Andy Williams

Howard Andrew Williams (born December 3, 1927 in Wall Lake, Iowa), known as Andy Williams, is an American pop singer and crooner. Andy Williams has recorded 18 Gold and 3 Platinum certified albums. He has performed with Ray Charles, Elton John, Ella Fitzgerald, Simon and Garfunkel, Mama Cass and Michael Jackson. When Ronald Reagan was President, he declared Andy's voice to be "a national treasure". He has had his own TV show as well as starring in a number of films. He also owns his own theatre, the Moon River in Branson, Missouri.

Early life

Williams first performed in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church. Williams and his three older brothers Bob, Dick, and Don, formed a quartet, the Williams Brothers, in the late 1930s, and they performed on radio in the Midwest, first at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, and later at WLS in Chicago and WLW in Cincinnati. Williams graduated from Western Hills High School in Cincinnati. The Williams Brothers appeared with Bing Crosby on the hit record "Swinging on a Star" (1944). This led to a nightclub act with entertainer Kay Thompson from 1947 to 1951.

Solo career

Williams's solo career began in 1952 after his brothers left the act. He recorded six sides for RCA Victor's label "X," but none of them were popular hits. After landing a spot as a regular on Steve Allen's Tonight Show in 1955, he was signed to a recording contract with Cadence Records, a small label in New York run by conductor Archie Bleyer. His third single, "Canadian Sunset" (1956) hit the Top Ten, and was soon followed his only Billboard #1 hit, "Butterfly" (a cover of a Charlie Gracie record on which Williams imitated Elvis Presley). More hits followed, including "The Hawaiian Wedding Song," "Are You Sincere," "The Village of St. Bernadette," and "Lonely Street," before Williams moved to Columbia Records in 1961, having moved from New York to Los Angeles. In terms of chart popularity, the Cadence era was Williams's peak although songs he introduced on Columbia became much bigger standards. Two top ten hits from the Cadence era, "Butterfly" and "I Like Your Kind of Love" were apparently believed to not suit Williams's later style; they were not included on a Columbia reissue of his Cadence greatest hits in the 1960s.

In 1964, Williams ultimately became the owner of the Cadence master tapes, which he did occasionally license to Columbia, including not only his own recordings, but those of his fellow Cadence-era labelmates, The Everly Brothers, Lenny Welch, The Chordettes, and Johnny Tillotson. In 1968, although he was still under contract with Columbia for his own recordings, Williams formed a separate company called Barnaby Records not only to handle reissuing of the Cadence material, especially that of The Everly Brothers (one of the first Barnaby LPs was a double LP set of the brothers long out of print Cadence hits) but new artists as well. Barnaby also had several Top 40 hits in the 70s with novelty artist Ray Stevens (who had done a summer replacement show for Williams in 1970), including Top 10s such as "Everything Is Beautiful" in 1970, and "The Streak" in 1974. Also in 1970, Barnaby signed and released the first album by an unknown singer-songwriter named Jimmy Buffett ("Down To Earth")

Columbia initially was the distributor for Barnaby, but later distribution was handled first by MGM Records and then GRT. Once Barnaby ceased operating as a working record company at the end of the 1970s, Williams licensed the old Cadence material to various other labels (such as Varese & Rhino in the U.S.) after 1980.

During the 1960s, Williams became one of the most popular vocalists in the country and was signed to what was at that time the biggest recording contract in history. He was primarily an album artist, and at one time he had earned more gold albums than any solo performer except Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and Elvis Presley. By 1973 he had earned as many as 18 gold album awards. Among his hit albums from this period were Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses (number one for 16 weeks in mid-1963), The Andy Williams Christmas Album, Dear Heart, The Shadow of Your Smile, Love, Andy, Get Together with Andy Williams, and Love Story. In these recordings Williams displays an incredible vocal technique along with an uncanny ability to make each song his very own, often rivaling or surpassing the version by the original artist. These attributes, along with his natural affinity for the music of the 1960s and early 1970s, combined to make him one of the premier easy listening singers of that era. In the UK, Williams continued to reach high chart status until 1978. The albums Can't Help Falling In Love (1970), Andy Williams Show (1970) Home Lovin Man ( #1 1971), Solitaire (1973), The Way We Were (1974) and Reflections (1978) all reached the Top 10.

Williams forged an indirect collaborative relationship with Henry Mancini, although they never recorded together. Williams was asked to sing Mancini and Johnny Mercer's song "Moon River" at the 1962 Oscar Awards (where it won), and it quickly became Williams's theme song. (Interestingly, "Moon River" was never a chart hit by Andy). The next year Williams sang "Days of Wine and Roses" which was written by Mancini and Mercer (this song also won). Two years later, he sang Mancini's "Dear Heart" at the 1965 awards and "The Sweetheart Tree" (also written with Mercer) at the 1966 awards.

In 1968, Columbia released a 45-rpm record of two songs Williams sang at the funeral of Robert F. Kennedy, a close friend: "Ave Maria" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". These were never released on a long-playing record.

Williams also competed in the teenage-oriented singles market as well and had several charting hits including "Can't Get Used to Losing You," "Happy Heart," and "Where Do I Begin", the theme song from the 1970 blockbuster film, Love Story. In addition Williams hit the UK Top 10 singles chart with, "Almost There" (1965),"Can't Help Falling In Love" (1970), "Home Lovin' Man"(1970) and "Solitaire"(1973). Building on his experience with Allen and some short-term variety shows in the 1950s, he became the star of his own weekly television variety show in 1962. This series, The Andy Williams Show, won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program. Among his series regulars were the Osmond Brothers. He gave up the variety show in 1971 while it was still popular and retrenched to three specials per year. His Christmas specials, which appeared regularly until 1974 and intermittently from 1982 into the 1990s, were among the most popular of the genre.

Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years. He hosted the Grammy Awards for three consecutive years in the 1970s. He returned to television to do a syndicated half-hour series in 1976–77.

In the early 1990s, Williams gave up most of his touring schedule in order to open his own theatre in Branson, Missouri, the Andy Williams Moon River Theater. He continues to do 8 to 12 shows a week in the spring, fall and Christmas seasons. He occasionally makes tours of Europe and Japan in the winter and summer. Andy Williams also invites guests to star with him at his theatre. The list has included Glen Campbell, Ann-Margaret, Petula Clark, and Charo.

His 1967 recording of "Music to Watch Girls By" was a surprise UK hit in 1999, when it reached number 9 after featuring in an advert (beating the original peak of number 33 in 1967). A new generation was reminded of Williams' recordings and a sell-out UK tour followed the success of the single, and he was given the nickname "The Emperor of Easy" in the UK. In 2002 he took part in a new duet of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" with British actress and singer Denise van Outen. Nearly everything Williams ever recorded has now been made available on CD through a series of compilations from 1997 to 2006.

Williams also sang the national anthem at Super Bowl VII in 1973 with Little Angels of Holy Angels Church in Chicago, Illinois

In June 2007 Andy appeared as himself in 4 episodes on All My Children - based at his Moon River Theatre. He has just completed a sold out ticket UK Tour 2007 in which he performed at several major concert halls including Royal Albert Hall, singing among other classics, Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately". This September he'll take the stage in Branson with Charo through the end of October. In November and December of this year he will present his annual Andy Williams Christmas Concert at his Moon River Theatre, followed by a "mini" Christmas tour in the western U.S. with stops tentatively scheduled in Los Angeles and Palm Desert, California among others.

Website: www.andywilliams.com/

Source: Wikipedia