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 in the Italian Down Neck, or Ironbound, neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey. 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 Ford 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. During this time Connie was introduced to then up and coming singer/songwriter Bobby Darin. Bobby's manager arranged for Darin to help write several songs for Connie in order to help jump-start her singing career. Initially the two artists couldn't see eye to eye on potential material but after several weeks Bobby and Connie developed a romantic interest in one another. Unfortunately Connie had a very strict Italian father who would separate the couple whenever possible. When Connie's father learned that Bobby had suggested the two lovers elope after one of Connie's shows, he ran Darin out of the building while waving a gun telling Bobby to never see his daughter again. Bobby saw Connie only two more times after this happened, once when the two were scheduled to sing together for a television show and again later when Connie was spotlighted on the tv series This Is Your Life. To date Connie has said that not marrying Bobby was the biggest mistake of her life.
After considering a career in medicine due to the failure of her first few demos, a cover version of the song "Who's Sorry Now?" (1923) by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby launched Francis into super-stardom worldwide. She recorded the song at what was to have been her final recording session for MGM; the label was about to drop her owing to her previous singles' poor sales. Francis has said 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. On January 1, 1958, the song debuted on Dick Clark's American Bandstand television show, and by mid-year over a million copies were sold. In April 1958, "Who's Sorry Now" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and number four in the USA. This was followed by many other hits over the next decade, as Connie Francis became one of the most popular vocalists in the world.
As Francis explains at each of her concerts, she began searching for a new hit immediately after her 1958 single Who's Sorry Now? became a success. She was then introduced to Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, who played every ballad they had written to date, for Connie. After a few hours, Francis began writing in her diary while the two songwriters played the last of their ballads. After they finished their last song of the session, Francis told them that they wrote very beautiful ballads but that she considered them too intellectual for the young generation of the time. Greenfield then suggested to Sedaka a song they had written that morning for another girl group. Sedaka protested, believing that Francis would be insulted. Greenfield said that she hated all the other songs they had performed and that they had nothing more to lose. Sedaka reluctantly agreed to play Stupid Cupid with Greenfield for Francis. As soon as they finished playing the song, Francis told them that they had just played her new hit record. Francis' song reached #14 on the Billboard charts. While Francis was writing in her diary, Sedaka asked her if he could read what she had written. After she refused, Sedaka was inspired to write The Diary, which was his first hit single. Through the rest of her early career Sedaka and Greenfield wrote many of Connie Francis' hits such as Fallin and Where the Boys Are.
Connie specialized in downbeat ballads (often remakes of old standards) 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". However, she also had success with a handful of more upbeat, rock-and-roll-oriented compositions, such as "Stupid Cupid", "Lipstick On Your Collar", "Robot Man" and "Vacation".
Among Francis' 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 often identified with Frank Sinatra). Both "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" went to number one on the Billboard music charts in 1960. In 1962, Francis had another number one hit with "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You".
Francis remade many of her hits in foreign languages, including "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and her signature song, "Where the Boys Are". Francis recorded in thirteen languages throughout her career: English, Greek, German, Swedish, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian (and its dialect Neapolitan), Hebrew, Yiddish, Japanese, Latin and Hawaiian. During a concert at the Golden Stag Festival in Braşov, Romania in March 1970, Francis performed live in Romanian. Francis' biggest hit album in the U.S. was 1959's Italian Favorites; 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.
In the 1960 motion picture Where the Boys Are Connie was able to highlight her acting talents to a broader range of audiences. 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 starred in her own television special on ABC television sponsored by Brylcreem titled Kicking Sound Around, singing and acting alongside Tab Hunter, Eddie Foy Jr. and Art Carney. Francis 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, Francis had 35 U.S. Top 40 hits, three of which were number ones. 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.
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." She appeared on 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.
Connie released her autobiography, Who's Sorry Now? in 1984. It was her second attempt at writing as she had previously released the book For Every Young Heart in 1962.
In 2000, "Who's Sorry Now?" was named one of the Songs of the Century. 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 and October 2007, Francis performed to sold-out crowds at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.
In December 2007, Connie Francis was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Francis appeared in concert in Manila, the Philippines, on Valentine's Day 2008.
Francis has been married four times. She married Dick Kanellis against her father's wishes on August 15, 1964. She divorced him three months later after he abused her. She married hairdresser Izadore "Izzy" Marion on January 16, 1971. They divorced the following year. In September 1973 she married Joseph Garzilli; together they adopted a son, Joseph Garzilli Jr. (Joey), born in 1974. After that marriage ended, she married television producer Bob Parkinson, on June 27, 1985. Like the others, this marriage ended in divorce.
On November 8, 1974 Francis was raped in the Jericho Turnpike Howard Johnson's Lodge following a performance at the Westbury Music Fair in New York. After returning to the room some time after the attack she discovered the broken lock and torn screen had not been repaired by facility management. She subsequently sued the motel chain for failing to provide adequate security. She reportedly won a $3 million judgment, at the time one of the largest such judgments in history. She did not perform again for seven years afterwards. She has stated that it was because of the rape that she divorced Joseph Garzilli. Her rapist was never found.
