AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Roger Williams

Artist:Roger Williams

Song:Born Free

Album:The Roger Williams Collection

For most of his career, pianist Roger Williams recorded instrumental albums for the Easy Listening market. But he would have occasional chart success as he did with this 1966 recording of the theme from the film Born Free. He was born Louis Weertz Oct. 1, 1924 in Omaha but he grew up in Des Moines. His father was a Lutheran minister and his mother was a violinist and music teacher. Williams learned to play piano as a child. He played organ in his father's church. But he got into boxing as a teen and was a US Navy boxing champ. Williams majored in music at Drake University in Des Moines. But he was expelled for playing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes in a practice room. They had a classical music only policy. That's when he joined the US Navy. Not only was he a boxing champ but he earned a bachelor's degree in engineering at Idaho State. After his discharge from the Navy, Williams returned to Drake and earned a master's degree in music. Then he moved to New York to attend Juilliard and study jazz piano with Lennie Tristano and Teddy Wilson. So Williams could have been a jazz musician. But after winning on the TV talent shows Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and Chance of a Lifetime, Kapp Records owner David Kapp signed him and renamed him Roger Williams after the founder of Rhode Island. Autumn Leaves was Williams' first single in 1955 and it is the only piano instrumental to top the charts. It sold over two million copies. So Williams' fate is sealed. He recorded easy listening albums for Kapp for the next two decades. In those days, that kind of music sold very well. Billboard ranks Williams as the top selling piano recording artist in history. So his albums sold very well. Williams' other big hit was when his 1966 recording of the theme from the film Born Free reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. That film was very popular at the time. John Barry wrote the score for Born Free and he brought in Don Black to write lyrics for the theme. Black also wrote the lyrics for Barry's theme from Thunderball. Black was also a manager and singer Matt Monro was a client. The problem was the Born Free producers didn't like Monro's recording. So they weren't going to use it until Monro pointed out that unless it was in the film, the song wouldn't be eligible for an Oscar. Monro's recording didn't chart. But Kapp A&R head Hy Grill and arranger Ralph Carmichael had Williams record Born Free and made that the title of the album too. It was a big success and Williams performed Born Free on the Oscar Awards broadcast. Williams continued to record for Kapp and then MCA until 1979. By that time, his brand of easy listening wasn't popular anymore. You can get Born Free and Autumn Leaves on this comp from the film music label Varese. Williams continued to perform and record occasionally until he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died on Oct. 8, 2011 at age 87. Here's Roger Williams with The Young Americans performing Born Free on the 1967 Oscar Awards broadcast Apr. 10, 1967.