Andy Williams

Andy Williams was an American popular-music singer who died at the age of 84 due to bladder cancer. Over forty-four albums have been recorded during his career and he also starred in the "The Andy Williams Show." In his later years, he starred at his Moon River Theatre, in Branson, Missouri. Born 1927 in Wall Lake, Iowa, he and his brothers formed The Williams Brothers quartet and they performed on radio in the Midwest, first at WHO, in Des Moines, Iowa. They got their big break when the group sang with Bing Crosby on his album, “Swinging on a Star” in 1944. Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers made their debut in Las Vegas in 1947 and became an overnight sensation. Within a year, they were the highest paid nightclub act in the world. He signed a recording contract in 1954 as a solo artist with Cadence Records. In 1962, he became the star of his own weekly television variety show, "The Andy Williams Show" for which he won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program. By 1973, he had earned as