Moon River singer Andy Williams’ Christmas Spectaculars were a thing of legend and now, despite the crooner’s passing three years ago at the age of 84, the variety show is coming to the UK.

The 70s pop sensations The Osmonds are headlining the show, which continues in the spirit of Williams and his The Andy Williams Show which ran on TV for a decade.

As the youngest of the Osmonds, little Jimmy – now 52 – first performed on Williams’ stage aged just three-years-old, so it is fair to say they go way back.

Speaking to Vibe, Jimmy said: “My brothers were already working with him as his background singers and I came along.

“On our first shows I was three years old and I never stopped.

“I followed him again later in life. He moved to Branson, Missouri, and built a theatre and he told me to do the same and I did.

“That was 22 years ago and now I own his theatre and am keeping his legacy alive which is amazing to me. I never thought that would happen.

“He was like family to us. His father, Jay Williams, was a dear friend of my dad as well so we go way back.”

Dedicated to their old pal, the Andy Williams Christmas Spectacular will feature the Osmonds singing plus comedy from Jimmy Cricket and the Moon River Dancers.

It is at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls on Saturday, December 12, and Greenwich’s Indigo2 the following Wednesday, December 16.

Jimmy, who made the record books for being the youngest performer to have a UK number one when he topped the charts with Long Haired Lover from Liverpool aged nine in 1972, said: “It is all the classic hits you would expect and in the UK version we have added songs from Slade and all the well-known Christmas songs.”

Being the very image of wholesome goodness, it is no surprise to hear the Osmonds love Christmas themselves.

Jimmy said: “It’s my favourite time of the year and we have always made a big deal about it.

“For as long as I can remember, I have worked at Christmas. This year is really fun because bringing our Christmas show there is something I have wanted to do and people have been asking me to do for years.

“We have always spent Christmas together. Wherever I am the family flies out or whatever, but this year our tour finishes so that I fly home on Christmas eve and I’ll have Christmas at home in Utah in the mountains. So I’m excited about that.”

As well as festive hits, the family band – who sold more than 100 million records - won’t shy away from performing the songs fans love at the shows either, such as Crazy Horses and One Bad Apple.

Jimmy said: “We’ll do all the hits we had together but it’s only a two hour show, and with the variety acts and everything, we have to make sure we pick the ones people want to hear.”

In one form or another, the band has been going for longer than Jimmy has been alive and he said he still loves performing with his siblings.

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“You can’t fake it this many years,” he said. “It has been so great to work with the people you love.

“On stage, if somebody needs you, you only need to look them in the eyes. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen in showbusiness.

“To be able to have had a career together – even the siblings that don’t perform with us – like Donny and Marie – we’re all still so close that it is great fun to have had a career together.”

In their heyday, the band had as passionate a following as any of the biggest boybands throughout history although today Jimmy said ‘the screams are a bit lower’ and he considers the fans as more like friends.

He said: “Coming up the way we did, people remember you literally growing up in their living rooms so there is kind of a connection.

“They feel emotional towards you because they know you personally – not just for one of your songs.

“So the people that come, I call them friends more than fans. I think an audience that knows you care about them, it is a different experience in concert.”

The Andy Williams Christmas Spectacular starring the Osmonds is at Fairfield Halls on Saturday, December 12, and Indigo2 on Wednesday, December 16. For Fairfield tickets, call 020 8688 9291 or go to www.fairfield.co.uk and for Indigo2 tickets, call 08448 244824 or go to axs.com