Connie Francis, the acclaimed vocalist who once reigned as the world’s top-selling female artist, has passed away at the age of 87.
The musician, celebrated for hits like “Stupid Cupid” and “Who’s Sorry Now,” recently experienced a resurgence in popularity after her 1962 track, “Pretty Little Baby,” gained traction on TikTok.
Francis had been receiving treatment for pelvic pain stemming from a fracture. During her hospitalization, she was diagnosed with pneumonia and succumbed to the illness Wednesday night, according to Ron Roberts, president of her record label, who confirmed the news to BBC News.
Roberts initially announced the artist’s passing on Facebook, expressing his “heavy heart and extreme sadness.”
“I know that Connie would approve that her fans are among the first to learn of this sad news,” he added.
The singer’s death arrives shortly after “Pretty Little Baby” experienced a wave of popularity on TikTok.
Millions, including celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, participated in lip-sync videos to the ballad, showcasing their children, pets, and expressions of affection.
A video created by influencers Brooke Monk and Sam Dezz, for example, garnered over 158 million views.
ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog also shared a video featuring the song, noting Francis’s long-standing status as her favorite singer. Gracie Lawrence, currently portraying Francis in the Broadway musical “Just in Time,” also posted a video of herself singing the track in character.
Last month, Francis expressed surprise at the sudden resurgence of a song that had originally been a B-side.
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even remember the song!” she told People magazine.
“I had to listen to it to remember. To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is touching the hearts of millions of people is truly awesome. It is an amazing feeling.”
Born Concetta Rosemarie Franconero, Francis was raised in a working-class Italian American family in Brooklyn, New York.
At the encouragement of her father, she began playing the accordion at age three. By her teenage years, she had adopted the stage name Connie Francis and was a frequent performer on the US TV variety show “Startime Kids.”
Early attempts to launch a singing career initially met with challenges.
She faced rejection from numerous record labels, ultimately securing a contract with MGM Records due to the fact that her demo song was titled “Freddy” – coincidentally, the name of the label president’s son.
Her first recordings failed to resonate with audiences, leading Francis to accept a place to study medicine at university.
However, she achieved a breakthrough hit with her final contracted recording for MGM – a cover of the 1923 song “Who’s Sorry Now?,” which she only recorded at her father’s insistence.
“I had 18 bomb records,” Francis told UPI in 1996. “He wanted me to record a song written in 1923. I said ‘Forget about it – the kids on American Bandstand would laugh me right off the show.'”
“He said, ‘If you don’t record this song, dummy, the only way you’ll get on American Bandstand is to sit on the TV’.”
His words proved almost prophetic. In 1958, Dick Clark championed the track on “American Bandstand,” telling viewers: “There’s no doubt about it, she is headed straight for the number one spot.”
Francis, who was watching at home, was unaware that the song would be featured on the show.
“Well, the feeling was cosmic – just cosmic!” she wrote in her diary that night.
“Right there in my living-room, it became Mardi Gras-time and New Year’s Eve at the turn of the century!”
Over the following years, Francis solidified her status as a pop icon.
She achieved substantial record sales, including teen-oriented hits such as “Lipstick On Your Collar” and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.”
In 1960, she made history as the first woman to top the Billboard Top 100 chart with the bluesy ballad “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.”
Francis also demonstrated a talent for languages, becoming one of the first artists to record in multiple languages.
For example, the title song from the 1961 film “Where the Boys Are” was released in seven different languages: English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Neapolitan, and Spanish.
In 1963, she recorded one of the earliest known charity singles, “In The Summer Of His Years,” as a tribute to the assassinated US President John F. Kennedy.
Her popularity diminished in the mid-1960s with the rise of acts such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan, and she temporarily lost her voice following nasal surgery.
In 1974, Francis staged a comeback at the Westbury Music Fair in New York, but following the performance, she was assaulted and raped at knife point in her motel.
Traumatized, she retreated from public life and spent time in psychiatric hospitals (later claiming she had been admitted against her will by her father).
At her lowest point, the singer attempted suicide with sleeping pills.
“I just felt that there was nothing for me to live for,” she told Terry Wogan on his BBC One chat show in 1989.
“I had this free-floating fear of life in general after the rape, and I just said, ‘Well, that’s it, I’m going to check out’.”
Francis credited her adopted son, Joey, with saving her life.
“I was looking at this bottle of sleeping pills… and my son knocked at the door of the bathrooom and he said, ‘Mommy, you’re the best mommy I ever had’,” she told Wogan.
“And that was it. I took the pills and threw them right down the toilet.”
The singer later won $1.5 million (£1.1 million) in a lawsuit against the Howard Johnson’s motel chain for failing to provide safe locks on the glass door through which her attacker gained entry.
Francis had only just begun her return to the stage in 1981 when her younger brother George Franconero, who had testified against the mafia, was fatally shot in front of his home.
The incident plunged her deeper into depression, and she spent much of the next decade in treatment, during which she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
However, she also became a prominent advocate for crime victims, supporting groups like Women Against Rape and the Victims’ Assistance Legal Organisation, and serving as a spokesperson for Mental Health America.
She resumed her recording career in 1989 and continued to perform for sold-out audiences until her 70s.
Earlier this month, she informed fans of her hospitalization due to ongoing hip pain, while maintaining a positive outlook.
Her death followed a short illness, according to Ron Roberts, her friend and label head, who stated that further details would be released in the future.
Looking back over her life and career in 2010, she reflected that “with the exception of my brother’s murder, I would do it all over again.
“Because although there were some terrible lows, there were also exhilarating highs that I would have never felt in any other profession.”