andy williams dead at 84

Singer Andy Williams, 84, has died at his home in Branson, Missouri, a year after being diagnosed with bladder cancer. He was best known for the song Moon River, the Oscar-winning song featured in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. In 1962, he started The Andy Williams Show, which was broadcast around the world and went on to win three Emmys. Since the 1990s, he had run the Andy Williams Moon River Theater in his home town. The singer was one of the most enduring stars of the 1960s and '70s, whose easy style and mellow voice led President Ronald Reagan to call him "a national treasure". A new generation discovered Williams' music when Music to Watch Girls Go By made the Top 10 in 1999 after being used in an advert. Williams started singing professionally with his three brothers He described Moon River as his "signature song" which had a "wonderful" melody and "timeless" lyrics. "I never tried to sing like anybody else, fortunately I didn't sound like anybody else. It just happened," said Williams. "I was very lucky that I had a voice that sounded different to almost anybody else's and it's recognisable." Fellow crooner Tony Christie, who achieved chart success with Is This The Way To Amarillo, descried Williams as "a very charming man" who had "perfect pitch". The singer was "one of the old school," he added, "and there aren't many left". Williams died on Tuesday night and is survived by his wife, Debbie, and his three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian. Global fame Howard Andrew Williams was born in Iowa and started singing professionally with his three brothers as the Williams Brothers Quartet. They worked in night clubs and on radio and backed Bing Crosby on his number one record Swinging on a Star in 1944. Williams' TV show made him an international star and launched a recording career that spawned such hits as Butterfly, Love Story, Can't Get Used to Losing You and Almost There. The weekly show lasted nine years and will be remembered by many for introducing the Osmond family to the world.