""After the war, the brothers teamed up with comedienne Kay Thompson, and despite an 18-year age gap, the 22-year-old Williams and Kay began a long affair. Kay, best remembered for her role opposite Audrey Hepburn as the acerbic fashion editor in Funny Face, promoted his career ceaselessly.""
""By then, Kay Thompson was tired of working behind the scenes at MGM so, with the four Williams boys as her backup singers and dancers, she formed a nightclub act called Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers. They made their debut in Las Vegas in 1947 and became an overnight sensation. Within a year, they were the highest paid nightclub act in the world, breaking records wherever they appeared. Andy Williams revealed in his memoir “Moon River and Me” that he and Kay became romantically involved while on tour, despite the age difference (he was 19 and she was 38). The act broke up in 1949 but reunited for another hugely successful tour from the fall of 1951 through the summer of 1953. After that the four brothers went their separate ways. Andy and Kay, however, remained very close, both personally and professionally. She mentored his emergence as a solo singing star. She coached him, wrote his arrangements, and composed many songs that he recorded (including his 1958 Top 20 hit “Promise Me, Love” and, later, “Kay Thompson’s Jingle Bells” on his 1964 No. 1 “The Andy Williams Christmas Album”). Using her contacts in the business, Kay helped Andy land his breakthrough television gig as a featured singer for two-and-a-half years on ‘The Tonight Show starring Steve Allen’ (it helped that the producer of the series Bill Harbach was Kay’s former aide de camp). Kay also got Andy his breakthrough recording contract with Cadence Records (the label’s owner Archie Bleyer had gotten early career breaks because of Kay and he owed her a favor). Meanwhile, Andy sang backup on many of Kay’s recordings through the 1950s, including her Top 40 hit ‘Eloise’ based on her bestselling books about the mischievous little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Kay also served as a creative consultant and vocal arranger on Andy’s three summer replacement network television series in 1957, 1958, and 1959. In the summer of 1961, Kay traveled with Andy and coached him throughout his starring role in a summer stock tour of the musical “Pal Joey”. Their personal and professional relationship finally ended in 1962 when Andy met and married Claudine Longet and Kay moved to Rome.""