Joni james biography babbo
- Giovanna Carmella Babbo (September 22, 1930 – February 20, 2022), known professionally as Joni James, was an American singer of traditional pop.
- Chicago, Illinois, USA · Died.
- Pop songstress Joni James was born Giovanna Carmella Babbo in Chicago on September 22, 1930.
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Joni James
American singer (1930–2022)
Musical artist
Giovanna Carmella Babbo (September 22, 1930 – February 20, 2022), known professionally as Joni James, was an American singer of traditional pop.
Biography
Giovanna Carmella Babbo was born to an Italian-American family in Chicago, Illinois, on September 22, 1930,[1][2] as one of six children supported by her widowed mother.[3] As an adolescent, she studied drama and ballet, and on graduating from Bowen High School, located in the South Chicago neighborhood, went with a local dance group on a tour of Canada.[2] She then took a job as a chorus girl in the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago.[4]
After doing a fill-in in Indiana, she decided to pursue a singing career, and picked the stage name Joni James at the urging of her managers.[1] Some executives at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) spotted her in a television commercial, and she was signed by MGM in 1952.[2] Her first hit, "Why Don't You Believe Me?",[2] sold over two million copies.& Joni James, the soul-bearing pop songstress who had hits in the 1950s with “Why Don’t You Believe Me?,” “How Important Can It Be?” and a cover of Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” has died. She was 91. James died Sunday of natural causes in a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, her family announced. Signed by MGM Records, the waiflike Chicago native came out of the gate with “Why Don’t You Believe Me?,” which reached No. 1 on the three Billboard charts in late 1952 and stayed there for weeks. Her recordings of “Your Cheatin’ Heart” in 1953 and “How Important Can It Be?” in 1955 each made it to No. 2, and “Have You Heard?” climbed to No. 4 in 1953. She had other top 10 hits with “You Are My Love” (No. 6 in 1955), “My Love, My Love” (No. 8 in 1953) and “Almost Always” (No. 9 in 1953). Nicknamed the “Queen of Hearts,” the down-to-earth James recorded more th •
Joni James, Popular Songstress of the 1950s, Dies at 91
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Joni James
She was born Joan Carmello Babbo, but the world knows her as Joni James. Joni belongs to that elite group of recording artists such as Connie Francis, Brenda Lee and Frankie Laine, who have sold over 100 million records* worldwide. She recorded her first tracks for MGM Records in 1952. "Why Don't You Believe Me?" became a million seller and a number one hit on the US pop charts. Joni James was on her way!
Q - So, how did Joan Babbo become Joni James?
A - I went around for years spelling "Babbo. Then, I went around for years with Acquaviva, my late husband's name. In the meantime, I got so tired of Babbo, Blabbo, Babbala, I just said "give me anything easy", when I was in the model agency in Chicago, studying for the ballet and working wherever I could get money for my war chest to go to the American Ballet Theatre in New York. It turned out I went to the Paramount Stage in New York instead. Who would've thunk? That's what happened. I said to the agency, "please, they slaughtered my name for years, if you could just call me
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