FROM the start, the odds were stacked against the kid from Port Elizabeth – as much as they always seemed to be stacked against laaities from townships throughout South Africa.
But Danny Williams was different: he had a voice that melted hearts. Even as a teenager, he could tie tassels to the ballads of great international stars such as Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole. This, anyway, was how his fans in the Windy City viewed him.
And echoing a refrain repeated countless times, they said: “All he needs is a break."
In 1959, he got it…
At age 14, Williams moved beyond singing in his church choir by entering a popular music talent show. Although there were some flaws – most notably with diction – in his rendition of Faith Can Move Mountains, there was no mistaking his raw talent and the confident way he was able to take ownership of the song.
It won him top prize and a spot on a highly popular travelling show called the Golden City Dixies. The significance of his achievement was highlighted by the fact that some of South Africa’s top “coloured” musicians, including singers Zayne Adams and Sammy Hartman, and jazz saxophonist Harold Jepthah, and, in later years, singer-songwriter Jonathan Butler, took their first confident steps to stardom with the support of the Dixies.
Like the musical King Kong and several other black South African shows, the Dixies set off to the UK in 1959 in search of fame and fortune.
In London, Williams’s “faith that could move mountains” was bolstered by Norman Newell, the recording manager of EMI’s His Master’s Voice (HMV) label. In Williams, Newell spotted the makings of a new Johnny Mathis.
Impressed by the South African’s good looks and high tenor voice, he immediately signed Williams to the HMV label, releasing Tall a Tree as his first single. But it flopped. And so did his second, third and fourth releases. It was only in 1961, with his fifth release, We Will Never be as Young as this Again, that Williams achieved his first hit – a decidedly minor one.
But fame, in dollops that Williams could never have imagined, was just around the corner…
In 1961, the Blake Edwards movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Audrey Hepburn, was released. Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer wrote Moon River as the theme song for the movie. It earned the songwriting duo a best song Oscar.
The American version of the song was a hit for soul singer Jerry Butler.
When Newell suggested to Williams that Moon River was “made for his voice”, the response he received was, well, underwhelming. Williams stopped just short of saying, “Absolutely not!”.
He explained later that he had been reluctant to record the song because part of the lyrics (“ We’re after the same Rainbow’s end / Waitin’ round the bend / My Huckleberry friend”) made little sense.
Fortunately for him, he relented after seeing the film.
Described as “the definitive” ballad, Moon River became a Christmas No 1 in 1961, staying on top of the charts for 19 weeks. Williams’s hero, Nat King Cole, was approached to record the song as a solo single, but turned it down, saying that he could not do a better job than Danny Williams.
The song was subsequently covered by many others, including Andy Williams, who adopted it as his theme song. Though Williams had several other ballads in the lower reaches of the charts, he never repeated the success of Moon River, and spent most of the remainder of his career on the nightclub and cabaret circuit, where he retained a faithful following.
In 1962, Williams had three Top 20 hits, Jeannie, The Wonderful World of the Young and Tears. But genres rise and fall, sometimes in what seemed like the blink of an eye. In February 1963, Williams joined a 20-city tour in which the headline act was Helen Shapiro. Interestingly, on that bill was a guitar group that did not attract all that much attention at that time. They called themselves The Beatles, but by the end of the tour they had secured themselves a No 1 hit with a song called Please, Please Me. It signalled the close of the age of the balladeers, and ushered in the beat group era.
It was not a comfortable time for Williams. He joined the nightclub circuit, enjoying mixed success. But the personal problems began mounting too.
In 1968, he had a nervous breakdown. Two years later, he declared himself bankrupt; the consequences of a lifestyle that the Playboy Club in London’s Park Lane played a central role.
Williams started singing again in the 1970s, but did not come to national attention again until 1977 when he recorded Dancin’ Easy, based on a jingle from a well-known Martini commercial. It reached the Top 30. In 1994, he starred in a Nat King Cole tribute show.
In the 1990s, Williams returned to South Africa several times, but continued to live in Britain.
He died on December 6, 2005, aged 63. He was married three times.
Danny Williams – Moon River lyrics
Moon river, wider than a mile
I’m crossing you in style some day
Oh dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you’re going, I’m going your way
Two drifters, off to see the world
There’s such a lot of world to see
We’re after the same rainbow’s end, waiting ‘round the bend
My Huckleberry friend, Moon River and me
(Two drifters, off to see the world)
(There’s such a lot of world to see)
We’re after the same rainbow’s end, waiting ‘round the bend
My Huckleberry friend, Moon River, and me