Williams belts out a song in Seattle's Jazz Alley in 1996

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Tuesday, March 30, 1999 9:50:43 AM EST

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Joe Williams, whose smooth baritone and collaborations with Count Basie won him acclaim as one of the great voices of jazz, collapsed and died on a city street after walking away from a hospital. He was 80.

Williams apparently died of natural causes, Clark County Coroner Ron Flud said. He had walked several miles Monday and was a few blocks from home.

His wife, Jillean, said he had been admitted to Sunrise Hospital a week ago for a respiratory ailment. The hospital reported Williams missing several hours before his body was found.

Singer Robert Goulet said: "At the age of 80, Joe could sing better than most people at the age of 20. He was one of the greatest jazz and blues singers of all time, and he was such a good man, too."

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Williams' appeal stretched to other mediums: He played Bill Cosby's father-in-law, Grandpa Al, on "The Cosby Show" in the 1980s. He and Cosby were friends, and the childhood memories Grandpa Al spun on the show were his own from Chicago.

But his fame was in jazz. Williams became a sensation in 1955 when he recorded "Everyday I Have the Blues" with Basie, and the two were together for seven years. Williams repeatedly was chosen the top male jazz singer in readers' polls for Downbeat and other magazines.

Joe Williams and Nancy Wilson sing a duet during the opening night of the 1997 San Francisco Jazz Festival

"I'm most pleasantly surprised at what still comes out of my throat," Williams said in an 1986 interview. "I'm thrilled and thankful. I remember Edward (Duke Ellington) saying, 'I'm just a messenger boy for God.' Much of what we do comes through us. I thank God for what comes through me."

Born Joseph Goreed on December 12, 1918, in Cordele, Georgia, the entertainer was raised by his mother and grandmother. He found fun in playing the piano and singing the spirituals he heard at the Methodist church where his mother was the organist.

In his teens in the 1930s, he led the singing group The Jubilee Boys in performances in Chicago churches. He later sang solo in a Chicago club, and made his professional debut in 1937 with the late Jimmy Noone.

His big break came in 1943, when Williams was working as a security guard to support himself. He wound up guarding the front door of the Regal Theater and met jazz luminaries such as Duke Ellington. The Regal's manager sent Williams to the Tick Tock in Boston to join Lionel Hampton's band, which had its own powerhouse blues singer, Dinah Washington.

The magic came with Basie. Williams said Basie hired him on the advice of his band.

Williams is shown at the opening night of the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island in 1965

"Basie said, 'I can't give you what you're worth. But, things get better for me, they get better for you.' I had the good sense to go with him," Williams recalled.

The two played together from 1954 to 1961, and Williams often performed with Basie until his death in 1984; Williams dedicated his renditions of "You Are So Beautiful" to Basie.

"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 anyone like him, again."

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," Bennett said in 1992.

Even in his later years, Williams sang on cruise ships, at festivals, in hotels and clubs, working about 40 weeks a year. He was an avid golfer.

Besides his wife, Williams is survived by his son, Joe; and his daughter, Anne. Funeral information was not immediately available.

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