Before Andy Williams sang solo, he performed with his three older brothers, Bob, Dick, and Don, as The Williams Brothers. Born in Wall Lake, the sons of Jay and Florence Williams, the boys got their start by singing in a choir at the Presbyterian Church in Wall Lake. When Bob was 14 and Don was 11, they could already envision themselves as a quartet, just as soon as smaller brothers Dick, 8, and Andy, 6, were older. A year later the family moved to Des Moines, where the boys started to singing on local Des Moines radio.Don Williams recalls today, "We worked so hard. We had a show every morning at 8 a.m. on WHO, and on Saturday we were on the 'Barn Dance.' Sometimes we even had a Sunday show, and we practiced five hours daily." It was mid-July 1940 the family packed up its belongings, again, for the move to Chicago and "the break of a lifetime" - a year's contract with radio station WLS. The boys were told they would sing as a quartet but also have the chance to perform solos and duets on the air. From Chicago, the singing act and their parents moved to Cincinnati where the boys performed on radio station WLW, before they set off for Hollywood for a chance at the movies. In Los Angeles, the boys made their first professional recording, singing with Bing Crosby on the award-winning hit "Swinging on a Star" (1944). The Williams Brothers had been signed by MGM, but the studio loaned the group out for "specialty numbers" in movies produced at Warners, RKO and Republic studios. They appeared in "Janie" and "Kansas City Kitty," both in 1944, and "Ladies' Man" in 1947, the same year the quartet appeared with singing star Deanna Durbin in "Something in the Wind." It was during this time, that the Williams boys met singer/actress/comedienne Kay Thompson, at MGM. Thompson was then a vocal coach/vocal arranger at MGM asked the boys to join her and do an act, together. Don Williams recalls, "The act was so packed with entertainment that it was exhausting. We rehearsed eight hours a day for three months just to get one hour's worth of material." In addition to singing the brothers danced and did vignettes with Thompson, who did all the musical arrangements, with top ranked Bob Alton, of MGM, doing the choreography. "It was a very popular act," Don Williams says, and drew crowds wherever it played across the nation and overseas. In New York City, legendary columnist Walter Winchell "loved us," Williams says. "He was very taken with the act. He wrote about it every day, or at least it seemed he did." When the act ended its successful run in 1953, the brothers went their own ways to develop their own solo acts. Don Williams returned to Los Angeles, where he he found work on TV, singing on the Eddie Fisher and Nat King Cole television shows, as well as singing commercials and later opening the then brand new Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, performing there for two years. (October 9, 1922 - December 30, 2022). Dick Williams landed on Broadway, before moving to Los Angeles where he continued singing, writing and conducting. Bob Williams got out of the business, joining the his father in real estate ventures in Branson. And, of course, Andy launched his own spectacular career in New York and continued to perform at his own Moon River Theater in Branson, MO. But when Andy had his popular network television show, all of the brothers continued to perform with him on his yearly Christmas specials.
2007
Weton-Wesgram
2xCD, Comp
2001
Definitive Records (4)
CD, Comp
1971
1970
2020
Real Gone Music
CD, Album, Comp, RM
2017
BGO Records
2xCD, Album, Comp, RM
2012
Memory Lane Media Ltd
3xCD, Comp
2003
Collectables
CD, Comp
2002
GNP Crescendo, GNP Crescendo, GNP Crescendo
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2002
GNP Crescendo
CD, Album, Comp, Box
1997
Reader's Digest Music
3xCD, Comp
1995
1969
1964
Columbia, Stereo Seven LP
7", Jukebox
1963
2012
Memory Lane Media Ltd
3xCD, Comp + Box
2009
Sepia Records (2)
3xCD, Comp, RE, RM
2009
Weton
12xCD, Comp
2006
MasterSong
CD, Comp
2005
Jasmine Records
2xCD, Comp, Mono
2005
2003
2002
LaserLight Digital
CD, Comp
2001
St. Clair
CD, Comp
1998
Flashback Records, Turner Records
CD, Comp
1997
601 Music
CD, Comp
1996
1995
1964
CBS, CBS
7", EP, Mono
CBS, CBS
LP, Comp, Mono
The Williams Brothers
The Williams Brothers
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The Williams Brothers
The Williams Brothers
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