Connie Francis, the quintessential pop icon of the 1950s and 1960s, renowned for hits like “Pretty Little Baby,” which later became an ironic epitome of her life’s tragedies and personal heartache, has passed away at 87.
Her death was announced Thursday by her friend and publicist, Ron Roberts, who did not immediately provide additional details.
Francis was a leading artist in the era before the Beatles, consistently featured in the charts from 1957 to 1964. With a broad appeal to both teenagers and adults, she scored over a dozen top 20 singles, starting with “Who’s Sorry Now?” and including No. 1 hits such as “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You” and “The Heart Has a Mind of Its Own.” In addition to her music career, she appeared in several films, like “Where the Boys Are” and “Follow the Boys,” much like other teenage idols of that period.
At just 17, the dark-haired songstress secured a deal with MGM Records following several TV variety show performances. Although her initial recordings garnered little notice, her rendition of “Who’s Sorry Now?”—a classic ballad by Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby—catapulted her to fame.
It, too, had little success initially until Dick Clark played it on his “American Bandstand” show in 1958. Francis followed with such teen hits as “Stupid Cupid,” “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” and “Lipstick on Your Collar.” Her records became hits worldwide as she re-recorded versions of her original songs in Italian and Spanish among other languages. Her concerts around the country quickly sold out.
Meanwhile, a romance bloomed with fellow teen idol Bobby Darin, who had volunteered to write songs for her. But when her father heard rumors that the pair were planning a wedding he stormed into a rehearsal and pulled a gun on Darin, ending their relationship and seeming to set on Francis on a pained and traumatic path.
She chronicled some of it in her autobiography, “Who’s Sorry Now?”
“My personal life is a regret from A to Z,” she told The Associated Press in 1984, the year the book came out. “I realized I had allowed my father to exert too much influence over me.”
Her father, George Franconero, was a roofing contractor from New Jersey who played the accordion, and he had his daughter learn the instrument as soon as she began to show an aptitude for music. When she was 4, he began booking singing dates for her, going on to become her manager.
Although her acting career had faded by the mid-1960s, Francis was still popular on the concert circuit when she appeared at the Westbury Music Center in Westbury, New York, in 1974. She had returned to her hotel room and was asleep when a man broke in and raped her at knifepoint. He was never captured.
Francis sued the hotel, alleging its security was faulty, and a jury awarded her $2.5 million in 1976. The two sides then settled out of court for $1,475,000 as an appeal was pending. She said the attack destroyed her marriage and put her through years of emotional turmoil.
She suffered tragedy in 1981 when her brother George was shot to death as he was leaving his New Jersey home. Later in the decade, her father had her committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she was diagnosed as manic-depressive. At one point she attempted suicide by swallowing dozens of sleeping tablets. After three days in a coma, she recovered.
She was married four times and would say that only her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, was worth the trouble. The other marriages each lasted less than a year.
Concetta Rosemarie Franconero was born on Dec. 12, 1937, in Newark, New Jersey. She was just 3 when her father presented her with a child-size accordion. The next year she began singing and playing the instrument at various public events.
At age 9 she began appearing on television programs, including “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” and “The Perry Como Show.” It was Godfrey who suggested she shorten her last name.
Clark featured her repeatedly on “American Bandstand,” and she said in later years that without his support she would have abandoned her music career.
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Bob Thomas, a longtime Hollywood reporter for The Associated Press, died in 2014.
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