andy williams

Andy Williams

A talanted and popular American singer

In his carier he recorded 43 albums of which 17 were gold

certified, and was also nominated for 6 grammy awards.

He hosted his own TV show that won three Emmy awards and participated in numerous TV speciales.

Andy was born in Wall Lake- Iowa on December 3 1927. He was a talanted American singer, whos talent was first unveiled at the age of 8 when he joined a quartet with the three of his older brothers.

With the “Williams Brothers Quartet” he first started singing in their hometown church choir.

The quartet became instant local news and made its professional singing debut when Andy was in the third grade.

After the success they had in teir hometown they started to perform on radio in nearby cities such as Des Moines, Chicago and Cincinnati.

They gained popularity on the wartime radio and at 1944 they caught the attention of Bing Crosby who included them on his

hit single “Swinging on a Star”. From there they appeared in several musical films.

Later in 1947 they joined the singer Kay Thompson as backup singers on her shows.

They started doing a nightclub act with Kay Thompson.

Their first debut in Las Vegas became a sensation and they became the highest paid nightclub act in the world, breaking all the records everywhere they appeard.

In 1953 the brothers disbanded, and each one of them went a separate way.

Andy was the only one from the brothers who ventured to seek a music carier as a solo singer in the east coast, and it was the begining of his succesful solo carier.

Kay Thompson asisted Andy along the way and contacted him with people in the music industry. They continued performing together for a period of time as well.

Andy’s singing style developed into what was called the  crooning style at the time.

This epithet was given mainly to male singers that had a sentimental singing style.

It was common also to other popular singers at the time, such as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

In 1954 Andy was offered regular singing duties on Steve Allen’s Tonight show, which led to Andy’s first recording contract with Cadence Records in 1956 and his first album was released.

Until 1962 he became a top nightclub favourite and in 1962 he started his own weekly variety show on television, that became a big success. He performed there with legndery singers, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Peggy lee and he recieved several awards on this show.

A song that asociated with Andy as his signature song is “Moon River” from the popular movie breakfast at tiffany’s.

He was asked to sing this song during an oscar ceremony on 1962, where it won the best original song.

After this performens this song became a hit and propelled Williams into stradom.

Between 1962-1972 Andy was one of the most popular

vocalists in America and was signed to the biggest recording contract in history at the time.

He had recieved 17 gold- album awards by 1973, among his hit albums from this period were love story, dear heart, the shadow of your smile and more.

His carier continued successfuly, and he gave performances even when he was over 70.

Andy had built a theatre which opened in 1992, and was named after him- Andy Williams Moon River Theater.

Andy Williams died at age 84 of bladder cancer in Branson, Missouri on September 25, 2012.