CONNIE FRANCIS (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)

Connie Francis (born December 12, 1938 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American pop singer best known for international hit songs such as "Who's Sorry Now?", "Where the Boys Are", and "Stupid Cupid".

Connie Francis was born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero on December 12th, 1938, in Newark, New Jersey. She began her musical career at the age of three, learning to play an accordion bought for her by her roofing contractor father, George. Her father's dream was not for his daughter to become a star, but for her to become independent of men as an adult with her own accordion school of music.

At age ten, she was accepted on Startime, a New York City television show that featured talented child singers and performers. Its host, the legendary TV talent scout, Arthur Godfrey, had difficulty pronouncing her name and suggested something "easy and Irish," which turned into Francis. After three weeks on Startime , the show's producer and

Francis' would-be manager advised her to forget the accordion and concentrate on singing. Francis performed weekly on Startime for four years.

After being turned down by almost every record label she approached, 16-year-old Connie signed a recording contract with MGM, only because one of the songs on her demo, "Freddy," also happened to be the name of the president's son. "Freddy" was released in June 1955 as the singer's first single and went nowhere. After a series of flop singles, she undertook what was to be her last session for MGM on October 2nd, 1957. Francis had recently accepted a pre-med scholarship to New York University and was contemplating the end of her career as a singer. Having recorded two songs, she thanked the technicians and musicians, hoping not to have to have to record the third song her father had in mind, an old tune from 1923. After a false start, she sang it in one take. That song was "Who's Sorry Now" and when MGM executives heard it, they issued it as a single release. The song caught on quickly and when Dick Clark played it on American Bandstand, he told its eight million viewers that Connie Francis was "a new girl singer that is heading straight for the number one spot."

"Who's Sorry Now" went to number 4 on the US pop chart and number 1 in the UK and was the first in a long string of hit records between 1957 and 1962. These included reworkings of more oldies, such as "My Happiness", "Among My Souvenirs" and "Together". Among her more upbeat songs were "Stupid Cupid" (another UK number 1) and "Where The Boys Are" by the new songwriting team of Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Her other US Top 10 entries included "Lipstick On Your Collar", "Frankie", "Mama", "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" (her first US number 1), "My Mind Has A Heart Of Its Own" (another US number 1), "Many Tears Ago", "Breakin' In A Brand New Broken Heart", "When The Boy In Your Arms Is The Boy In Your Heart", "Don't Break The Heart That Loves You" (US number 1), "Second Hand Love" and "Vacation".

Francis made her film debut in 1960 with Where The Boys Are, and followed it with similar comedy musicals such as Follow The Boys (1963), Looking For Love (1964) and When The Boys Meet The Girls (1965). The 1963 song, "In the Summer of His Years," written as a tribute to the assassinated John F. Kennedy, remains one of the earliest known charity records, with proceeds donated to dependents of the policemen shot

during the incident.

Although she had sold 35 million records by 1967, she was pushed aside by the 60s beat boom and turned to working in nightclubs in the late 60s. She did much charity work for UNICEF and similar organizations, besides entertaining US troops in Vietnam. She also extended her repertoire, and kept her options open by recording albums in several languages, including French, Spanish and Japanese. Late 70s issues included more country music selections.

She ended her 12 year relationship with MGM in 1969, choosing not to renew her contract when the company was taken over by Polydor. She opted instead for domestic life with her third husband. Francis didn't return to the recording studio until 1973 when the writers of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon," long-time friends, wrote "The Answer" especially for her.

Up until then, her professional life must have seemed like a fairy tale, but all that was about to change. In 1974, with her husband's encouragement, she returned to the stage, with disastrous consequences. After her third performance at The Westbury Theatre, outside New York, she was raped at the hotel she was staying in. Ultimately, this incident contributed to the end of her marriage. She later sued the motel for negligence, and was reputedly awarded damages of over three million dollars. During 1975, nasal surgery temporarily robbed her of her voice.

For several years afterwards she did not perform in public, and underwent psychiatric treatment for long periods. She was on the comeback trail in 1981 when her brother, George, was brutally murdered. It took seven more years to determine that through all of those events, she was also a manic depressive. She finally made her return to the stage in Las Vegas in 1989, however, while at the Palladium in London, England, her speech became slurred and the tabloids reported that she was suspected of being drunk. In 1991, she had trouble speaking on a US television show, and, a year later, collapsed at a show in New Jersey. She was diagnosed as

suffering from "a complex illness", and of "having been toxic for 18 years". After drastically reducing her daily lithium intake, she signed a new recording contract with Sony in 1993, buoyed by the fact that her 1959 hit, "Lipstick On Your Collar", was climbing high in the UK charts, triggered by its use as the title track of playwright Dennis Potter's television drama.

Connie continued to perform live and in 1996, had a number of major album releases including, "the Swinging Connie Francis", a collection of jazz songs from the 1930s and "Connie Francis, Live at Trump's Castle" produced by Dick Clark's record label, Click Records. She also recorded "Nashville", a collection of Buddy Holly songs. In late 1997 through 1999, Pendulum Entertainment Group released some of the original MGM Connie Francis albums on CD.

