Joni James
| Joni James | |
|---|---|
James in 1962.
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joan Carmella Babbo |
| Born |
September 22, 1930 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Traditional Pop |
| Years active | 1952–1964 |
| Labels | MGM |
| Website | Official site |
Joni James (born Joan Carmella Babbo, September 22, 1930, Chicago, Illinois) is an American singer of traditional pop music.
Joan Carmella Babbo was born to an Italian-American family in Chicago, one of six children supported by her widowed mother. 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. She then took a job as a chorus girl in the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago.
After doing a fill-in in Indiana, she decided to pursue a singing career. Some executives at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) spotted her in a television commercial, and she was signed by MGM in 1952. Her first hit, "Why Don't You Believe Me?" sold over two million copies. She had a number of hits following that one, including "Your Cheatin' Heart" (a cover of Hank Williams' hit) and "Have You Heard?".
She was the first American to record at London's Abbey Road Studios, and recorded five albums there. She was also very popular across parts of the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the Philippines where she performed at Manila's now defunct EM Club in 1957. She also scored a big hit in Manila with Filipino composer Salvador Asuncion's work entitled "In Despair."
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Wikipedia