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

Popular 1950s singer Joni James who was behind one of the Billboard hit songs Why Dont You Believe Me has passed away at the age of 91As per The Hollywood Reporter James family informed that the singer died on Sunday of natural causes in a hospital in West Palm Beach FloridaJoni James was a soulbearing pop singer who reached No 1 with her first record Why Dont You Believe Me She made history at Carnegie Hall with her version of the hit song Your Cheatin HeartHer Why Dont You Believe Me reached No 1 on the three Billboard charts in late 1952 and stayed there for weeksHer 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 BillboardShe 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 1953Fondly called Queen of Hearts James recorded more than 40 albums and sold more than 100 million records during her careerIn May 1959 she became the first pop singer to have a solo concert at New Yorks Carnegie Hall where she was backed by a 100piece orchestra and 30 other voicesAt the Pantages at the 1960 Academy Awards she performed the Oscarnominated song The Five Pennies sung by Danny Kaye in the Paramount film She was the first American to record at Londons Abbey Road Studios making five albums thereAs 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 1969For the unversed Why Dont You Believe Me was originally titled You Should Believe Me but James tweaked the lyrics and with the help of a 23piece orchestra she found immediate success and sales of more than 2 million recordsJames headlined the Paramount Theatre in New York and sang on programs including The Ed Sullivan Show American Bandstand The Jimmy Dean Show and Perry Comos Kraft Music Hall She also performed the title song for The Maverick Queen 1956 a Western starring Barbara Stanwyck and Barry SullivanShe 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 Patricks Cathedral in New YorkAccording to Billboard a few years after Acquavivas death in 1986 James returned to touring she made it back to Carnegie Hall in 1998 and supervised the rerelease of her MGM recordingsHer 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 Forces space program They were married from 1997 until his death in 2005 at age 94Joni 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 ConnorThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever