Singer and variety show host Andy Williams died on Tuesday and there is a very good reason why today’s hip hop generation should know him: He introduced mainstream America to Motown.
The music industry is rife with people who take credit for this seachange or that seachange, but the history books all point to one man, Andy Williams, as the personality who allowed the beauty of Black music to be showcased on his stage during the turbulent 60s.
Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Supremes, the Temptations and Michael Jackson graced stage of the Andy Williams variety show. Motown Records would have not been the worldwide sensation without the help of the humble–yet fiesty–Williams. No Supremes, no Destiny’s Child. No Jackson 5, no Mindless Behavior. No James Brown, no Prince. Williams’ act of giving Black music a forum when the country was tearing itself apart along racial lines is an act that cannot be whitewashed or swept under the rug.
So yes, the obituaries will read that Williams performed the most famous version of Moon River, or that his Christmas specials brought the older generation to tears, or that his variety show was a safe space for those conservative types who did not want to be tainted by the Rolling Stones, know that Williams did have another side that also deserves a mention.
Andy Williams was 84.
