Forgotten Teen Idols: The Williams Brothers

Saturday, December 08, 2012
Image via MainStreetMallOnline
Long before the world had heard of Justin Bieber and One Direction, there were Andy and David Williams--nephews of the late Andy Williams (by the way, it's hard to believe this holiday season is the first one without Andy still with us.) These twin brothers are probably best known for their appearance in 1974 on The Partridge Family where they had the hots for Laurie Partridge, played by Susan Dey:


They released a few albums in the 70s--mostly capitalizing on The Partridge Family connection. I actually don't think their songs were bad at all--catchy, upbeat music to make young girls swoon, like this doo-wopish, moderate hit they had called "What's Your Name?"


After the album releases, they seem to have made an awful lot of appearances in the teen mags from the day--but oddly enough, I've never heard any woman who grew up during the era say that they had a crush on these kids or even remember much about them. It seems any popularity at the time was due to their connection to their famous uncle and of course, they appeared on his Christmas television specials. Here's a clip of them performing "Hello Mary Lou" on the 1973 Andy Williams Christmas program:


For young teens, they have surprisingly mature voices compared to some of today's singers in the same age range.

After the limelight died down, the Williams boys did some growing up and studied music. In the 90s, they re-emereged on the music scene and had a 1991 hit called "Can't Cry Hard Enough."

Something interesting to note about the duo is that for the second act of their musical career, they shed the bubblegum pop personas for more serious music--opening shows for Suzanne Vega and Roy Orbison. Critics had good things to say about their work, comparing their harmonies to The Everly Brothers, R.E.M. and Bruce Hornsby--which makes it all the more perplexing why we haven't heard more about them since their teeny bopper years. 

David Williams announced in 1994 that he was gay. As of late, there hasn't been much information about Andy and David Williams. Anyone know what they might be up to these days?

54 comments:

  1. Ah, I remember these guys all too well! Well Pam, being 51 (and a big fan of the Partridge Family) I remember teasing my sister about liking this pair (she was a big David Cassidy fan) but she thought they were creepy--I just thought they were the gayest thing I'd ever seen.

    Dammit, now "Say it again" is stuck in my brain! :)

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    1. Mine too! I’m watching the episode right now for the third time this evening!

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    2. I had a major crush on them

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    3. I had a major crush on them, we're talking posters on my wall lol

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    4. Me too Rosey!

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  2. LOL...well Doug, I think most guys probably had the same viewpoint that you did, and indeed, one of them actually is gay. I do think they're kind of cute, though--certainly better than Justin Bieber and with catchier songs, too!

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  3. Had forgotten about them. They remind alot of the Keen Brothers.

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  4. In 1996 they played "The Click Brothers" in the movie Grace of My Heart. They didn't have any lines, they just sang. Beautiful harmonies!

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  5. I want to amend my earlier comments about these guys--this past weekend I listened to all their songs (from the 70s and most recent) on Youtube--they did have a good sound, it's a shame things didn't take off for 'em--Tiger Beat sure did their best to help 'em along though!

    I wonder how tall they were--they look about 8 feet tall in some of those videos...

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  6. Even at that time in Belgium we could watch 'the Andy Williams show' and the magazine 'sixteen' was available too. I was only thirteen at that time ... We never heard of Andy Williams or his nephews later on in Europe. Such a shame. I loved them, and still do.

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  7. I saw them on the partridge family. At the time neither Keith not Donny Osmond did it for me. First time I heard these guys play I was in puppy love! I had all their posters up and I read their every interview, Andy was always my favorite (thanks tiger beat). In Massachusetts their music was impossible to find or even order back then. On a whim I decided to look them up and I'm glad I did! Andy is still a cutie pie well they both are!

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    1. I remember these twins very well. I'll admit to having a crush on them both!

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    2. I am just now watching the episode on Partridge Family with Andy and David!

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  8. Andy is married to a friend of mine. I think the brothers still do the occasional performance now and again.

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    1. I thought they were really cute. They have grown into handsome men.

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    2. Hiya Kari, I just finished watching a Partridge Family repeat episode with the Williams twins. They were amazing and I wondered if they still make public appearances? Thank you much Angelina Rockwell.

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  9. I saw them perform in L.A. at the Troubador back in the '90s and I LOVED THEM!! I really wish they were still performing but I'm not sure they are?

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  10. I grew up with twins and they wanted so badly to meet those guys way back when. They thought for sure they would be perfect for them. Ah memories, our moms loved Andy Williams do it was kinda funny that their kids thought the offspring were just as special. I still love popcorn music. Sugar, Sugar was our favorite song to belt out

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  11. Andy and David Williams, David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, I had a crush on them all. In the 1990's getting married, remodeling a house and adopting a son took precedence over the music scene. It's nice to know the twins made a brief comeback.

    In some ways I liked Andy better, however David had the same bags under his eyes as me. So I had a special connection to him. That made it hard to decide between them.

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  12. On the of their albums released in the late '70's, they recorded a wonderful cover of one of Karen Carpenter's huge hits "I Won't Last A Day Without You". It was an incredible performance and their close harmonies was very well performed. They might not have lasted long, but it IS apparent that they did have natural musical talent and probably gone far and been as well known as their more famous uncle.

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  13. RE: David Williams announced in 1994 that he was gay. As of late, there hasn't been much information about Andy and David Williams. Anyone know what they might be up to these days?

    We just had their father and uncle on our radio show. One brother is now a record producer, while the other is working in real estate. Both are living happy lives out of the limelight.

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  14. I had a crush on both of them in the 70s..Good performers, wish there was more news about them in 2017

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  15. I just watched the episode of The Partridge Family. Their singing was fantastic, their acting not so much. They just seemed uncomfortable and awkward. Maybe if they'd been given better costumes to wear, poor kids......

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  16. It's interesting people are still commenting 5+ years after you wrote this. I recently remembered this twosome and have been reliving their music. Memories are flooding back! I had their Tiger Beat pics all over my room, and crushed on both, mostly Andy. They both have grown to be gorgeous men.

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  17. Just saw that Partridge Family episode this afternoon. The costumes for their performance were SO 70's...but in their other clothes in the episode...they looked just fine.

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  18. I really love their 90s albums. Great harmonies and songs. They should have been huge. I hope they decide to work together again.

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    1. I was wondering if they had a big enough demand they might entertain us one more time. Maybe at their uncle's Moon River in Branson MO.

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  19. I loved their 90s albums. Great harmonies and beautiful songs. They should have been huge. I hope they decide to work together again.

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  20. Just saw them on the Patridge Family episode. Oh yeah, 70s clothes.

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  21. I just saw them in the Partridge episode. First thought they might be the Nelson twins. They did remind me of Chad & Jeremy.

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  22. I had a crush on them back in 1973. We were the same age and I hung their posters on my walls from Tiger Beat magazine. David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, and Donny Osmond is who I also liked.

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    1. I still have some of those magazines today

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  23. One of the first albums that I ever bought was an Andy William's album. I still have it.

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  24. Andy and David,wkw had a Hugh crush on them both back in the day.they were a couple years older then me.didn't know David was gay.it wasn't easy to come out back then,I came out in 95 my self at he 29.they both grew up to be very handsome.

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  25. Just watched them again, Love them!

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  26. I definately had a crush on the twins back in the 70's. They were 4 yrs.older than me and I thought they were so cute. My friend gave me her poster of them as she did not like them. They were very pale blonde skinny and tall like me. Aaaahhh the good old days!

