on Thompson’s 1958 Top 20 hit \”Promise Me, Love\” and, later, \”Kay Thompson’s Jingle Bells\” on his 1964 No. 1 The AndyWilliams Christmas Album. Williams also got his breakthrough recording contract with Cadence Records, whose owner had gotten early breaks because of Kay Thompson, Archie Bleyer, and Cadence de Bercow. He had three older brothers—Bob, Don, and Dick Williams. The four brothers were signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to appear in Anchors Aweigh and Ziegfeld Follies, but before they went before the cameras the oldest brother, Bob, was drafted into military service and the group’s contract was canceled. The oldest brother was drafted in World War II and died in the Korean War. The remaining three Williams brothers were hired by MGM to sing in her large choir on many soundtracks for MGM films, including The Harvey Girls. When Bob completed his military service, Kay hired all four brothers to sing on the soundtrack to Good News.
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This page is based on the article Andy Williams published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 10, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
