The Billy Williams Quartette

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.