Profile of a crooner

Who doesn't remember the silky vocals of Andy Williams' signature songs “Moon River” and “Love Story”? With the demise of the hit vocalist on September 25 at his home in Branson, Missouri, after a one-year battle of bladder cancer, yet another legend of the '50s and '60s has been lost forever to music history.
In the course of his long career, Williams recorded 18 Gold and 3 Platinum albums. Apart from his magical voice Williams was known as a TV star of the '60s with his own weekly show called “The Andy Williams Show”. His innings included many years of Christmas TV songs.
“Moon River” was of course his piece de resistance. Though the song was written by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini for an incandescent Audrey Hepburn (in the film “Breakfast at Tiffany's), Williams became closely identified with it when he sang it at that the 1962 Academy Awards ceremony. “Moon River” won the Oscar for the Best Song and three Grammy Awards. He also did soundtracks for films like “Days of Wine and Roses” and “The Godfather”.
The success of “Moonriver” spun off into “Moon River Theatre” in Branson which he owned and his autobiography “Moon River and Me: A Memoir”, quite apart from several other ventures.
Williams' solo career began in 1953. Though he started off with six songs for a popular label, none of them were popular hits. His first major breakthroughs were “Canadian Sunset “and” Butterfly”, a core of a Charles Gracie hit with the same name. Also top of the charts were “The Hawaiian Wedding Song”, “Are You Sincere” and “I Like Your Kind of Love” among many others.
To the voice behind these immortals we pay our tribute.