Music's 'Queen of Hearts' dies at 91: 1950s singer Joni James, who sold more than 100 million records, passes away after boundary-breaking career that influenced Barbra Streisand

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Joni James, a 1950s pop singer who was an early influence Barbra Streisand, died on February 20 at a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, at age 91. 

Her family announced her death in an online obituary, saying she 'passed away peacefully.' Her son, Michael Acquaviva, confirmed her death with The Washington Post but not did provide a specific cause.

Known as the 'Queen of Hearts' to her fans, the prolific songstress recorded nearly 700 songs — including her debut hit 'Why Don’t You Believe Me?' — and sold more than 100 million records during her career, The New York Times reported.   

'I always sang from the heart,' she told the New York Daily News in 1966. 'I always sang about life and how it affected me. I’m Italian. Italians are passionate people.'

Joni James, a 1950s pop singer, died on February 20 at a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, at age 91

Known as the 'Queen of Hearts' to her fans, the prolific songstress recorded nearly 700 songs and sold more than 100 million records during her career

Streisand was a fan of James, who was known for having a beautiful voice tinged with melancholy.  

'My favorite singer while I was growing up was Johnny Mathis,' Streisand told The New York Times in 1985. 'I also listened a lot to Joni James records and sang her hit "Have You Heard?" at club auditions, but I didn’t really want to sound like her.'

Streisand may not have aspired to sound like James, but New York Times critic Stephen Holden could hear her influence on the legendary singer. 

'Without having developed a rounded vibrato, she sounded a lot like her childhood idol, Joni James, a singer with only rudimentary technique who infused early-'50s pop ballads with a waiflike plaintiveness,' he wrote of Streisand in 1991. 

James was born Giovanna Carmella Babbo to an Italian-American family in Chicago, Illinois, on September 22, 1930. Her father, Angelo Babbo, sang operatic arias as a shepherd boy in Italy before he immigrated to the U.S. at age 18. 

She was five when he died at age 36, leaving her mother, Mary Chereso, to raise her and her five siblings by herself during the Depression. 

To help her mother and also earn enough money to train as a ballerina, James babysat and worked at a bakery. While she dreamed of becoming a professional dancer, singing was in her blood. 

James was an influence of Barbra Streisand, who sang her hit 'Have You Heard?' at club auditions early on in her career. Streisand is pictured in 2019 (left) and 1965 (right)

James' influence on Streisand came full circle when she was invited to perform at the Institute’s 2001 Life Achievement Award tribute to the legendary singer (pictured) 

'Singing was something we grew up with,' she told The Los Angeles Times in 1995. 'I’m Italian. Italians breathe and Italians sing. There was always music around the house, but when I thought of real singers, I thought of Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday and Doris Day and Hank Williams. I was just little Joni.'

After graduating high school, she toured Canada with a local dance group and then booked a gig as a chorus girl at a hotel in Chicago. She had changed her first name from Giovanna to Joni because her high school newspaper kept misspelling it, The New York Times reported. 

When she started working as a model, her managers advised her to find a new surname as well, leading her to search the phone book and randomly pick 'James.' 

The petite star, who was just 5 feet tall and wore a size 4 shoe, was 21 when she was signed by MGM in 1952. She was launched to overnight fame when her first single, 'Why Don't You Believe Me,' topped the three Billboard charts that year. 

The following year, her songs 'Your Cheatin' Heart' — a cover of the Hank Williams hit — and 'Have You Heard?' climbed to the number two and number four spots, respectfully, and sold millions of copies. 

In 1955, her recording of 'How Important Can It Be?' also made it to number two on the charts, solidifying her status as a pop star. 

'I think what people heard in those records was my heart. I always felt I had to work hard to be good enough. I had to tell the story and pour everything into a song...my heart, my soul, my guts,' James told The Los Angeles Times. 

James was 21 when she was signed by MGM in 1952. She was launched to overnight fame when her first single, 'Why Don't You Believe Me,' topped the three Billboard charts that year

She married her musical arranger Anthony 'Tony' Acquaviva (second from right) in 1956, and later stepped away from singing to care for him after he developed diabetes in 1964

In 1956, she married her musical arranger and conductor Anthony 'Tony' Acquaviva, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. 

At the height of her fame, she performed on a number of television variety shows, including 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' 'American Bandstand,' and 'The Jimmy Dean Show.'

She was the first American to record at Abbey Road Studios in London, and she also became the first pop singer to have a solo concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1959. 

Five years later, James stepped away from the spotlight to care for her after her husband developed diabetes in 1964. 

'I became the nurse and the Italian mother,' she told The Los Angeles Times. 'I wanted to be near my family. Besides, I couldn’t possibly turn away from Tony. He was in a wheelchair for years. They were going to amputate his leg at one point because of gangrene, but we saved it. I used to bathe the leg six times a day.' 

She was dubbed 'The Garbo of Song' following her decision to step away from her singing career.   

'I didn't think of it as "giving it up,"' she told the New York Daily News. 'He needed me. And if truth be told, we won all the battles, but lost the war. 

'People think of it as something special, and that embarrasses me,' she added. 'If you do something, you don't expect medals. After all, he was my husband, and we loved each other deeply. He would have done the same for me if things had been reversed.'

James, who would still perform from time to time while caring for her husband, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1969

James returned to the spotlight after she married retired Air Force General Bernard 'Ben' A. Schriever in 1997. She stopped performing a few years after he died in 2005

James, who would still perform from time to time while caring for her husband, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1969. 

Acquaviva died in 1986, and nearly a decade later, she married Bernard 'Ben' A. Schriever, a retired Air Force general who oversaw the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, in 1997. 

It was Schriever who encouraged her to return to performing, which led to her hosting concerts in New York, including her return to Carnegie Hall. 

James' influence on Streisand came full circle when she was invited to perform at the Institute’s 2001 Life Achievement Award tribute to the legendary singer. 

She sang Streisand's 'The Way We Were' while famed composer Marvin Hamlisch played the piano. 

The singer's second husband, Schriever, died in 2005, and she stopped performing about a few years later. 

In addition to her son, her survivors include her daughter, Angela Kwoka; her brothers, Angelo Babbo and Jimmy Contino; and her sisters, Clara Aerostegui and Rosalie Ferina. 

James is to be laid to rest with her second husband at the Arlington National Cemetery.