Joni James Quotes

A ballet dancer. I was scheduled to join Bloomer Girl, a Broadway musical that came to Chicago, but instead I had the middle of the night emergency. I had toured before that with The Canadian Exhibitions, a big, giant line of girls, sort of like The Rockettes. So, that was my background. 
Joni James

I grew up on the Southeast side of Chicago, which is near the steel mills or was then. It's changed now. My father had come from Italy. He died when I was five. We were in a very poor position. It was after the Great Depression. Everybody was poor. We didn't notice that we were poor. We thought that's the way everybody is. When I got a little older, the ballet thing brought me into a whole different sphere. I would go into the heart to Chicago, where everything was more luxurious. It was a whole different world. But, when you grow up in a little neighbourhood, and Chicago is full of neighbourhoods, the one that we were in, was poor. 
Joni James