Connie Francis

Concetta Franconero (Newark, New Jersey, December 12, 1937 – Pompano Beach, Florida, July 16, 2025), known professionally as Connie Francis, was an American singer who achieved her greatest success during the 1950s and 1960s.

Connie Francis came from an Italian immigrant family. Her musical talent was evident at an early age. Her father encouraged her to pursue a career in show business. She soon learned to play the accordion, which earned her a place on the American television series Startime. Producer George Scheck, who later became her manager, advised her to focus on singing instead. In 1955, she signed a recording contract with MGM Records.

During this period, Francis was also involved in a relationship with the future famous singer Bobby Darin, who was also of Italian descent. Darin was introduced to the then-unknown Connie Francis, and Bobby’s manager arranged for him to co-write music for Connie to help launch her singing career. Bobby and Connie fell in love, but Connie’s father was very strict. As soon as he became aware of the relationship, he did everything he could to keep the couple apart. When he learned that they planned to see each other after one of Connie’s performances, he chased Bobby out of the building while brandishing a weapon. Connie Francis later said that not marrying Bobby Darin was the biggest mistake of her life.

It was not until January 1958 that Connie Francis achieved real success. Dick Clark of American Bandstand helped propel Francis’s record Who’s Sorry Now, a revamped rock version of the 1923 song, into the American Top 10. In England, the song even held the number one position for six consecutive weeks in 1958. This marked the beginning of Francis’s worldwide fame.

Between 1958 and 1963, Connie Francis was the most popular female pop singer in the world. She scored three number-one hits in the United States, two in the United Kingdom, and four in Germany. In those countries, she also had numerous other Top 10 hits. She was also extremely popular in countries such as Italy, Spain, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries. She recorded songs in 15 different languages and sold tens of millions of records.

Some of her major hits include “My Happiness,” “Stupid Cupid,” “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “Where the Boys Are,” “Mama,” “Lipstick on Your Collar,” “Paradiso,” and “Barcarole in der Nacht.” However, her versatility is best showcased on her long-playing albums, which feature a repertoire ranging from rock and jazz to country and world music.

In addition to her chart success, it was especially her live concerts that attracted large audiences. During the 1960s, she also appeared in four films.

By the end of the 1960s, Francis’s success began to decline. Due to a series of personal tragedies and a poorly executed cosmetic nose surgery that caused vocal problems, she put her career on hold for a long time. After her retirement, she settled in Florida.

In 2025, Pretty Little Baby, initially a lesser-known song by Francis from 1962 (which she herself had forgotten), became a hit through social media, particularly on TikTok and YouTube. On July 17 of that same year, it was announced on her Facebook page that she had passed away the previous evening, after having been hospitalized earlier.

The song that you can hear this week is :
I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter