tavi good evening fromos geles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight conversation with the legeary entertainer, andy willms. during his nrly 70-year career he's enjoyed success as a platinum-selling recding tist, an ey-winning varie host, a longte grammy ht and a popular las vegas headliner. s rags to rhes story i the subject of his new memr, moon river and me. the ok includes details of he and robt kendy, inclung theirime together when kennedy was assassinated right here in los angeles. we're glad y joined us. andy wliams, coming up right now. >> there are so ma things that wal-mart is looking forward to doing, like lping people liv better. but mostl we're looking forwd to helpinguild stnger communities and relationships. cause of your help, the best is yet t come. >> nationwide insuranceroudly supports tavis smiley. avis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial litera and the economic he will powerment that come wit t. >>ationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs stion from viewers like you. thank you. [captioni made possible by kcet public television] >>leased to welcome andy willms to this program, the legendary entertainer, who has accomplished just about everythingne can in show buness, during what has been rerkable career. details of his unlikely path to success from a ral upbringing in iowa are the subject ofis new memoir, finally, "mo river and me." fore we get to that, though, here are some clasc clips from the emmy-wiing variety show that helped me andy wliams a household nam ♪ moon river wider than a mile ♪ >> ladies and gentmen, andy williams. [applaus ♪ s the girl with the red drs on she can shake it all nig long ♪ hey hy baby it all right ♪ baby it's all right now ♪ baby it's all right ♪ tel your mama tell your pa thl ♪ goingo take you back to kansas ♪ [laughter] >> i bmed around for a lg time and i camout here and i met a girl and i married her. i was married by a ranny in los anles, a re-- a rbi in los angeles, a very reformed rabbi. a iest. ♪ you suddenl hear a bll ♪ and rightway you can tl ♪ that this could be the start of somhing big ♪ this uld be the start of something big ♪ got to be that this coulde the start of something b ♪ [applause] tavis: i think that w a smile on your face. i loveatching those clips. >i just love singing wi tony bennett. at was a treat. and count bae, of course, and ray charles. had a very charmed, lucky li to havhad a series of tevision shows for 10 years that gave an opportunity to sing withll these great singers. it was just fun, it rely was. tavis: before the camera -- beforee came on camera, sometimes i've said many tes that best part this show is the conversations iet a chance to have with these ics either before the camera starts rling or ter it stops rolling, when finish the coersation. and you were starting to tel me, before we came ocamera here, about the book and we were taing about your rly life, the back sty. and you were sharingith me how you thought that you had wrien perhaps -- >> i did. i thought maybe i had writn o much about my father and gettinus started and my brothers and me singing on the dio for so many years. it was his passion, real, not mine, to be a suessful radio performer, which is what he wanted his boys to be. i was 7 yearsld when we started. i would just as soon being o playing kick t can or baseball. but he, sort of like thesmond brothers family, when ey came on my shown the early 1960's, they were about e same age as myrothers and i were when we started. an like the osmond broths' father, gege, he had this determination that we wereoing tmake something andet us out of wall lake, iowa,his little to where we were living during the depressioand to move on to biggernd betr things, and he could see ipossibly through hisons, four boys who could si harmony, which we learned in the church choir. so it was his termination, really, and his work eic, not mine, but one th he instilled in me that kept me gng in times at were really hard, when started siing alone, after being with my brotrs, and kay thompson, you knowfor so many years. then to find out that my brothers didn'tant to continue singing. my brother, n, wanted to be an agent. he nted to be on the othe side, and myrother, dick, wanted to be with harry james' band, which he did. heent with him for about three years. and here i was 22ears old trying tdecide what i could do. i just finished high schl. hadn't gone to college i knew i could sing. so i tookhis shot and took off for new yorko get an agent. 