Andy Williams' Dear Heart

Andy Williams' Dear Heart
Studio album by Andy Williams
Released	1965
Recorded	1965
Genre	Traditional pop, Vocal pop, Early pop/rock,[1]
Length	31:49
Label	Columbia
Producer	Robert Mersey
Andy Williams chronology
The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits (1964) Dear Heart (1965) Andy Williams' Newest Hits (1966)
Alternative cover
UK Cover

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Billboard	[3]

Andy Williams' Dear Heart is an album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in the spring of 1965 by Columbia Records.^[3] It made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated April 10 of that year and remained on the album chart for 65 weeks, peaking at number four.^[4] The name of the album was changed to Andy Williams' Almost There for its release in the UK, where it became Williams's first album chart entry, spending 46 weeks there and peaking at number four. (Two of his previous albums, Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests -- which was retitled Can't Get Used to Losing You and Other Requests for its UK release—and The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits, appeared on the album chart in the UK following the success of this album.)^[5]

Andy Williams' Dear Heart received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on July 30, 1965. This was Williams's sixth album to receive this award as well as the one to do so the fastest thus far in terms of the amount of time between chart debut and certification, having accomplished this feat in less than four months as compared to the previous recordholder, Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests, which did so in five months.^[6]

As the B-side of "On the Street Where You Live" (the single from his last album), "Almost There" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue of the magazine dated November 14, 1964, eventually reaching number 67 during its five-week stay.^[7] It performed even better on the Easy Listening (or Adult Contemporary) chart, going as high as number 12 during its four weeks there.^[8] The song's biggest success was in the UK, where it spent three weeks at number two during a 17-week run on the singles chart.^[5] This album's A-side, "Dear Heart", debuted on the pop and Easy Listening charts just two weeks later and spent 11 weeks on each of them, peaking at number 24 on the Hot 100 and spending a week at number two Easy Listening.^[7][8]

The album was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on March 23, 1999, the other album being Williams's Columbia release from May 1966, The Shadow of Your Smile.^[9]

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Song information 3 Personnel 4 Notes 5 References

Track listing

1. "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (Roy C. Bennett, Roy Brodsky, Sid Tepper) – 2:27
2. "It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) – 2:41
3. "I Can't Stop Loving You" (Don Gibson) – 2:27
4. "Till" (Charles Danvers, Carl Sigman) – 3:05
5. "I'm All Smiles" (Michael Leonard, Herbert Martin) – 2:25
6. "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) – 2:24
7. "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" (James Cavanaugh, Russ Morgan, Larry Stock) – 2:37
8. "Emily" (Johnny Mandel, Johnny Mercer) – 2:22
9. "Almost There" (Jerry Keller, Gloria Shayne) – 2:59
10. "My Carousel" (Kenny Rankin, Yvonne Rankin) – 2:28
11. "Everybody Loves Somebody" (Sam Coslow, Ken Lane, Irving Taylor) – 3:05
12. "Dear Heart" (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston, Henry Mancini) – 2:55

Song information

• "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" rode its first wave of popularity in 1949 when both Guy Lombardo and Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra took the song into the top 10.^[10] The second wave began early in 1965 when Bert Kaempfert & His Orchestra debuted on both Billboard's Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts in the issue dated January 23 with an instrumental version of the song that reached number 11 pop and number three Easy Listening.^[11][12] Vic Dana followed closely behind in the issue dated February 6 and reached number 10 pop and number two Easy Listening.^[13][14] Wayne Newton then debuted on February 27 and got to number 23 on the Hot 100 and number four Easy Listening.^[15][16]

• Six different recordings of "It Had to Be You" made the top 10 in 1924, the first and most popular being an instrumental version by the song's composer, Isham Jones, & His Orchestra, which entered the charts on July 19 and eventually spent five weeks at number one.^[17][18] Marion Harris performed the highest-charting vocal version of the song, which debuted on July 26 and made it to number three.^[19] Three more renditions made the top 10 in 1944, including one by Betty Hutton that first charted on June 24 and reached number five and another by Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes that debuted on September 9 and reached number four.^[20][21]

• "I Can't Stop Loving You" proved only a minor hit for its songwriter, Don Gibson, reaching number 81 in 1958, but was a huge success for Ray Charles in 1962, spending five weeks at number one, achieving Gold certification, and winning him the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording along with nominations for Best Vocal Performance, Male and Record of the Year.^[22][23][24]

• "Till" had two recordings on the pop chart in 1957: Percy Faith & His Orchestra debuted the song in April and eventually reached number 63, while Roger Williams first charted the song in October and peaked at number 22.^[25][26] The highest-charting version came in 1961 when The Angels made the song their first chart hit, spending 14 weeks on the Hot 100 and reaching number 14.^[27]

• Barbra Streisand recorded "I'm All Smiles" for her 1964 album People, which received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year and was produced by Robert Mersey, who also acted as arranger, conductor, and producer for this album.^[28][29][30]

• "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" comes from the 1964 Broadway musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, where it was originally performed by one of its composer/lyricists, Anthony Newley.^[31][32] The song earned Grammy nominations for Newley and his songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse for Song of the Year and also for Tony Bennett in the category of Best Vocal Performance, Male.^[33] Bennett was the first to put the song on the record charts, reaching number 33 on the Hot 100 and number three Easy Listening after debuting in October 1964, and Dionne Warwick took the song to number 62 on the pop chart and number 36 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart in March 1965.^{[34][35][36][37]}

• "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" was a number 14 hit for Russ Morgan & His Orchestra in 1946, and Dinah Washington took the song to number 87 in 1962.^[38][39] By the time Dean Martin released his version at the end of 1964, the Easy Listening chart had been established, and Martin spent a week at number one there in addition to reaching number 25 on the Hot 100.^[40][41]

• The music for "Emily" originated in the 1964 film The Americanization of Emily.^[42] Frank Sinatra's recording of the song appeared on his Softly, As I Leave You album, which debuted on the album chart in the Billboard issue dated December 19, 1964, and Jack Jones's version appeared on his album Dear Heart and Other Great Songs of Love, which first appeared in the issue dated January 9, 1965.^[43][44] In addition to "Emily", the Sinatra, Jones, and Williams albums all include the Academy Award-nominated title song of the 1964 film Dear Heart.^[45][46][47]

• Williams's acting role in I'd Rather Be Rich included a performance of the original song "Almost There".^[48][49]

• "My Carousel" was eventually recorded by its songwriter, Kenny Rankin, for his 1967 debut album Mind-Dusters.^[50]

• "Everybody Loves Somebody" was a modest hit for Frank Sinatra, reaching number 25 in 1948, but Dean Martin had much greater success with it in 1964, spending a week at number one on the Hot 100 and eight consecutive weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart as well as earning Gold certification and a Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Performance, Male.^{[33][40][51][52]}

• In addition to the aforementioned Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, "Dear Heart" also received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year.^[29] And Williams's aforementioned peak positions of 24 pop and two Easy Listening surpassed those of Jack Jones, who reached number 30 pop and number six Easy Listening after also debuting on November 28, 1964, and Henry Mancini & His Orchestra, who reached number 77 pop and number 14 Easy Listening with the song after debuting two weeks later, on December 12.^{[53][54][55][56]}

Personnel

• Andy Williams – vocals
• Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer
• Don Heckman - liner notes
• Frank Bez - cover photo

Notes

References