Demise of Iconic pop singer Connie Francis, 87, who was a household name in the 1950s and 60s – By Upali Obeyesekere
Connie Francis – the iconic pop singer of the 1950s and 60s, has died at the age of 87 on July 16th. Her death was announced by her friend and publicist, Ron Roberts, on Thursday. Francis was known for hits like “Who’s Sorry Now?”, “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “Stupid Cupid,” and “Pretty Little Baby,” which recently experienced a resurgence on TikTok. She was also the first woman to have a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist. She was at one time the world’s biggest-selling female artist.
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Connie Francis was Concetta Rosemarie Franconero on Dec. 12, 1937, and grew up in a working-class Italian American family in Brooklyn, New York. She was just three when her father presented her with a child-size accordion. The next year, she began singing and playing the instrument at various public events. By the time she was a teenager, she had changed her name to Connie Francis and was making regular appearances on the US TV variety show “Startime Kids”. Early attempts to launch a singing career were not successful. She was turned down by almost every record label, only securing a contract with MGM Records because her demo song was called Freddy – which happened to be the name of the president’s son.
The dark-haired singer was just 17 when she signed a contract with MGM Records following appearances on several TV variety shows. Her earliest recordings attracted little attention, but then she released her version of “Who’s Sorry Now”, an old 1923 ballad by Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Francis was on the road to success as a true pop icon. She sold millions of records – including teen hits like “Lipstick On Your Collar”, and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”. In 1960, she became the first woman to top the Billboard Top 100, with the bluesy ballad Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool. Francis also had an affinity for languages and was one of the first stars to record in multiple dialects. Her title song from the 1961 movie Where the Boys Are, for example, was released in seven different languages – English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Neopolitan and Spanish. In 1963, she also recorded one of the first known charity singles, “In The Summer of His Years”, a tribute to the assassinated US president John F Kennedy.
As reported by BBC, her popularity waned in the mid-60s, as acts like The Beatles and Bob Dylan took over the pop charts; and she briefly lost her voice because of nasal surgery. In 1974 Francis mounted a comeback at the Westbury Music Fair in New York, but after the performance she was beaten and raped at knife point in her motel. Traumatised, she became a recluse and spent several spells in psychiatric hospitals (she later said she had been admitted against her will by her father). 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 entered. At her lowest point, the star tried to kill herself with sleeping pills. Francis said it was her adopted son, Joey, who saved her life.
Her 1963 song “In the Summer of His Years,” written as a tribute to John F. Kennedy, was an early charity record, with proceeds going to dependents of the policemen injured during the assassination. In 1964, she was given a special Golden Globe for her “international contribution to the recording world.” Later, she performed for the U.S. troops in Vietnam. For all her success, she said she passed on opportunities to record such songs as “Strangers in the Night,” “Somewhere My Love,” “Danke Shoen,” “Angel in the Morning” and tunes written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. “I think more songs I turned down than songs I recorded were hits,” she told Ira David Sternberg in a 2018 interview.
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She resumed her recording career in 1989 and continued to sing for sold-out audiences until she was in her 70s. Earlier this month, she told fans she had been admitted to hospital due to ongoing hip pain but remained in good spirits. Her death came after a short illness, said her friend and label boss Ron Roberts, adding that more details would be released later. Looking back over her life and career in 2010, she said 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.” During her stay in hospital, she was diagnosed with pneumonia and died on Wednesday night, the president of her record label, Ron Roberts, told BBC News.
Her love life was complicated
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For Connie Francis, success was on her side, but her love story with Bobby Darin had a tragic end. They were sweethearts and had started their careers back in the recording industry around the same time. Francis had a hot romance with teen idol crooner Bobby Darin. And the chart-topping artist was also married four times. Her heart always resided with Bobby, who was one of the top performers back in the 1960s. He was 37 when he passed away in 1973 due to a heart issue that had damaged most of his life. Although the relationship between Connie and Bobby did not last, she always pined for him until the day he passed away and beyond. She was known as the top female vocalist of the ’60s and often shared how Darin was the biggest love of her life. Here’s a look into their short-lived love story. It was in 1965, as per a report by Fox News, that Bobby met Connie, who was back then a young songwriter. For Francis, it was never love at first sight seeing Bobby, who at that time was a rising singer as well as a songwriter. Connie, in an interview with the publication, shared that Bobby was hell bound making it big before the age of 25. He was the smartest man she had ever met. The growing romance between Connie and Francis was not acceptable by her dad, who dominated her career. He reportedly drove Bobby out of Connie’s rehearsal at gunpoint and the two of them used to secretly maintain their relationship via letters.
Francis had been married four times: first to Dick Kanellis, followed by Izzy Marion, Joseph Garzilli, with whom she adopted a son, and Bob Parkinson. Most recently, she had been in a long-term relationship with Tony Ferretto for 18 years, before he died in 2022. Commenting on her four marriages, she would say that only her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, was worth the trouble. The other marriages each lasted less than a year. But the love of her life was singer Bobby Darin who sadly passed away at 37. She is survived by her son, Joseph Garzilli Jr., whom she adopted in 1974.
In the 1950s and 60s, Hollywood was home to many popular pop artists, including both established stars and rising talents. Connie Francis was one among a galaxy of stars during that period of many pop artists. Prominent names to mention are that of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Patsy Cline, Patti Page, Jim Reeves, Pat Boone, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin, Roy Orbison, Ricky Nelson, Fabian, Cliff Richards, Doris Day, Skeeter Davis, Harry Belafonte, Paul Anka, Connie Stevens, Frankie Avalon, Hank Williams, Marty Robins, Buck Owens, and many others.
Rest In Peace Connie Francis and thank you for the music!
