Joni James Cause of Death Revealed: 1950s Soul-Pop Singer Dead at 91

Soul-bearing pop singer Joni James, with hits like "Why Don't You Believe Me?" and "How Important Can It Be?" has passed away at 91 years old.

Hollywood Reporter reported that Joni James, born Giovanna Carmella Babbo, died last Sunday of natural causes in a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The multi-hyphenated musician

The Chicago native who signed with MGM Records kickstarted her career with "Why Don't You Believe Me?" topped three Billboard charts for three weeks in 1952.

Her 1953 hits "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "Have You Heard?" peaked at No. 2 and No. 4 respectively in the charts, while the 1955 hit "How Important Can It Be?" also topped No. 2 on the same Billboard Singles chart.

James also had other Top 10 hits on her bag with her 1955 hit "You Are My Love" at No. 6 and 1953's "My Love, My Love" and "Almost Always" climbing at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.

The down-to-earth James, dubbed as the "Queen of Hearts," produced more than 40 albums and sold more than 100 million records over her illustrious career.

Critics have characterized her voice as "soft, intimate, and urgent, which music Icon Barbra Streisand admired about her.

New York Daily News reported in 1966 that Joni always sang from the heart.

"I always sang about life and how it affected me. I'm Italian. Italians are passionate people," she explained.

Joni James made history in 1959 as the first pop singer to have a solo concert at the famed New York Carnegie Hall, backed up by almost 30 backup vocals and a 100 piece orchestra.

In the 1960 Academy Awards, James performed "The Five Pennies," an Oscar-nominated song sung by "Hans Christian Andersen" actor Danny Kaye on the Paramount film of the same name.

The 91-years old singer was also the first American singer to record at the prominent London Abbey Road Studios, in which she made five albums in total.

Family Life

She put her career on hold for nearly two decades to take care of her husband Tony Acquaviva, who died of diabetes in 1986. James returned to her concert trek in 1998 at Carnegie Hall as supervised by MGM Recordings.

His second husband, Bernard Schriever, died in 2005 at age 94 after being married for eight years.

Several family members are left to cherish her memory, including her son Michael and Angela, both adopted from Italy; her brothers Angelo and Jimmy; sisters Clara and Rosalie; and grandkids Jacqueline and Connor.