Andy & David Williams
Andy & David Williams started showing up in my teen magazines pretty much when I started buying them. They are one of my earliest memories of Tiger Beat. I thought they were cute, but I never had their pinup on my wall. I was WAY into at Tony DeFranco that time. I didn’t dislike Andy and David. I never drew on them or marked an X across their face or anything like that. They just didn’t do much for me.
Andy & David Williams were born on February 22, 1959 in Henderson, Nevada. I forget who’s older. I should know this from reading Flip and Fave magazines 40 years ago, but my memory fails me. That happens when you get old. Anyway….the twins are the nephews of crooner Andy Williams. I think he had a little something to do with them getting into show business.
These blonde boys began their musical career at the age of six when they appeared on The Andy Williams Show. They released two albums while in their teeny bopper stage. (There are rumors of a third album.) They released Meet Andy and David Williams and One More Time around 1973. The single What’s Your Name reached #92 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974.
The Partridge Family
The twins got to appear on The Partridge Family during its final season in an episode entitled Two for the Show where they each had a crush on Laurie (Susan Dey). The episode ended with Andy & David singing Say It Again, a song which was recorded by The Monkees’ Davy Jones a few years earlier.
The twins disappeared in the mid 70’s and appeared again in the late 80’s, all grown up and more mature musically. They were now known as The Williams Brothers. I think that’s the name of a paint store in my city. Maybe it’s a furniture store. I guess it really doesn’t matter. David says he realized he was gay at 19 (I knew five years before him) but didn’t come out publicly until he was in his 30’s. I guess we now know who should date Laurie Partridge.
The guys have released four albums that I know of since reappearing in the 80’s: Two Stories, The Williams Brothers, Harmony Hotel, and Andy & David: The Williams Brothers 2002. I own Harmony Hotel and like it a lot. One of my all-time favorite songs, the haunting Can’t Cry Hard Enough, is on that album.
Twins Trivia
- Their parents divorced when they were 13.
- David says he was always more into poetry and painting while his brother Andy was into trucks and machines.
- After seeing many friends die of AIDS, they wrote Don’t Cry Now which is a tribute to those friends.
- Can’t Cry Hard Enough reached #42 on the Billboard charts.
- The twins have been friends with Val Kilmer with since kindergarten.
- David played guitar on Bryan Ferry’s album Taxi.
- The twins appeared in the 1996 movie Grace of My Heart as the Click Brothers.