Andy Williams

Andy Williams was a silky-voiced crooner whose music, showmanship, and long-running TV series made him a superstar in the ’50s and ’60s. Years after his death in 2012, his renditions of standards and Christmas favorites remain fixtures in pop culture. • Born in Iowa, Andy Williams excelled at singing from a young age. Alongside his brothers Don, Bob and Dick, he formed The Williams Brothers, a quartet that earned paying gigs and performed on the radio. • Williams went solo in the early ’50s and scored a major hit with 1957’s “Butterfly”, which reached No. 1 in the US and the UK. • The singer remained a reliable hitmaker through the ’60s and into the ’70s. He returned to the US Top 10 with “Lonely Street” (1959), “The Village of St. Bernadette” (1960), “Can’t Get Used to Losing You” (1963) and “Where Do I Begin (Love Story)” (1971). • He’s perhaps best known for his rendition of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s “Moon River”, which he performed at the 1962 Academy Awards. • In the US alone, Williams’ sprawling discography includes three platinum and 15 gold albums. • Over the course of his career, Williams earned six Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year for 1963’s Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests. He hosted the Grammys every year from 1971 to 1977. • Throughout the ’60s, Williams hosted the NBC variety program The Andy Williams Show. Thanks to his regular Christmas specials—and his festive sweaters—he became known as “Mr. Christmas”. • Williams died of cancer on 25 September 2012 at age 84. • In the latter half of the 2010s, his 1963 holiday classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” began making the Billboard Hot 100 each December. In January 2021, the song reached a new peak, No. 5.