(info from www.classicbands.com)

Connie Francis (born December 12, 1938 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American pop singer best known for international hit songs such as “Who’s Sorry Now?,” “Where The Boys Are”, and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”.


Born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in Newark’s Italian Down Neck or Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey neighborhood, she is considered the most prolific and popular female rock ‘n’ roll hit-maker of the early rock era — the late 1950s to the early 1960s. After an appearance on Startime, Francis was advised to change her name from Franconero to something more easily pronounceable, as well as to quit the accordion and focus on singing.

Francis’ first single “Freddy” (1955) met with little success. Her next nine singles were also failures, and she began considering a career in medicine; however, “Who’s Sorry Now” (a cover version of a 1923 song) launched her into super-stardom worldwide. Francis recorded the song at what was to have been her final recording session for MGM, as the label was about to drop her since her previous singles had generated little activity. She has said (paraphrased from The Billboard Book of Number One Singles by Fred Bronson) that she recorded it at the suggestion of her father, who convinced her it stood a chance of becoming a hit because it was a song adults already knew and that teenagers would dance to if it were released with a more contemporary arrangement.

The gamble paid off. In April 1958, “Who’s Sorry Now” reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart (number four in the USA); in 2000, it was named one of the Songs of the Century. On January 1, 1958, she debuted it on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand television show; by mid-year over a million copies were sold. This was followed by many other hits over the next decade, as Connie Francis became one of the most popular vocalists in the world.

Francis specialized in downbeat ballads delivered in her trademark “sobbing” style — such as “My Happiness,” “I’m Sorry I Made You Cry,” “Among My Souvenirs,” “Together,” “Breakin’ In a Brand New Broken Heart,” and the Italian song “Mama,” many of which were remakes of old standards. However, she also had success with a handful of more upbeat, rock-and-roll-oriented compositions, such as “Stupid Cupid,” “Lipstick On Your Collar,” and “Vacation.” Among her other notable performances were “In the Summer of His Years” (a tribute to slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy) and Bert Kaempfert’s “Strangers In The Night” (although the latter song is more identified with Frank Sinatra). Both “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” and “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” went to No.1 on the Billboard music charts in 1960. In 1962 she had another No.1 hit with “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.”


Francis recorded in nine languages during her career, including English, Italian, French, Spanish, German, and even Japanese, and remade many of her hits in foreign languages, including “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” and her signature song, “Where the Boys Are.” In fact, her biggest hit album in the U.S. was 1960’s Italian Favorites, and she followed it with several more albums of Italian songs over the years, as well as collections of Spanish-language and Jewish songs, among others.

“Where The Boys Are,” one of many Neil Sedaka/Howard Greenfield compositions Francis recorded during her career (others included “Stupid Cupid” and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”), gained wide exposure through its inclusion in the 1960 motion picture with the same title. Francis had a role in the film and sang the title song. During the first half of the 1960s she starred in three additional films — Follow the Boys (1963) (the title song of which became a No. 17 Billboard single for Francis), Looking for Love (1964) and When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965).

In 1960 Francis became the youngest headliner to sing in Las Vegas, where she played 28 days a year for nine years. In 1961 she was successful in starring in her own television special on ABC television sponsored by Brylcreem titled Kicking Sound Around, singing and acting along-side Tab Hunter, Eddie Foy Jr. and Art Carney. She appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on July 1, 1962 with French singing star Johnny Hallyday in a show that was taped at the famous Moulin Rouge nightclub in Paris, France. On July 3, 1963 she played a Command performance before Queen Elizabeth II at the Alhambra Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland. By 1967, she had 35 U.S. Top 40 hits, and three number ones.

Connie Francis has always been a great fan of country music and recorded several albums of country standards during her pop career. In 1969 she had a modest country hit with “The Wedding Cake” and made the country charts again in 1982 with “There’s Still a Few Good Love Songs Left in Me.” Several country singers found chart success remaking Francis’ pop hits for the country market, including Marie Osmond (“Who’s Sorry Now” in 1975), Susan Raye (“My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” in 1972), Margo Smith (“Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You” in 1978), and Debby Boone.

During the height of the Vietnam War in 1967, Connie Francis performed for U.S. troops.

Francis ended her recording career in 1969. She returned in 1973 with “The Answer,” a song written just for her, and soon began performing again. Her son Joey was born in 1974. Tragedies followed soon after. In 1974 she was sexually assaulted in a hotel following a performance in Westbury, New York. Nasal surgery to correct a sensitivity to air conditioning deprived her of her ability to sing professionally for four years. Her brother was murdered in 1981.

Francis’ autobiography, Who’s Sorry Now? was published in 1984. Francis was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental disease which includes severe depressions and manic highs. She uses the drug Lithium to balance out the emotional highs and lows caused by the disease. Connie Francis resumed her career in 1989 after discovering the drug and has continued singing and recording since then. Francis still holds a world-wide appeal shown through continued music sales and sold-out appearances.

Her latest CD The American Tour contains performances from recent shows. In late December 2004, Francis headlined in Las Vegas for the first time since 1989.

In March of 2007, Francis performed to a sold-out crowd — composed of gay urbanites and conservative suburbanites — in San Francisco. The “little diva” belted out versions of her “woebegone ballads . . . in full force,” according to the San Franciso Chronicle’s music critic.