[Dixielandjazz] Andy Williams RIP

[Robert Ringwald]

Andy Williams, 'Moon River' Singer, Dies at 84
by Bob Thomas
Associated Press, September 26, 2012
With a string of gold albums, a hit TV series and the signature "Moon River," Andy
Williams was a voice of the 1960s, although not the '60s we usually hear about.
"The old cliche says that if you can remember the 1960s, you weren't there," the
singer once recalled. "Well, I was there all right, but my memory of them is blurred
-- not by any drugs I took but by the relentless pace of the schedule I set myself."
Williams' plaintive tenor, boyish features and easy demeanor helped him outlast many
of the rock stars who had displaced him and such fellow crooners as Frank Sinatra
and Perry Como. He remained on the charts into the 1970s, and continued to perform
in his 80s at the Moon River Theatre he built in Branson, Mo. In November 2011, when
Williams announced that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer, he vowed to return
to performing the following year: His 75th in show business.
Williams died Tuesday night at his home in Branson following a yearlong battle with
the disease, his Los Angeles-based publicist, Paul Shefrin, said Wednesday. He was
84.
He became a major star the same year as Elvis Presley, 1956, with the Sinatra-like
swing "Canadian Sunset," and for a time he was pushed into such Presley imitations
as "Lips of Wine" and the No. 1 smash "Butterfly." But he mostly stuck to what he
called his "natural style," and kept it up throughout his career. In 1970, when even
Sinatra had given up and (temporarily) retired, Williams was in the top 10 with the
theme from "Love Story," the Oscar-winning tearjerker. He had 18 gold records and
three platinum, was nominated for five Grammy awards and hosted the Grammy ceremonies
for several years.
Movie songs became a specialty, from "Love Story" and "Days of Wine and Roses" to
"Moon River." The longing Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini ballad was his most famous
song, even though he never released it as a single because his record company feared
such lines as "my huckleberry friend" were too confusing and old-fashioned for teens.
The song was first performed by Audrey Hepburn in the beloved 1961 film "Breakfast
at Tiffany's," but Mancini thought "Moon River" ideal for Williams, who recorded
it in "pretty much one take" and also sang it at the 1962 Academy Awards. Although
"Moon River" was covered by countless artists and became a hit single for Jerry Butler,
Williams made the song his personal brand. In fact, he insisted on it.
"When I hear anybody else sing it, it's all I can to do stop myself from shouting
at the television screen, 'No! That's my song!'" Williams wrote in his 2009 memoir,
titled, fittingly, "Moon River and Me."
"The Andy Williams Show," which lasted in various formats through the 1960s and into
1971, won three Emmys and featured Williams alternately performing his stable of
hits and bantering casually with his guest stars. It was on that show that Williams
-- who launched his own career as part of an all-brother quartet -- introduced the
world to another clean-cut act -- the original four singing Osmond Brothers of Utah.
Their younger sibling Donny also made his debut on Williams' show, in 1963 when he
was 6 years old. Four decades later, the Osmonds and Williams would find themselves
in close proximity again, sharing Williams' theater in Branson, Mo.
Williams did book some rock and soul acts, including the Beach Boys, the Temptations
and Smokey Robinson. On one show, in 1970, Williams sang "Heaven Help Us All" with
Ray Charles, Mama Cass and a then-little known Elton John, a vision to Williams in
his rhinestone glasses and black cape. But Williams liked him and his breakthrough
hit "Your Song" enough to record it himself.
Williams' act was, apparently, not an act. The singer's unflappable manner on television
and in concert was mirrored offstage.
"I guess I've never really been aggressive, although almost everybody else in show
business fights and gouges and knees to get where they want to be," he once said.
"My trouble is, I'm not constructed temperamentally along those lines
His wholesome image endured one jarring interlude. In 1976, his ex-wife, former Las
Vegas showgirl Claudine Longet, shot and killed her lover, skiing champion Spider
Sabich. The Rolling Stones mocked the tragedy in "Claudine," a song so pitiless that
it wasn't released until decades later. Longet, who said it was an accident, spent
only a week in jail. Williams stood by her. He escorted her to the courthouse, testified
on her behalf and provided support for her and their children, Noelle, Christian
and Robert.
Also in the 1970s, Williams was seen frequently in the company of Ethel Kennedy,
Robert Kennedy's widow. The singer denied any romantic involvement.
He was born Howard Andrew Williams in Wall Lake, Iowa, on Dec. 3, 1927. In his memoir,
Williams remembered himself as a shy boy who concealed his insecurity "behind a veneer
