Andy Williams dies - PG Music Forums

Not one of my favorites, but I'm glad we got to see him.

I really like, "Lonely Street", "Butterfly", "I Like Your Kind Of Love", "Canadian Sunset" on Cadence and "Can't Get Used To Losing You", "A Fool Never Learns" on Columbia.

He bought Cadence Records (Everly Brothers, etc.) from Archie Bleyer when Archie retired. Then reissued (1970's?) his "Greatest Hits" on Cadence excluding "Butterfly", his only #1 record!

(On "Butterfly", he covered Charlie Gracie's hit, with an Elvis Presley style. It didn't conform to "Moon River" Andy. I thought that was funny.)

If you don't like part of your past---it never happened!

Strange. The report (bio) that I read from Reuters did not mention the Grammys at all.

There wouldn't be a Grammys without Andy Williams. He used his power after "Moon River" to make and sustain the telecast.

(I much prefer Jerry Butler's version of "Moon River".)

Tiny man. Shocking. He didn't look at all small on TV

Enormous life!

Not quite my kind of music, but I have to admit he was a great performer. Sad to see yet another of the old stars go out.

ROG.

I was never a fan but never disliked him either.

I used to eat at an Italian restaurant frequently. One day Leilani and I were sitting, waiting for our meal, and the song "Speak Softly Love" from "The Godfather" movie was playing. Occupational delight: Leilani and I listen intently to everything and evaluate it.

When Andy got to the end of the song, we were stunned. We both looked at each other with wide eyes and almost gasped. From the key change at about 2:00 to the end of the song the performance is truly spectacular. The emotion and the pure singing skill is astounding. Especially at 2:30 to the end when he drifts up higher and higher while his voice is lighter and lighter but the emotion is even more intense than before. Stunned, all we could say was "Wow"!

So we asked the waitress if she knew who was singing that song. She went into the back and brought the cassette out. We both remarked, "Andy Williams?!?!?!?"

We always knew he was a good singer, but not really liking the genre he is involved with, we never really listened to him that much. What we didn't know until that day was that Andy Williams was a great singer.

Just listened to it again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQBW6G0hSrs and I still get chills down my spine.

I don't care if that is your preferred genre of music, or even if you hate the song, any musician should be able to appreciate the taste and the chops he displayed on that song.

Since then we've heard some kitsch by Andy (we all do that) and some other great performances. Not always necessarily my cup of tea, but always done well, artistically, and appropriately for the song.

RIP Andy and thanks for the music in my head and for the thrill in that pizza parlor that almost brought tears to our eyes.

Notes

OK, I didn't even know that lyrics had been applied to the haunting Godfather theme!

I don't think I've ever heard (or don't recall ever hearing) Andy Williams sing falsetto. I knew he had range, but, my goodness!

After 2:35 this vocal is extraordinary. The net said it was a 1972 release. His obit said he was born in 1927.

That makes him 44 or 45 years old when he recorded this.

That's not just extraordinary, that's mind boggling.

Not only would I have had the same reaction that you and your wife did in the restaurant, I had that reaction just listening to it on the computer and knowing something was coming after 2:00.

Thank you for posting the link, Notes! (over 2.5 million hits)

P.S. I agree completely with your comments about musicians / genres.

Agreed, one of the old masters moving on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wepShUclRmo&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Yep, that's a beautiful Neil Sedaka song. Andy Williams will be missed.

For me, I always loved Happy Heart, not because it's such a great song, but that I first heard it when I was 10 years old and it just stuck with me and I'm a nostalgic kind of guy.

Quote:

... I first heard it when I was 10 years old and it just stuck with me and I'm a nostalgic kind of guy.

me too!

This is my first memory of Andy..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flm4xcOyiCo

Quote:

<...>
I don't think I've ever heard (or don't recall ever hearing) Andy Williams sing falsetto. I knew he had range, but, my goodness!

After 2:35 this vocal is extraordinary. <...>
That's not just extraordinary, that's mind boggling.

Not only would I have had the same reaction that you and your wife did in the restaurant, I had that reaction just listening to it on the computer and knowing something was coming after 2:00.<...>

At the key change, it seems like he is going to do the standard, bring it up, sing louder, put more edge on your voice, get higher, and belt it out.

But the orchestra gets louder, he goes into falsetto, makes his voice soft and round and as he goes higher he gets softer and rounder making the listener lean into and almost strain to hear him. Then the last note he is almost buried in the orchestra and at the end of the final chord you can hear his release. There is nothing to do then but hold your breath for an instant.

I knew Andy was a good singer. He was from the old school, before auto-tune, multi-track and fix it in the mix. Most of the singers of that generation, Sinatra, Steve Lawrence, Vic Damone, June Christy, Peggy Lee, and so on had decent to excellent chops. But pop music is pop music singers and instrumentalists don't always get to show off what we can do. In this song he showed us he is truly an artist.