Nasal surgery to correct previous surgery caused a sensitivity to air conditioning and deprived her of her ability to sing professionally for four years.
In 1978, she attempted a comeback by appearing with her friend Dick Clark on his ABC-TV variety show Dick Clark's Live Wednesday. Unknown to the audience, the still-fragile Francis lip-synched to a pre-recorded disco medley of her hit Where the Boys Are.
Her brother was murdered in 1981.
Francis was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She has long suffered from continuing mental impairments that developed as a result of her rape, including drug dependencies and suicide attempts. She uses lithium to treat the illness.
She resumed her career in 1989.
Francis brought suit alleging that Universal Music Group took advantage of her condition and stopped paying royalties. It was dismissed. On November 27, 2002, she filed a second suit against UMG alleging the label had "synchronized" two of her songs into movies without her permission. This suit was also dismissed.
She also sued the producers of the 1999 film Jawbreaker, in which her song "Lollipop Lips" is heard during a sex scene.
Connie and singer Gloria Estefan completed a screenplay for a movie based on Francis' life, titled Who's Sorry Now?. Estefan will produce and play the lead. Estefan said, "She isn't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and yet she was the first pop star worldwide, and has recorded in nine languages. She has done a lot of things for victims' rights since her rape in the '70s . . . There's a major story there." The "long gestating biopic" will begin pre-production within a few months, according to a story published in March 2007 in the Bay Area Reporter.
MGM E- = mono release MGM SE- = stereo release
(US = Billboard Hot 200 LPs Chart, C= Cashbox LPS chart, CM = Cashbox Mono LPS chart, CS = Cashbox Stereo LPS chart)
Reference:
The A-Side of Francis' first ever published single (1955, MGM Records K 12015). Although the single's B-Side "Didn't I love you enough" would've been the better choice from the artistic point of view, "Freddy" was given the A-Side status because MGM's president, Harry Meyerson, had a son named Freddy and Meyerson thought of this song as a suitable birthday gift. A version recorded by Eartha Kitt and Perez Prado was released at the same time as the Francis version. Although it also failed to chart, it still sold better than the Francis version because of its exciting mambo arrangement, which was part of the current sound of the day.
Bobby Darin wrote this song for Francis, which led to their first encounter. Darin was "The Jaybirds", who were credited as background vocals. The choir effect was reached by Darin recording his part several times in different keys. Despite the teaming up of those two great talents, the single failed to chart.
Francis was invited to the 1961 Academy Awards ceremony to present one of the songs nominated for an Academy Award. She was offered "The Second Time Around" from the movie High Time starring Bing Crosby. She turned that song down in favour of "Never on Sunday", even singing a few bars of the original Greek lyrics during the ceremony. Francis never considered releasing a recording of the song as a single, because The Chordettes had already taken their version to # 1 on the charts. But in August 1961, Francis recorded the song for an album featuring songs from motion pictures.
Contrary to popular belief, this song did not originate in the 1962 movie "Rome Adventure" where it was presented by Emilio Pericoli. The song was actually written as an entry for the San Remo Festival. Originally recorded and performed by Betty Curtis, it became the winning song of the 1961 edition of the festival, which subsequently resulted in the nominations as Italy's entry for the 1961 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest (# 5). Connie Francis included the song on her album "Connie Francis sings Modern Italian hits" (MGM Records SE-4102), which was recorded in November 1962. Several versions of the Francis version exist: 1.) Bilingual Italian/English, running time 3'17", released in the US on both the album and MGM single K 13116, 2.) Pure Italian, running time 3'30", released in Mexico on MGM Records EP EXPL 1034, 3.) Pure Italian, alternate take, running time 3'46", released in Spain on MGM Records EP 63-025. To this day, Al di là remains as a popular part of Francis' live act.
Francis created a phenomenon by recording this song, because the lyrics were actually written for a male singer. The original lyrics tell about a man who finds out that his woman is cheating on him. Francis had the song rewritten, which told now the story of a woman telling "the other woman" to leave her man alone. This recording peaked only at # 114 in the US, but became her fourth # 1 hit in Italy
Between late 1962 and late 1964, Francis recorded and released several songs which dabbled with the Girl group sound, which was created by successful acts such as The Shangri-Las, The Ronettes or Lesley Gore. Popular writers and producers of that sound were Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich. The latter two wrote and co-produced several songs for Francis. One of them was "Tommy". Recorded during an extensive session on April 8, 1964, this song, which would eventually be released as the flip side of "Blue Winter" on MGM Records Single K 13237, featured Ellie Greenwich and The Tokens as special guest backup vocals.
The lyrics for a vocal version of the best known theme from the Doctor Zhivago sound track were written by Academy Award winning lyricist Paul Francis Webster after a special request from Francis herself. But Francis rejected the lyrics at first because she thought of them as too corny. When she finally realized the song's potential, The Ray Conniff Singers had recorded it and taken to # 1 of the charts. Francis' version became a hit nonetheless, becoming a # 1 in several Asian countries and Scandinavia. The Italian recording, "Dove non so", became her last # 1 hit in Italy.