of cheek and self-confidence." Of Wall Lake, Williams joked that it was so small,
and had so little to do, that crowds would gather just to watch someone get a haircut.
Williams began performing with his older brothers Dick, Bob and Don in the local
Presbyterian church choir. Their father, postal worker and insurance man Jay Emerson
Williams, was the choirmaster and the force behind his children's career. When Andy
was 8, Williams' father brought the kids for an audition on Des Moines radio station
WHO's Iowa Barn Dance. They were initially turned down, but Jay Emerson Williams
and the young quartet kept returning and they were finally accepted, their show bringing
them attention from Chicago, Cincinnati and Hollywood. Another star at WHO was a
young sportscaster named Ronald Reagan, who would later praise Williams as a "national
treasure."
The brothers joined Bing Crosby in recording the hit "Swinging on a Star" in 1944
for Crosby's film "Going My Way," and Andy, barely a teenager, was picked to dub
Lauren Bacall's voice on a song for the film "To Have and Have Not." His voice stayed
in the film until the preview, when it was cut because it didn't sound like Bacall's.
Later the brothers worked with Kay Thompson of eventual "Eloise" fame, then a singer
who had taken a position as vocal coach at MGM studios, working with Judy Garland,
June Allyson and others. After three months of training, Thompson and the Williams
Brothers broke in their show at the El Rancho Room in Las Vegas to a huge ovation.
They drew rave reviews in New York, Los Angeles and across the nation, earning a
peak of $25,000 a week.
Williams, analyzing their success, once said: "Somehow we managed to work up and
sustain an almost unbearable pitch of speed and rhythm."
After five years, the three older brothers, who were starting their own families,
had tired of the constant travel and left to pursue other careers.
Williams initially struggled as a solo act and was so broke at one point that he
resorted to eating food intended for his two dogs.
"I had no money for food, so I ate it," he recalled in 2001, "and it actually was
damned good."
A two-year TV stint on Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" and a contract with Cadence Records
turned things around. In the 1960s. Williams later formed his own label, Barnaby
Records, which released music by the Everly Brothers, Ray Stevens and Jimmy Buffett.
Williams was a lifelong Republican who once accused President Obama of "following
Marxist theory." But he acknowledged experimenting with LSD, opposed the Nixon administration's
efforts in the 1970s to deport John Lennon, and, in 1968, was an energetic supporter
of Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign. When Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles
in June 1968, just after winning the California Democratic primary, Williams sang
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" at his funeral.
"We chose that song because he used it on the campaign trail," Williams later said
of Kennedy, who had been a close friend. "He had a terrible voice but he loved to
sing that song. The only way I got through singing in church that day was by saying,
'This is my job. I can't let emotion get in the way of the song.' I really concentrated
on not thinking about him."
After leaving TV, Williams headed back on the road, where his many Christmas shows
and albums made him a huge draw during the holidays. One year in Des Moines, however,
a snowstorm kept the customers away, and the band's equipment failed to reach Chicago
in time for the next night's show, forcing the musicians to borrow instruments from
a high school band.
"No more tours," Williams decreed.
He decided to settle in Branson, the self-proclaimed "live entertainment capital
of the country," with its dozens of theaters featuring live music, comedy and magic
acts.
When he arrived in 1992, the town was dominated by country music performers, but
Williams changed that, building the classy, $13 million Andy Williams Moon River
Theater in the heart of the city's entertainment district and performing two shows
a night, six days a week, nine months of the year. Only in recent years did he begin
to cut back to one show a night.
Not surprisingly, his most popular time of the year was Christmas, although he acknowledged
that not everyone in Hollywood accepted his move to the Midwest.
"The fact is most of my friends in L.A. still think I'm nuts for coming here," he
told The Associated Press in 1998.
He and his second wife, the former Debbie Haas, divided their time between homes
in Branson and Palm Springs, where he spent his leisure hours on the golf course
when Branson's theaters were dark during the winter months following Christmas.
Retirement was not on his schedule. As he told the AP in 2001: "I'll keep going until
I get to the point where I can't get out on stage."
-30


-Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Amateur (ham) Radio Operator K6YBV
916/ 806-9551

The crime of taxation is not in the taking of it. It's in the way it's spent.
--Will Rogers March 20, 1932