'Why Don't You Believe Me?' singer Joni James dies at 91

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Popular 1950s singer Joni James, who was behind one of the Billboard hit songs 'Why Don't You Believe Me', has passed away at the age of 91.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, James' family informed that the singer died on Sunday of natural causes in a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Joni James was a soul-bearing pop singer who reached No. 1 with her first record, 'Why Don't You Believe Me?'. She made history at Carnegie Hall with her version of the hit song 'Your Cheatin' Heart'.

Her 'Why Don't You Believe Me?,' 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, as per Billboard.

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).

Fondly called 'Queen of Hearts', James recorded more than 40 albums and sold more than 100 million records during her career.

In May 1959, she became the first pop singer to have a solo concert at New York's Carnegie Hall, where she was backed by a 100-piece orchestra and 30 other voices.

At the Pantages at the 1960 Academy Awards, she performed the Oscar-nominated song 'The Five Pennies,' sung by Danny Kaye in the Paramount film. She was the first American to record at London's Abbey Road Studios, making five albums there.

As per Billboard, her name also appeared in two Peanuts cartoons -- Charles Schulz was a big fan, too -- and she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1969.

For the unversed, 'Why Don't You Believe Me' was originally titled 'You Should Believe Me,' but James tweaked the lyrics, and, with the help of a 23-piece orchestra, she found immediate success and sales of more than 2 million records.

James headlined the Paramount Theatre in New York and sang on programs including The Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand, The Jimmy Dean Show and Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall. She also performed the title song for 'The Maverick Queen' (1956), a Western starring Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan.

She put her career on hold for nearly two decades to care of Tony Acquaviva, her husband, conductor, arranger and manager who had taken ill with diabetes. The two MGM recording artists had married in 1956 at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

According to Billboard, a few years after Acquaviva's death in 1986, James returned to touring -- she made it back to Carnegie Hall in 1998 -- and supervised the re-release of her MGM recordings.

Her second husband was Bernard Schriever, a retired Air Force general who shepherded the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile program and established a framework for the Air Force's space program. They were married from 1997 until his death in 2005 at age 94.

Joni James is survived by her children, Michael (and his wife, Michelle) and Angela, both adopted from Italy; brothers Angelo and Jimmy; sisters Clara and Rosalie; and grandchildren Jacqueline and Connor.

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