Don Williams

With a relaxed and direct vocal style paired with his tall, sturdy frame, Don Williams earned the nickname "the Gentle Giant." Early in the '70s the moniker stuck as he launched a run of countrypolitan successes that stretched well into the early '90s. Although never regarded as a trailblazer, his ballads enjoyed enormous popularity, producing 17 chart-topping singles across his career.

He first picked up the guitar as a boy under his mother's guidance. During his teenage years he performed with an assortment of country, rockabilly, folk, and rock & roll outfits. After finishing high school he teamed with friend Lofton Kline to start a band, later adding singer Susan Taylor and forming the folk-pop trio the Pozo-Seco Singers in 1964. Columbia Records signed the group the next year. Their 1966 single "Time" broke into the pop Top 50, and over the following two years they notched several modest successes, most notably the late-1966 Top 40 entries "I Can Make It with You" and "Look What You've Done." The ensemble remained active until 1971.

Once the Pozo-Seco Singers dissolved, Williams headed to Nashville intent on establishing himself as a songwriter rather than a frontman. He joined Jack Clement's publishing company, Jack Music, Inc., initially contributing only material. By late 1972 he had also secured a solo deal with Clement's JMI label, issuing "Don't You Believe" as his first release. That track failed to chart, yet "The Shelter of Your Eyes" reached number 14 early in 1973. A series of smaller hits followed before his 1974 breakthrough "We Should Be Together" climbed to number five, prompting a move to ABC/Dot. His debut single for the new label, "I Wouldn't Want to Live If You Didn't Love Me," topped the chart in summer 1974 and inaugurated an almost unbroken string of Top Ten entries that continued through 1991; of the 46 singles he placed on the charts in that span, only four missed the Top Ten. Many of those successes were interpretations of songs by other writers, among them John Prine, Bob McDill, Dave Loggins, and Wayland Holyfield.

Throughout the '70s Don Williams stood as the world's leading country artist. His country-pop sound crossed over to mainstream American audiences while also building a substantial following across England and Europe. In addition to his hit records he collected several industry honors, most prominently the Country Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year award in 1978, the same year his number-one single "Tulsa Time" was named Single of the Year. Late in the decade he began appearing in films, chiefly those of his friend Burt Reynolds, including W.W. & the Dixie Dancekings and Smokey & the Bandit II.

By the early '80s Williams had eased his schedule somewhat while dealing with back ailments, yet new hits kept arriving and several reached the top position. In 1986 he departed MCA—by then the parent of the former ABC imprint—and moved to Capitol Records. The switch produced no interruption in his chart momentum, as Top Ten singles continued to appear regularly. Back surgery in 1987 resolved his physical issues. He joined RCA Records in 1989, where he maintained his hit pace until early 1992, when "Lord Have Mercy on a Country Boy" became his final Top Ten single. Although he still performed occasionally in the mid-'90s, he had largely withdrawn to his Nashville farm, returning to the studio in 1998 with the album I Turn the Page.

After limited road work he resumed recording with 2004's My Heart to You on Sugar Hill/Compendium, then mounted a "Farewell Tour of the World" in 2006 that took him across the United States and Europe before another retirement. That hiatus ended in 2012 with the well-received And So It Goes, again on Sugar Hill. He kept writing and touring, releasing Reflections in March 2014. In 2016 Williams announced yet another retirement, declaring he was ready to "enjoy some quiet time at home." He passed away in September 2017 at age 78.