Giovanna Carmella Babbo (September 22, 1930 – February 20, 2022), known professionally as Joni James, was an American singer of traditional pop. == Biography == Giovanna Carmella Babbo was born to an Italian-American family in Chicago, Illinois, on September 22, 1930, as one of six children supported by her widowed mother. As an adolescent, she studied drama and ballet, and on graduating from Bowen High School, located in the South Chicago neighborhood, went with a local dance group on a... [more on Wikipedia]