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  27. Well now , it’s 2020 and I just this episode on late night Antenna TV . Very cute kids ! I thought they were manufactured / dubbed musicians. Like so many teen stars were .... Big voices for such tiny, young guys..
    I would love to see them as adult performers . Those harmonizing skills were very , very giood .yes, I’m thinking of the Everly Brothers . Their harmonizing on songs like , ‘Lord of the Manor’ and ‘Empty Boxes’ are the finest harmonizing I’ve ever heard . So when I compare the Williams Brothers to the Everly Brothers it high praise .
    I wonder why they just quit . Prolly because the harder stuff was coming out and they were written off as bubblegum. Bad timing and perhaps the blessing of being on-the Partridge Family was a curse , too . Never being able to rise above the suspicions of being created and dubbed musicians . Look what The Monkees went thru to be taken seriously .
    Would really love to see them perform and record again . I did not see them in this episode first run .
    Actually tonight was my first time seeing The Partridge Famiily . I was interested who they were when I had the chance to research them . Now that’s a certain kind of charisma . Please tell me more ..

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  28. Well now , it’s 2020 and I just this episode on late night Antenna TV . Very cute kids ! I thought they were manufactured / dubbed musicians. Like so many teen stars were .... Big voices for such tiny, young guys..
    I would love to see them as adult performers . Those harmonizing skills were very , very giood .yes, I’m thinking of the Everly Brothers . Their harmonizing on songs like , ‘Lord of the Manor’ and ‘Empty Boxes’ are the finest harmonizing I’ve ever heard . So when I compare the Williams Brothers to the Everly Brothers it high praise .
    I wonder why they just quit . Prolly because the harder stuff was coming out and they were written off as bubblegum. Bad timing and perhaps the blessing of being on-the Partridge Family was a curse , too . Never being able to rise above the suspicions of being created and dubbed musicians . Look what The Monkees went thru to be taken seriously .
    Would really love to see them perform and record again . I did not see them in this episode first run .
    Actually tonight was my first time seeing The Partridge Famiily . I was interested who they were when I had the chance to research them . Now that’s a certain kind of charisma . Please tell me more ..

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  29. Hi, don't know what made me look these guys up...but anyway just found this site. They were in Dublin Ireland, I think about 1974 and I saw them walking up O'Connell Street towards a museum and got their autograph...No one in school believed the autograph was real, they had been on a TV show here on the Friday night previous. I was probably about 14 at the time..OMG nearly 50 years ago.

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  30. They were on my bedroom wall with David Cassidy, the Osmonds and the Bay City Rollers, I loved their album Meet Andy and David Williams; some really nice covers that I just didn't know as a teen, it took them a little while to be known in the UK and featured in Jackie and Fab208. The only TV appearance I remember was on Uncle Andy's show.

    After Andy passed away Jimmy Osmond bought the Moon River Theatre in Branson from Andy William's estate. But of course Jimmy had a nasty stroke in December 2018 and hasn't performed since - I think he still owns the theatre (there were stories he was trying to sell it a year ago). But just a few days ago there was an advert saying "Jimmy Osmond presents" and it is a Christmas Show starring his nephew David Osmond, the Lennon Sisters and a couple of supports. Jimmy is making a steady but slow recovery from his stroke - Donny posted a clip and pictures of his son Josh and his brides wedding - and Jimmy, his wife Michelle and his sons and daughters can be glimpsed. The picture on the flyers for the show is at least 20 years old! Bless him xx

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  31. Hi. Andrew Williams played a bit with singer-songwriter Mark Davis in the 90’s as well- he was actually a really good guitar player. He played electric guitar (Blind, A Different Tune, Nothing But The Truth) and sang harmonies (As Big As Love, Andromadine) on Mark’s album “You Came Screaming,” which came out in 1995, and can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, etc.

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  32. I as a young teen, was totally in love with Andy and David! I even have a picture holding one of their albums, taken by my Mom.....🥰

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  33. Worst most boring duo ever.

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    1. Then why waste your time coming on here and commenting?

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  34. Back
    In the early seventies, I had a huge crush on Andy & David. Loved their music, they were so cute. And still are. x

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  35. Wow, 50 years later & I'm still in love! ❤️Actually, I consider them my first love! I would love to see & hear them perform, as their voices are still absolutely beautiful!

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  36. I happened to sit with David on a flight to Kauai around
    2015. He is an interior designer and a very nice human being. It was a pleasure and me, being about 10 years older, never had a clue who he was until late in our conversation.

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