Moon River and Me

September 1, 2009
Octogenarian crooner submits his Horatio Alger tale.

In the 1960s, easy-listening icon Andy Williams's velvety voice and handsome mug became associated with a culturally conservative side of America that never embraced rock'n' roll. But as we learn in this surprisingly candid memoir, Williams endured a pre-success hard-knock life that rivaled the squalid upbringings of many country singers or rock stars. Raised during the Great Depression in tiny Wall Lake, Iowa, a pre-adolescent Williams and his brothers were pushed hard by their hyperambitious manager father, singing at local church socials and anywhere else they could find work. Soon the family was living a peripatetic working-class existence, moving to Des Moines, then Chicago, then Los Angeles, doing radio shows and picking up the odd decent-paying gig. In L.A., however, his father's dogged persistence paid off when he got the brothers bit parts in a few Hollywood films. However, making it as a solo act in the post–World War II entertainment landscape nearly undid the workaholic singer. At his lowest point he was playing dingy nightclubs to little acclaim and sleeping in vermin-ridden flophouses—he once even resorted to eating dog food. Even as he began to have success on television, hosting the Andy Williams Show, while becoming a million-selling recording artist, life was still tough. Two marriages ended in divorce, and one ex-wife, singer Claudine Longet, was later involved in a controversial shooting. The author's peak years in the late'60s are the least compelling, as Williams rambles on about the fruits of success: art collecting, investing in Arabian horses, celebrity golf tournaments and run-ins with the Rat Pack, Elvis, John Lennon and seemingly every major or minor showbiz luminary of the day.

Equal parts oddly compelling and eye-crossingly dull.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 15, 2009
Pop icon Williams's memoir is an entertaining look at a show-business life that began in Iowa and progressed steadily to a worldwide career. After the Williams Brothers Quartet (Andy Williams and his three brothers) broke up in the early 1950s, Williams went out on his own, at first with little success. Eventually, he was given his own television variety show in 1962 and became one of the best-known pop crooners in the post-World War II era. His book is a treasure trove of anecdotes from the celebrity world. He was acquainted with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Chico Marx, Michael Jackson, Elton John, and Fred MacMurray; Williams was a fast friend of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. The singer's fans will be absorbed by his accounts of his early years in the Midwest and Hollywood, his marriage to Claudine Longet and his role in her trial for manslaughter, and his therapeutic use of LSD. VERDICT An entertaining read for those who love celebrity biographies or autobiographies, especially those who remember the pop scene in the 1950s and 1960s.Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
Williams details his long life in show business in this engaging autobiography. Born in 1927 in Wall Lake, Iowa, Williams formed a singing group with his brothers when they were children. Thanks to the efforts of their determined father, the Williams Brothers were soon moving around the country pursuing fame via radio shows and small concerts. After meeting Bing Crosby at one of their radio gigs and thus gaining access to connections in the industry, the Williams Brothers began to attract even more attention, eventually working for Warner Brothers and appearing in more than half a dozen movies. In time, the brothers began to drift apart, and Andy pursued a solo career. He details his struggles, ceaselessly performing and touring, and his successes, especially appearing on the Tonight Show, which led to a series of Andy Williams Show specials. He also was recording and gaining a fan base during this time and soon began performing regularly in Las Vegas, eventually gaining 18 gold and three platinum albums. Readers will enjoy this story, which is nicely peppered with anecdotes and stories of other famous people in Williams sphere, including ex-wife Claudine Longet, friends Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, Judy Garland, and many more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)