It is with great sadness we announce the passing of
ANDY WILLIAMS
Hear Andy perform "Sunny"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZpeAHxvssw
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Andy Williams dies; ‘Moon River’ singer was 84
Andy Williams, whose languid
crooning style and disarming presence propelled him to recording and
television stardom in the 1960s, with hits including “Moon River” and
the inescapable holiday jingle “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the
Year,” died Sept. 25 at his home in Branson, Mo. He was 84.
SUNNY 95 WSNY radio announces the passing of Williams
http://www.wsny.net/pages/14341026.php?contentType=4&contentId=11501903
The singer announced last year at an appearance at the Moon River Theater in Branson that he was suffering from cancer.
Williams, who grew up in Wall Lake, Iowa, made his professional singing
debut at age 8 with his three brothers as part of the Williams Brothers
Quartet.
Featured on radio stations nationwide, the brothers eventually drew the
attention of Bing Crosby, who joined them to record the 1944 hit
"Swinging on a Star."
ANDY WILLIAMS
An Evening with Andy Williams: Live from the Royal Albert Hall 1978
by Joe Viglione
Tuesday May 30, 1978 at 8 p.m.
Andy Williams performed with the
London Symphony Orchestra
at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Utilized for a two-part television
special An Evening with Andy Williams features the legend in concert as
well as in conversation with Benny Green. It's an elegant, glitzy and
sensational set of performances which opens up with outside footage and
the entourage arriving,
Williams enters from the back of the audience to
John Georgiadis leading a
London Symphony Orchestra which is both spirited and flawless.
Williams' personal musicians, lead guitarist Bruce Windham, pianist
Dick Shreve, drummer
John Sumner, and
Gary Walters on bass supplement the orchestra marvelously. During the "Love Story" medley it is essentially the vocalist with
Shreve's
piano filling the hall with a quiet authority. It's hard to complain
about a first-class presentation like this, however, the truncated
versions of his biggest hits -- say "Happy Heart" -- are a bit
frustrating. The cover of
Barry Manilow's cover of an
Engelbert Humperdinck
track -- "I Can't Smile Without You" -- gets more facetime than "Moon
River" which is present as the Overture. It's a tour de force of medleys
and classics like "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" melting into "I Can't
Stop Loving You" paced exquisitely and displaying the dexterity of the
musicians who seamlessly give
Williams' voice a platform to glide gracefully over and through. read more here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/an-evening-with-andy-williams-live-from-the-royal-albert-hall-1978-mw0001488108
WILLIAM RUHLMANN REVIEWS
BORN FREE by Andy Williams which includes Bobby Hebb's "Sunny"
In the Arms of Love, released only four months before
Born Free, had sold disappointingly.
Williams reacted by dropping the bossa nova and the oldies and looked more to the recent pop charts for covers like
Bobby Hebb's "Sunny." He even recorded "I Want to Be Free" (AKA "I Wanna Be Free") from
the Monkees'
first album. And he scored a Top 40 hit with a pop/rock arrangement of
"Music to Watch Girls By," the tune that originated on a Diet Pepsi
commercial and had been an instrumental hit for the Bob Crewe
Generation. At a time when non-rock pop singers were beginning to be
marginalized,
Williams successfully threaded the needle, reassuring his older listeners while proving adaptable to current trends. Read more here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/born-free-mw0000842522
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The album was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by
Collectables Records on March 23, 1999, the other album being Williams's
Columbia release from the fall of 1967,
Love, Andy.
[11] It was also released as one of two albums on one CD by
Sony Music Distribution on May 14, 2001, paired this time with Williams's
Columbia album from December 1966,
In the Arms of Love.
[12] The original album covers are displayed side by side on the front of these CD reissues, and it is clear that the color of the
Born Free
cover has been enhanced considerably for the Collectables release, as
Williams's suntanned face from the original LP cover shown on the Sony
release now has a more psychedelic orange glow. The Collectables CD was
included in a box set entitled
Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1, which contains 17 of his studio albums and three compilations and was released on June 26, 2001.
[13]
Andy Williams, a TV Star When Variety Shows Were Just Hanging On
Andy Williams,
who died Wednesday at the age of 84,
was mostly known for his mellow crooning style but he was, for much of
the 1960’s, well traveled in the declining genre called the variety
show.
“The Andy Williams Show,” appeared in various forms, and for
various networks — Mr. Williams had shows on each of the three
broadcast networks during his career. He started with summer series
first on ABC in 1958, and then on CBS in 1959, but he was best known for
his initial five-year run on NBC.
