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Transitions - Andy Williams
US singer Andy Williams dies
American crooner Andy Williams, once described by Ronald Reagan as a national treasure, has died of bladder cancer. He was 84.
In a career spanning seven decades, Williams's distinctive mellow sound and easygoing television shows made him a household name in the United States and around the world.
He started singing professionally with his three brothers in the Williams Brothers Quartet before launching his solo career in 1952.
Though hardly edgy or fashionable in the music industry, his signature movie tunes are unforgettable.
Williams was best known for the song Moon River - the Oscar-winning tune featured in the film Breakfast At Tiffany's.
His other hits include Love Story and Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You.
Williams was at the height of his powers in the 1960s, with a TV musical variety show for which the stars lined up, including figures such as Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
His voice so sweet, it almost did not matter that he was also famous for his cardigans.
Williams began singing as a child in a church in Wall Lake Iowa. Then, with his older brothers, he sang on a Des Moines radio station, but did not like it.
"I would much rather have played baseball than rehearsing after school and singing in a radio show," he said.
He went solo in the '50s but struggled until landing regular primetime television appearances and finally, a recording contract.
"I didn’t have a record and I had to work in really dumb clubs that didn’t appreciate what I was doing at all," he said.
Twenty hit albums, three Emmy awards and homespun Christmas specials made him a household name, but nothing in his career compared to the response he would get for just Moon River, first heard over dinner with composer Henry Mancini.
Williams always said he never tired of singing it and when musical tastes moved on he opened the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, and continued to perform it, even after being diagnosed with bladder cancer last year.
In a book about his life he revealed he always struggled to get over something his father said to him as a boy – that he had to practice harder because he was not as good as others.
"That's a terrible thing I think for a father to say to a seven-year-old kid, but it was his way to get my brothers and me to work more, and to practice," he said.
"When your father says something like that to you – that you’re not as good – I mean that’s what you remember. So all my life I’ve really figured I wasn’t quite as good as the rest, but I worked hard."
Williams is survived by his wife Debbie and three children Robert, Noelle and Christian, all from his first wife, French-born dancer Claudine Longet.
He and Longet divorced in 1975 and the following year she was charged with fatally shooting her ski-racer boyfriend Spider Sabich in Aspen.
Williams stood by her side throughout the trial. He wed Debbie Meyer in 1991.
Williams was a close friend of Bobby Kennedy and was present when the Democratic presidential candidate was assassinated in June 1968.
He solemnly sang Battle Hymn of the Republic at Kennedy's funeral at the request of his widow Ethel.
Williams' golden period saw a string of hits including Butterfly, Can't Get Used to Losing You, Happy Heart, and Where Do I Begin, the theme song from the 1970 blockbuster film, Love Story.
His 1967 recording of Music to Watch Girls By was a surprise hit in Britain when it was re-released to a new young TV audience in 1999 after being featured in a series of television ads.
ABC/AFP
Andy Williams has crossed the River.
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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating
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