Doc Williams | Country-music singer, 96

Doc Williams, 96, a country-music singer who capitalized on his star radio act by touring the same regions with his band, died Monday at his Wheeling, W. Va., home.

Riding the success of his Wheeling-based radio show before the start of World War II, Mr. Williams carved a following during tours of Maine, Vermont, and Canada - places where some fans still tap in time to songs from his band, the Border Riders.

"He was a complete showman," Mr. Williams' daughter Barbara Smik said. "His humility came across on the stage."

Born in Cleveland as Andrew J. Smik, Mr. Williams left coal mining as a teen to play in beer gardens and found fame with his wife, Chickie, as one of the most popular acts for WWVA-AM and its show, which later became known as Jamboree USA.

After forming the Border Riders, Mr. Williams started broadcasting a 2:45 p.m. daily show on WWVA in 1937. He and Chickie married two years later, and they became the Jamboree's headline act, heard on AM radio into Canada, where Mr. Williams had a strong following.

"That station came in clear as a bell," Smik said. "In those days radio was a very, very powerful medium."

Smik, who took over her father's business dealings a few decades ago and wrote a book about him, said she still gets calls from fans in Canada.

Mr. Williams' rendition of "The Cat Came Back" sold more than one million records on a Toronto record label.

Chickie Williams died in November 2007 at 88. In 2008, the state renamed a section of road in Wheeling as the "Doc and Chickie Williams Highway; Country Music Royal Couple."

The couple were inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

- AP