ANDY WILLIAMS
Andy Williams began his amazing career in his hometown of Wall Lake, Iowa. It was there he began singing with his three brothers in a local Presbyterian church choir that was established by his parents.
At the tender age of 8, Andy made his professional singing debut as part of the Williams Brothers Quartet. The brothers became regulars on radio station WHO’s “Iowa’s Barn Dance Show” in Des Moines, Iowa. From there, the brothers continued their radio days being prominently featured on national stations like WLS in Chicago and WLW in Cincinnati.The widespread radio exposure brought the boys a considerable following which eventually caught the attention of Bing Crosby. With Crosby, Andy and his brothers made their first professional recording, Swinging on a Star” which became a tremendous hit in 1944.
In 1947, Andy and his brothers teamed up with comedienne Kay Thompson ( who also wrote the popular children’s book series “Eloise”) for a successful, trend setting nightclub act. Thompson and the brothers spend the next few years performing all over the United States and in London.But it all came to an end in 1951 as the group disbanded and each brother went their own way.Andy chose to move to New York and continued to pursue his vocal career.While in New York, Andy became a regular performer on Steve Allen’s “Tonight Show”. For 2 ½ years he appeared on the “Tonight Show” which led to his first recording contract with Cadence Records.
It wasn’t long before Andy had his first top 10 hit with “Canadian Sunset”. What followed was a string of hits that included “Butterfly”, “Lonely Street”, “The Village of St. Bernadette”, and “The Hawaiian Wedding Song” for which he received the first of his five Grammy Awards nominations.
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