When Radio Made You Horny: Andy Williams Is Dead At 84

Researching the roots of music has always been an incredible source to locate "Radio" water. If there's one thing I learned from Program Director Bill Conway, "Anybody can talk about where a song lands on the charts but barely a jock knows of the soul where the sounds found faith to grow. That's why I brought you down from Montana. Find me a story." Before the internet God made big thick books not associated with Encyclopedia Britannica. There was once a time when walking into my extremely small apartment on the south side of Charlotte meant wading through spread wide open mounds of well typed out chapters bled from the Rock that vows to never to collect moss. Getting from the car to a seven second song intro cost more energy than sweat glands are capable of cooling. The payoff was more explosive than a full pack of freshly unwrapped Bubble Yum gum. I didn't just study the writers, producers, singers and banjo players hired for one studio session. Being face first in a burst of music slapped common sense completely off the map and replaced it with relationship. No wonder my first marriage exploded into a billion light years from reality. I buried my heart on for music in the wrong hole. So what does it mean when the music machines that once burned my eyes close theirs a final time. I'm easily hurt. Crushed by huge woofers melted together by the heat of multiple beats slammed up against a wall that somehow someway penetrated all who play this thing called music. RollingStone reports today that Andy Williams, the golden-voiced singer known for "Moon River" and his popular TV Christmas specials, has died following a year-long battle with bladder cancer, his publicist confirmed to the Associated Press on Wednesday. He was 84. Williams recorded 18 gold and three platinum records during a career that spanned more than 70 years. His relaxed, low-key vocal style, once called "a national treasure" by President Ronald Reagan, made him an easy-listening icon, an image reinforced by The Andy Williams Show. Airing in various formats from 1959-71, the show featured Williams along with regular guests including the Osmonds, Bobby Darin and the New Christy Minstrels. Williams also became known for clean-cut Christmas specials. Born December 3rd, 1927, in Iowa, he began performing with three siblings as the Williams Brothers when he was 11 years old. Williams launched a solo career in 1953, compiling a steady stream of pop hits on cuts including "Canadian Sunset," "Are You Sincere" and his only Number One single, "Butterfly." "Moon River" became his signature song after he recorded the Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini tune for his 1962 album, Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes. The song was so closely associated with Williams that he named his theater in Branson, Missouri, after it when the venue opened in 1992. Although Williams continued to tour in short bursts, the Moon River Theatre became his performing home for most of the past 20 years, and also displayed portions of Williams' world-class art collection, which included works by Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Richard Diebenkorn and Paul Klee. Williams is survived by his wife, Debbie, and his three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian.