Andy Williams' choir-boy appeal likely stems from singing in the Presbyterian church choir his father directed. He backed up Bing Crosby in 1944 as one of the Williams Brothers and went on to become America's second most famous crooner in the velvety-voiced tradition of Der Bingle, sweaters and all. Williams' breezy, laidback-yet-swinging style epitomised easy listening in the '50s and '60s, especially his 1961 rendition of what became his signature song, "Moon River". His lush, jazzy 1963 Christmas album became a holiday staple. He took the most wholesome aspects of American song and ennobled them with his sincerity and a voice like butter.