The Billy Williams Quartette
- Soundtrack
Billy Williams was the lead singer of The Charioteers in 1950, when he
formed his own "Billy Williams Quartet" with Eugene Dixon, Claude
Riddick and John Ball. Many appearances on TV followed, especially on"
Your Show of Shows" (1950-54) with Sid Caesar, where they were
regulars. They had a breakthrough hit in 1957 with an RnB version of
30s standard "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter"
(written by Fred E. Ahlert and lyrics by Joe Young) and a previous hit
for Fats Waller (1935), The Boswell Sisters (1936) and later Connie
Boswell (1953). The "Billy Williams Quartet" 's recording was the most
successful version to date, selling over a million copies world wide
and reaching #3 on The US Pop charts. The group then followed up, in
late 1957, with an R n R version of the often covered 1930s
standard,"Got A Date With An Amgel". That, in turn, was followed up by
the the groups' rendition of "I'll Get By"(1928). In 1959, Billy
Williams went solo and reached US Pop #39 with "Nola". They recorded
for Coral records.
