Joni James
Pop songstress Joni James was born Giovanna Carmella Babbo in Chicago on September 22, 1930. After studying drama and ballet throughout her adolescence, she joined a local dance troupe on a tour of Canada upon graduating high school, later working as a chorus girl at the Windy City's Edgewater Beach Hotel. A fill-in gig at an Indiana roadhouse convinced James to pursue a career as a singer, and while appearing in a TV commercial she was spotted by executives at MGM, signing to the label in 1952. Her single "Why Don't You Believe Me" sold over a million copies, topping the U.S. charts for six weeks and falling just shy of the Top Ten in Britain.
An overnight sensation, James enjoyed an incredible run of hits over the next year, among them the double-sided "Have You Heard"/"Wishing Ring," "Purple Shades," Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Is It Any Wonder," "Almost Always," "My Love, My Love," "You're Fooling Someone," "Nina-Non (A Christmas Lullaby)," and "You're My Everything." By 1954, however, James' early success seemed to dissipate entirely, and after returning to the Top Ten twice the following year with "How Important Can It Be?" and "You Are My Love," she never reached to the upper rungs of the charts again, although she continued cracking the Top 100 for the remainder of the decade. In 1964, she retired from music to tend to her ailing husband, musical director Anthony Acquaviva, and spent the next three decades essentially removed from the public eye; finally, during the mid-'90s, she returned to touring while also supervising the re-release of her classic MGM recordings. Joni James died on February 20, 2022 at a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida; she was 91 years old.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
Discography
9 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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The Very Best Of
Pop - Released by Master Classics Records on Jan 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Pop Queen (Remastered)
Pop - Released by Master Tape Records on Jan 31, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Presenting Joni James
Pop - Released by Universal Digital Enterprises on Dec 17, 1953
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Feel A Song Coming On
Pop - Released by Master Classics Records on Mar 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joni James … Give Us This Day
Pop - Released by Vintage 2015 on Jul 29, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Last Date (With You) / I Can't Give You Anything But Love
Lounge - Released by MGM on Aug 25, 1960
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Summer Love (Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, June 9, 1957)
Lounge - Released by SOFA - AV Catalog DD on Jul 7, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Give Us This Day (Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, June 9, 1957)
Lounge - Released by SOFA - AV Catalog DD on Jun 9, 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In A Garden Of Roses (Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, June 27, 1954)
Pop - Released by SOFA - AV Catalog DD on Nov 26, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo