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Best-selling singer Joni James, whose records climbed the Billboard charts in the 1950s and had an early influence on Barbra Streisand, died February 20 at a hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 91 years old.
His family announced his death online obituary. No reason was given.
Known to her fans as the “Queen of Hearts”, she had an intimate vocal style filled with longing and melancholy. She has recorded nearly 700 songs and sold over 100 million records, she. It eventually went 24 platinum and 12 gold.
“I always sang from the heart,” he told The Daily News of New York in 1996. “I always sang about life and how it affected me. I’m italian. Italians are passionate people.”
first single, “Why do not you believe me” 1 on three Billboard charts (in those days there were separate charts for sales, radio play, and jukebox play) and made it an overnight sensation.
Including the next demonstrators “Your Cheating Heart” A cover of Hank Williams’ hit song that helped Ms. James establish herself as one of the first pop singers to bring the country into the pop mainstream.
By the mid-1950s, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Have You Heard?” and “How Important Can It Be?” He had four top 10 hits on the charts, including which has sold over four million copies.
He was among the first pop singers to perform solo at Carnegie Hall in May 1959, supported by a 100-member orchestra and 30 singers.
it was his record “Have you heard?” This is what drew Miss Streisand to Miss James. “My favorite singer growing up was Johnny Mathis” Ms. Streisand told The New York Times in 1985. “I also listened to Joni James records a lot and sang her hit ‘Have You Heard?’. club audition, but I really didn’t want to sound like him.”
Whether he wanted to or not, some early Streisand recordings reminded us of Mrs. James’s recordings, at least to the ears of Times critic Stephen Holden. Wrote In 1991, she said, “Without developing a round vibrato, her voice was very similar to her childhood idol Joni James, a singer with only a rudimentary technique, infusing early ’50s pop ballads with a slight sadness.”
There was enough of a connection between the two singers that Miss James was invited to be part of it. a staff of stars For the American Film Institute’s 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award tribute to Miss Streisand. On stage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Ms. James sang “The Way We Were”, one of Ms. Streisand’s signature songs, accompanied by Marvin Hamlisch on the piano.
Giovanna Carmella Babbo was born on September 22, 1930 in Chicago. His father, Angelo Babbo, who sang opera arias while shepherding in Italy, came to America at the age of 18. He died at the age of 36 when Giovanna was 5 years old. This caused his mother, Mary Chereso, to struggle to raise six children alone during the Depression.
Giovanna babysat and worked at a bakery to help the family and raise money to train as a ballerina. A petite woman—she was 5 feet tall and wearing a size 4 shoe—she dreamed of going to New York and dancing with the American Ballet Theatre.
This did not happen. After graduating from high school, she toured Canada with a local dance group, then took a job as a choirgirl at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. By then, he had changed his name after the high school newspaper had repeatedly mistyped it. Later, while she was modeling, her managers told her to find a new surname; She turned to the phone book and randomly chose “James” she.
While she focused on dancing, singing was second nature to her. He grew up singing in the school choir and has said that his influences were blues and Gregorian chants. When she later sang in nightclubs and participated in talent contests, the audience always reacted warmly to her, but she did not consider herself a real singer, like her idols Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Doris Day.
He was eventually spotted by MGM Records, who signed a contract in 1952. Her first single was written as “You Must Believe Me”, but she changed the lyrics and title of the song to “Why Don’t You Believe Me”. ” He paid for and organized the recording session, which included a 23-piece orchestra. The song became an instant hit and sold over two million copies.
With his manager, arranger, and conductor, Anthony Acquaviva, in 1956 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Mr Acquaviva, known as Tony, led the sessions, accompanied by verses that helped define his distinctively sonorous voice.
He has appeared on all major television variety shows, including those presented by Ed Sullivan, Perry Como, and Andy Williams. He was in demand worldwide and became the first American to record at Abbey Road Studios in London, where he made five albums.
But at the height of her fame, her husband suffered from diabetes, and in 1964 he largely left the music scene to take care of her. He told the Los Angeles Times that this includes washing one of his legs six times a day to prevent gangrene and cuts. She died in 1986.
Although he still performed occasionally while he was still alive, he had strayed so far from the limelight that the newspapers nicknamed him “Song Garbo.”
met later Bernard A. Shriever, A retired Air Force general who oversees the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. They married in 1997, and with her encouragement, she facilitated her return to the stage and gave unforgettable concerts at the Town Hall, Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York.
“I was a curly-winged sparrow,” he told The Oakland Tribune, “forcing me to come back.”
Miss James is survived by her son, Michael Acquaviva; daughter Angela Kwoka; siblings Angelo Babbo and Jimmy Contino; her sisters Clara Aerostegui and Rosalie Ferina; and two grandchildren. General Schriever died in 2005.
When asked by The Daily News in 2000 why she sang so many sad songs, Ms. James had a simple answer: “Because I know what they mean.”
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