[1] He was a Navy boxing champion, played for nine U.S. Presidential administrations, and had a gold Steinway & Sons grand piano model named in his honor.

[1] In high school he became interested in boxing, mainly at his father's insistence, and returned to music only after breaking his nose several times and sustaining several other injuries.

As a young man, Weertz played organ music in his father's St. John's Lutheran Church in Des Moines and piano at the supper club, Babe's Restaurant.

Weertz majored in piano at Drake University in Des Moines, where he began developing a style that was a fusion of jazz, classical, and pop, but was expelled for playing "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in the practice room in violation of the school's classical-music-only policy.

He then moved to New York City to attend Juilliard,[1] where he studied jazz piano under Lennie Tristano and Teddy Wilson.

His other hits include "Near You", "Till", "The Impossible Dream", "Yellow Bird", "Maria", and "The Theme from Somewhere in Time" which was part of the film's music score.

Billboard magazine ranks him as the top-selling piano recording artist in history, with 21 gold and platinum albums to his credit.

Williams' music was in movie soundtracks: Somewhere in Time (1980), More Than a Miracle (1967), Untamed Heart ("Nature Boy") (1993), Reckless ("O Little Town of Bethlehem") (1995), and he performed his hit song, Born Free for the 1967 Oscars "Best Original - Song / Music Score" Williams developed his caring attitude towards his public from a boyhood experience in Des Moines, Iowa.

[1] In March 2011 Williams posted on his website that he had pancreatic cancer and that his doctors had told him they could not remove the tumor until chemotherapy shrank it to an operable size.