“We had so many covers of ‘Stay,’” Mr. Williams told The Observer, “it’s hard to keep up with.”

Mr. Williams was born on April 26, 1938, in Lancaster, S.C. He was already showing off his vocal chops in his church choir as a young child. He and his friend Earl Gainey formed a group called the Royal Charms at the suggestion of the director of his high school glee club, and soon he was coming up with his own material.

“We would hear WLAC radio from Nashville every night,” he said in a 2011 interview published on the music website Riveting Riffs, “and when I started writing, I said, ‘My songs sound just as good as what I am listening to on the radio.’”

When he was 16, Mr. Williams and the other members of his sweet-harmonizing group — its original incarnation included Mr. Gainey, William Massey, Willie Jones and Norman Wade — headed to Nashville for an audition and secured a contract with Excello Records, whose flower-loving owner suggested they rechristen themselves the Gladiolas. (Mr. Gaston joined the group in 1960.)

“Little Darlin’” became the group’s first hit, although their version was largely supplanted in doo-wop lore by a hit cover released just two weeks later by a white Canadian group called the Diamonds. Their take, which featured richer production and a more ambitious arrangement, was later heard in the landmark 1973 film “American Graffiti.”

Regardless, Mr. Williams, at 17, reaped a windfall from the songwriting rights, and, with the success of his group, turned down a music scholarship to Allen University in Columbia, S.C.

By 1960, the group had signed with Herald Records, a New York label, and changed its name, inspired by the Ford Zodiac, a British model they saw in a showroom. In need of new material, Mr. Williams dug up his old song “Stay,” which Al Silver, the label’s owner, loved — although he insisted that they change the line about having “another smoke” to “another dance,” to make it more radio-friendly.

The group notched other minor hits with “I Remember” (1961) and “Come Along” (1961). The Zodiacs’ 1965 single “May I” sold well but failed to chart.

Mr. Williams’s survivors include his wife of 63 years, Emily Williams.

Mr. Williams’s career continued after the doo-wop era ended. He performed for decades with various Zodiac lineups.

Fans showed a lasting appetite for “Stay,” his most famous song, which hit home with a new generation when it was included in the enduring 1987 film “Dirty Dancing.”

Over the years, Mr. Williams praised many of the song’s cover versions. In the 2018 interview, he singled out Cyndi Lauper’s cover as “fantastic.” He also praised the Four Seasons: “I liked their version more than anybody’s — except mine.”