Heard the somewhat surprising news of Andy Williams' passing just this morning coming back from my ultrasound appointment. Mind you, he was 84....but still, my impressions were that the legendary singer had the stamina of a bull. He was giving performances all the way in Japan not that long ago.
His golden voice was one I heard regularly on TV and stereo. He had those Xmas specials which came on NBC just about every year just like those for Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Mom had an album of his love songs which she played fairly often. And while I was in Japan, his old TV show, which I may or may not have seen as a toddler, was being re-broadcast on one of the local cable networks every Sunday night. He was one of those entertainers that seemed to have had a more successful legacy in that country than in his native one. The Carpenters can be added to that list.
It was interesting watching "The Andy Williams Show". The broadcasts tended to jump all over the 60s timeline. One episode was from 1963, so Andy and all the guests looked like they just got drafted into the military while wearing dapper suits....then the following week, it was the late 60s with Andy's hair a big shaggier and wearing somewhat more wilder shirts sans tie.
In any case, "Moon River"is just going to get more poignant now.
