KWXY Presents ● A Classic Interview with Joni James

Joni James / Publicity Photo - author unknown

Joni James is a singer and actress, active as a singer from early 1950s through the mid-1960s and as an actress through the late 1990s.    

She was born Giovanna Carmella Babbo in Chicago, Illinois on September 22, 1930.  Upon graduating high school, she embarked on a tour of Canada with a local dance group.  She was signed to MGM in 1952 after her discovery by MGM executives who saw her in a television commercial.  “Why Don’t You Believe Me?” became her first big hit in 1952 with record sales in excess of two million.  Subsequent hits included a cover of the 1952 Hank Williams hit, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” which went to number two. 

She was among the first artists to help country singles transition to popular music.  She and Williams were scheduled to record together before his death. 

Other Top 10 singles between 1952 and 1955 were the number four “Have You Heard?” in 1953, the number nine “Almost Always” in 1953 with “My Love, My Love” hitting number eight that same year and the number two “How Important Can It Be?” and the number six “You Are My Love,” both in 1955.   

James recorded five of more than twenty-five albums in the Abbey Road Studios, the first American to record there.   Between 1952 and 1961, Joni James had a total of twenty-three Top 10 hits with record sales to date of more than 100 million. 

She retired in 1964 to devote time to her first husband, Anthony Acquaviva.  Married in 1956, Acquaviva developed health problems which required her to care for him full time.  After his death in 1986, she married retired USAF general Bernard Adolph Schriever in Arlington, Virginia in 1997.  Schriever played a major role in the development of the US ballistic missile program, passing away at the couple’s home at age 94 in Washington, DC.

In the mid-1990s, Joni James began touring again with performances in New York.  In 2001, she performed with the Count Basie Orchestra at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. 

James died at a hospital in West Palm Beach Florida, on February 20, 2022, at the age of 91. She was interred at Arlington National Cemetery and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the entertainment industry.

Joni James – MGM Records Publicity Photo 1962

Listen to a Classic Interview with Joni James on The Wink Martindale Show today at 1pm on KWXY Music Radio 92.3FM ● 1340AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com