'm talking too much, aren't i? tavis: no, i'm taking it . i want to jump in rig quick, ough, since you gavme the opportunity. i rsed the initial point about the fact that y thought you had wrten too much about the earlier years and y were saying to me that you d been on this tour and you're realizing that people really appreciate knowing the bastory. >> alot of people have said to me that they really have leaed a great deal about rao that they didn't kn and how it could advance your career, en thgh -- we think now of rao as noteing very important, and television is the thinor movies are the thing, or recos are the things. but at the time radio wa in. bingrosby, for instance, whom we met when i was 14ears old, had moreir play, i think, on the radio an any other singer by0 times. he s so big and so important not only from radio anrecords, butrom the movies, and we made record with him cald "swinging on a sta" which is a big, big record. you're too yng to remembe it. but it s a great record. d the williams brothers were on that lo. at started us off, really, in hollywood. tavis: you mentioned a moment ago at this was, of cour, during the era of depressio you had toive through that, were rsed through that. how did your fher, during that particular era -- there were people during the depreion that we jumping out of windows because things were so bad. what gave him reason to belie that thealent that he had or that you all hadould get you out ofhe situation that y weren? >> wl, i mean,e kne that the four boys could sing four-par harmony, evenhough it was hns at the beginning and it was barbershop,ut we could sing there weren't very many families aroundowa who were singers, who could sing like the osmd brotherdid. and so he could see that we had a chance of -- i think it was re getting him out of wall lake, iowa,nd his dressed ea that w led in. of course, everybody was hing hard times, you know, during that time. tavis: you tell funny story in e book, which iove, about the ct that ther wereimes when your father would be indebted to someone, and when he uldn't afford to pay the debt, he wld oftenet the boys sing. >> he was very good at that. [laughter] had a littlerother who died whene was 3 years old, and we didn't have the money give him a dece funeral. my father was able toalk the funeral parlor into taking us in every afternoon after schoolnd all day on saturday a sing hymns during the different services that th put on. and eventually after aew months we paid f the debt. but he did that other times. he would go in-ake us into place i chicago and he'd fits all ouwith sho, and the guy would say, oh, it looks very good on you boys. and my dad wou say, now wve got to figure out how to pay for it. anhe'd work out something. we sang at conveion, floor shime cvention that he knew was coming to town to buyhe shs. but he was vergood at that. tavis: it's on thing -- and you were in hollood, so you know is story better than i do,r certnly as well as-day. there are all kinds of parents who are pusng their ks into things they want their kid to do. by your own admisson, this was your father's dream for you. when did your father's dream become your own? >> well, i realized this dream hacome about fullcircle when i had my own tevision show sand my mother and father wou come every weeand sit in t audience and watch the show. and he i was singing withing crosby and ellaitzgeraldnd tony bennett,ohnny mathis. the jackson 5. eln john. because erybody wanted to be on the sho if they had somethinto sell. you know, if they had a new cord out. likelton john had jt recorded "injure song." we had the sam ant, and my agent said you' got to p this guy on. you've goto put him on. he is absolutely great. so i said, well, ask him to co by and i'd like to hearhe record that you think is so woerful. i ayed the recod and elton was sitting there. he was a young guy. i think he was wearing a black cape and he had horned-ri glasses that werell encrusted with -- tavis: thasounds like elton jo. >> i thoughte was a stranglooking little cat, i must say. but en he sang the song, i said, my god this guy is really something. and then in the book i say, "i wonder whatever happen to him." tavis: howid y develop yr und? i mean, i think o your era, i think of all these crooners, there's you, to your point, thers crosby, there's bing crosby, there's sinatra, there's bennett. how did andy william in the midst of all that, create his own signature sound? >> i dn't create it, it was just tre. i don't think people create thi sound. when i first startedaking records, when i sang for them, he sai one greathing, he says, u don't sound like anybody else. so i just had a sound that was differenthan frank sinatra o tony bnett or johnny mathis or any of the other singers iny ilk. that was important. you know, when you hear nat king coal, you know it's nat "ng" cole. when you hear sinatra, you know it's sinatra. and when you hear me,ou know it's me. i just lked out on that. tavis: how importa was it for you then -- wenow how this story ends. your music has endured, the sound has endured. every ar at my mother's house, ve been hearing the andy willms christmas record. we hear it everyear for certain. whato you make of the fact that music that you have given us has endured through the years? well, i know it has, you know, because run into peopl who tell me all the time how important -- like say, for instance, the christmashows were to thei families. i was in englandne time in manchester, and i wald into a radi stationo do -- to plug the fact tt i was in town. i was working on some concert. and when i walked in, e said, "you'randy williams. said, yeah, wt's left of me. and sheaid, "my mother just los you." she says she plays your records all the time, and you saveder life i said, well, how did i possibly save her le? she said, "well, she had a stroke, and e went into a coma. and since she loved your music much, we decided tolay it day and night over and over and er, because we felt it would wake her up." and ter two weeks, it di she opened her eyes and s said, "ll you turn that damn thg off? i'm sick ofim." [laughter] tavis: you did save her life, though. >> did save her le. glad to be tre to do somhing good. but, i mean, i know that it has affected lot of peoe over the year theusic, and it goes on and on and on. ase get older weose the younger audience, you kw, who are into otherinds of mus. so instead of playing big col seems or 20,00seat places, you get down to 10,000 seats, then 5,000 seats,nd then youet down to 2,000 seats. but those, at lea, are the people that come to seeou, the 2,000 seaters, they really are fans. tavis: to youroint now, how do you ocess that, though? you live ng enough to have gone rough that phase. how do you at ts age process that this is the crow that i now have >> well,ou know thatou're not goingo keep yng. the musikeeps changingvery 20 years oro. but you do have -- you know, you're grateful th you have as many fans that y have at 8 years old. ani have a theater in branson, missouri. seats 2,000. a little more. we do two shows a day. and up until this last year with the recession, we were full mt every time, most every sw. now it's dropped o some. so y know that there are people thastill want to see you. tavi by your own admissi, again, in this book, you would peg your own -- i he this word, but you would peg your heyday in e 1960's. u were the king of the hl back in theay. >> that was aimehen i was doing weey television an making tee albums a year, whic they did then. because you'd go in and you'd d live ssions. you know, i was recorng one thin and dean martin came out and said, "are you still making your album?" i dideaid, "i did mine in one day." tavis:obody cranks out three records -- that's li unheard these days. >> you know, they used to try and get four songs in three hours. tavis: right. >> so you'd use the same band. and nelson riddle or somody would wre the arrangementso you didn't havto make every onof them completely different. the songs would make them dierent. the orchesations would make them dferent. but the musicns are there, a they play it and you sing it. soe used to try and do three sessions, four songs at ch session. and you'dave 12 songs oan album. used to go in and do three of those a year. tavis:hat's amazing. i ised that thing about your heyday because'm curious as to how you move -- let me rephrase th. how do you keep ving when you knowhat you're out of your heday? >> wel you still want to sing, and you know that you've got some fans. you have a lge amount of people thaare still buying your records. so you keep going. i mean, you do it more f yourself tn the fact that you don't have t same amount of fans that you d when you were 25 or something. you know,ony bennett doesn't either. frank sinatra doesn't. of course, he's gone. tavis: speaking of tony benne, i love him. >> i do, too. tavis: great guy i'm going to see h in new york in a couple of weeks. every time i get a chance on see him, i do. i'm sure you're amazed, and i always talk to him about h he has protected his pipes, that voic he has a wholeraining regimen that he goes through. tell me about the fac that you've beeable to protect your voice ove all these years. >> i really don't do much. tavis: justucky like that. >>eah, i'm lucky that way. when i was doing my show, sinatra came innd was doing special of hisand he was warming up in e of the studio in a small sdio, just piano, he s warming up. and e of the writers of my show who knew him quite well went by d said, hlo, frank. frank saidhat are you dng? he said i'm doing t andy williams showdown ere. he says i see you're vocalizing. he said, yeah, i have to. he said,andy never does." frank said, "thanksot." bui never did. it was just easy tsing, you know. i do warm up. before i go on i do some intos, into, into, and that- moo, o, moo, and tha sort of get the vocal chords warmed up. tavis: andt comes. and it comes out. tavis: yourite in the book there's there's so much here. you write abo you friendship withobby kennedy. tell me abt bobby kennedy. >> i was doi the show in the 1960's, and he was at nbc doi some show. i n't know whatt was, "face the nation" or one of those political shows and stopped by the set, and he said, i just wanted t tell you that ethel and all the kids and watch yo show every week and we just love it. i said what are yodoing in town? he said, well, he ca in here dothe show, "face the nation," or whatever it s. and he said i'm staying over a day. i'm going to a birthday par for lou wasrman's wif it her 50th birthy. and i said claw dean a i are ing to be -- claine and i are going to be there. so that's when we got tonow them a little bit that night. the next day i was playing golf with my friend, pierre. tavis: he passed away now. >> yh, he did. i saw him right -- well,e was in a coma whe i saw h, you know. i remember what that lady had said abouter mother. so he lovedne song that i did, and i figed -- every time i stt singing it, he wld start singing it. so i went up close to him and i startedinging, thinking that ght wake him up. didn't. but i rembered what that lady had said, that youan hear when you're a coma, but you jt can'talk, you can't talk. bu anyway, what wer we talking about? oh, bobby kennedy. tavis: yes. >> and so i was plang golf with pierre and when we got ound to the second nine at the refreshment stand, i got a pne call fro cudine a she said bobby kennedy just cald and wants us to come down to palm springs anspend the weeke with ethel and he. and i said,ell, i can't, becausi'm beating prre. and i told pierre that. he say "are you crazy? how could yopass up goingnd spending t weekend with maybe the next president of the uted stat." he said, "doou think bing crosby would havdone that? i mean, you're just dumb." and i id, well, ok. so i wentome and packed and we went dn. and that was the beginning o it. and we just bame very, very good friends. we nev talked politics, because i wasn't into politics at all. we just you know,e asked me if i'd ba delegate f him om california at th convention in 1968. hehade shirley mccin is going to be one, i'dike you to be the other one. so i sai sure, i'd le to. then about month later i called h and i said hope i haven screwed this up. i don't nt to embarrass you or anythingbut i can't do what you asked me to do. i said i can't be a delegate for you for theonvention. he said why not? i said because i'm a rublican. [laughter] he laughed. heaughed and he says, that's all right. if you'll do it for me, i like you to do it. just go wn and regisr as a democrat. and en after i madpresident, you can do whayou want t do. if you want too bac being republican or what. but i neer was political. i just thought he would be great for the country at that time. tavis: what do you make of the fact, thou, that given your friendship, ough, he didn't make it? >> well, i was there the night he wasssassinated and claudine ani were with etel. he said when leave the podium there, i'll wav which i generally do, and we'll meet over at the facto. it's disco restauran very ce one in west los anges. and, of course we never made it there. weent to the hospital. and then it goesn after that. we went back withhe body the next day in the airorce 2 and attended the funeral couple of days later. i sang the battle him hymn of the republic. then wt to washington on t train that took his ody. itas very tragic and it was very hard write bit, because it was something tt i had gone through, but i didn't want to go hrough it again. t i figured that i had to, or i should because it was really large part ofy life in a way. tavis: i'm out of time here. if that was phaps one of the more difcult things torite about, you lookack on your loof now and this moir, wha do you take e most joy in having time to reflect onn this text? >> well, think a lotf it has to do wit that series of my television show, the people i had an opportunity to work with, to sing with, to laugh with, you know, to have jokes and laugh with, sammy davis jr., for instance, who waa good friend. wead so much fun. he was on the sho quite often, and he wa great. the mes in vegas when i first openedaesar's palace in 1966 and all the years dung the 1960's when the t pack were playing down the street at the sands and i w up at the caar's palace. all of those years with, the television and vegas and doing concts and making records, that was rlly -- you know, i loved reading about some of that myself. i wrote about frank and dean and sammy. tavis: well, it's aays tough talking toolk who live such ll lives, because you can't do justic to these memoirs. so much more i wish i couldalk to andy williams about, but i'm out of time. his new book is cled "mo ver and me," the memoir finally from andwilliams. he said wh he came on e set he never wrote a book before. after is one, he doesn have to. you did good job of covering the wondful life you've liv. >>hak you, tis,ery much. i enjoyed talkingo you. tavis: that's our show f toght, catch me on the weekends on pri iernational. i'll see you back here next te on pbs. good night from l.a. and keep the faith. ♪ strange in the night exchanging glances ♪ wondering ithe night what were the chances ♪e'd be sharing love before the night washrough ♪ something in ur eyes was so insighting ♪ something in your smile was so eiting ♪ >> for more informatn on today's show, vis tav smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley, join me next time with a staff writer for the "new yorker malcolm gladwell on s latest book. >> there's so ny things that wal-rt is looking forward to doing, like helpingeople live better. but mostly, we're looking forward helping build ronger commuties and relationshi. because of you help, the best is yet to come. nationwide surance proudly supports tis smiley. tavis and natioide insurance working to improve fincial litecy and the economic empoweent that comes with it. ♪ nationwide is onour side ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs stion from viewers like you. thank you. captioned by the natial captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--