Joe Williams, one of the great Jazz and Blues singers of all time, died Tuesday March 30th, at age 80 from natural causes.
Williams had been admitted to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, Nev. a week before, due to a respiratory ailment.
Williams decided to discharge himself and walk home. He collapsed several blocks from his home.
In 1955 Williams became an overnight sensation when he recorded "Everyday I Have The Blues" with Count Basie's orchestra, an association that lasted seven years.
In recent times he continued to work forty weeks a year on Cruise ships, at festivals and in hotels and clubs.
Tony Bennett recalled Williams once telling him "It's not that you want to sing. it's that you have to sing." "He defined who I really am said Bennett in 1992. "As a talent he was one of the best blues singers in the world and also one of the best ballad singers"added friend and singer Buddy Greco. "There will never be another like him."