Roger Williams, Pianist Known for Sentimental Songs, Dies at 87

Roger Williams, the pianist whose exuberant versions of songs known as "Autumn Leaves" and "Born Free" became successful recordings in the late 1950's and 60's and continued acting in concert in 80 years, died Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87. The cause was complications of pancreatic cancer, his former publicist, Rob Wilcox told The Associated Press.

Seven singles by Mr. Williams did on the Billboard Top 40, perhaps the best known of which - and that brought him fame - is "Autumn Leaves". During his long career he recorded over 100 albums, including "Roger Williams plays her favorites," and "the best pianist Popular".
Mr. Williams "virtually transformed the piano into a harp," wrote Joseph Lanza, a music historian in 1994 in his book "Elevator Music", adding that "cultivates a style of dramatic raids from classical to jazz the country to soft rock and roll. "

She performed on stages across America, from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, and led for many years at the MGM Grand and the Tropicana in Las Vegas. Nine presidents, including Harry S. Truman and George W. Bush, took him to the White House to provide soothing sounds for guests.

Certainly, "Autumn Leaves" was one of the most welcoming, with its cascading arpeggios reminiscent of falling leaves. Mr. Williams instrumental version of the song 1940, originally known as "Les Feuilles Mortes" ("Dead leaves"), with music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by Jacques Prevert French (Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics to English) was No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart for four weeks in 1955 and remained in the Top 40 for 26 weeks.

Accompanied by the orchestra and chorus, Mr. Williams captured the extent of the African savannah with his cover of the 1966 film "Born Free" about a lion raised as a pet in Kenya, and item # 7 in the decade of record 14 weeks in the Top 40 in 1966. His other Top 40 hits were "Wanting You" (1956), "La Mer" or "Beyond the Sea" (1956), "Almost Paradise" (1957), "Up" (1957) and "Near You" which reached Top 10 in 1958.

In 1960, Mr. Williams was honored with a star on the Walk of Fame Hollywood.

When he appeared in the New York Philharmonic in 1970, Robert Sherman of the New York Times wrote about her "sumptuous piano settings" and that "kept his large audience captivated" by playing an old favorite after another. "The concert of the promise of" Easy Listening "," Mr. Sherman concluded, "remained faithful."

Despite his musicality was evident even as a child was not always Roger Williams.

Louis Jacob was born in Omaha Weertz October 1, 1924, and grew up in Des Moines, the only son of Frederick and Dorothea Weertz. His father was a Lutheran pastor who had been a professional boxer, and his mother was a music teacher. (Only after the founder of Kapp Records, David Kapp, a contract was signed in 1954 which changed its name, at the insistence of Mr. Kapp.)

"I could play" Home Sweet Home "on the harmonica when I was 3 years," said Mr. Williams The Daily Mirror in 1955. By the time he was in high school had jurisdiction on 12 other instruments. "Everything but the oboe and bassoon," he said, "but I finally settled on what I liked -. The Piano"

Mr. Williams graduated from Idaho State University in 1949, earned a master's degree in music at Drake University in Des Moines, a year later and then came to New York to study at the Juilliard School, where the renowned pianist Teddy Wilson jazz took him under his wing.

Mr Wilson insisted, he competed on "Talent Scouts" Arthur Godfrey in 1952, and won. That led to the reservations of many nightclubs and Kapp's first album, which sold very well. Then came his single, "Autumn Leaves".

What followed was a winding path through many of the most nostalgia inducing, the melodies of the last half of the 20th century, including "A Time for Us", "The Impossible Dream," "On a Clear Day "," Hello, Dolly "" Raindrops keep Fallin 'On My Head "and" Lara's Theme "from" Dr. Zhivago ".

He is survived by two daughters, Laura Fisher, Caramel, California, and Alice Jung, New York, and five grandchildren.

Mr. Williams was unabashed about his penchant for sentimentality.

"If the lyrics of a song says, 'I love you', then I mean exactly that when I play the notes," he told The Christian Science Monitor in 1970. "The public, live or at home, can detect if an artist really means what it touches. By the way to choose music to warm up and I know I can convey. I know."

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