Jazz musician Davey Williams dies at age 80

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006 | 8:13 a.m.

David "Davey" Williams

Born: Aug. 23, 1925, in New York City

Profession: Jazz musician

Military service: World War II Navy gunner

Services: Pending

Survivors: Wife Myrna of Las Vegas; daughter Indy of Las Vegas; and grandson Matthew of Las Vegas.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Nathan Adelson Hospice.

David Williams was playing drums for big bands and jazz greats such as Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw when he met his future wife, Myrna Torme, in New York City, where she had gone to find her fortune.

"He was a very special man," said Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams, whose husband died Tuesday after a long illness.

David Williams had careers in jazz, as an artist and as an executive host on the Las Vegas Strip, Williams said.

After retiring in 1994, Williams, 80, continued to build World War I biplanes and paint in oils and acrylics, his wife said.

Her husband served 2 1/2 years as a Navy gunner, enlisting at the age of 17 in World War II.

"Davey" Williams fell in love with Myrna Torme after she moved to New York to work for Decca Records in 1949. She was 20 years old and fresh from Southern California, where her then-14-year-old brother, Mel Torme, had signed a contract with MGM in Los Angeles. David Williams later played in the backup band for the late jazz singer Mel Torme.

The couple moved to Las Vegas with their daughter, Indy, in 1959 and have lived in the same home near Twain and Eastern avenues for the past 45 years, Myrna Williams said.

Once in Las Vegas, he piloted airplanes, raced cars and built a collection of model World War I biplanes, Williams said. She said she plans to keep the model plane collection.

"He was very eclectic," she said.

He worked at the Frontier hotel and later the Tropicana as an executive host, Williams said.

Williams cared for troubled teens, whom he called "disposable kids," at Focus, a rehabilitation center for runaway youths that he directed from 1968 until it closed in 1981. His wife counseled youths at the center.

Focus started as a drop-in center for runaway teens on drugs. Later, operating out of a quiet house on Goldring Avenue near University Medical Center, it became an emergency center for troubled youths facing an array of problems.

Focus offered counseling, teaching and employment training to help teens overcome their troubles. Several hundred teens who had been referred to Focus by Juvenile Court had their charges dropped after completing the program.

Mary Manning can be reached at 259-4065 or at manning@lasvegassun.com.