Connie Francis

by Erika Cox

Connie Francis was one of the most popular female singers in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Although, her sound was mature pop she was often labeled a teen idol.

With the help of a number of successful songwriters, including her producer Don Krishner, Francis became the top female vocalist in the 1950’s and early 1960’s.

Connie Francis was born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero on December 12, 1938 in Newark, New Jersey.

As a child, Francis was very talented and showed an early interest in music. She learned to play the accordion at age three, at age ten appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s talent show, and at eleven appeared on the variety show, Starttime for several years.

While appearing on the show, she was advised to change her “very long and very Italian” sounding name to something more pronounceable and “acceptable” at that time. Also, while performing on the show she was advised to drop the accordion and focus on singing, so she did and was eventually noticed by MGM, which she signed with and would go on to have a long career with them.

In May of 1955, she recorded and released her first single “Freddy” with little success. However, in 1957 she released her first major hit, “Who’s Sorry Now”, a remake of the very popular song from 1923, and with that song Francis became an instant success all over the country.

In 1958, she appeared on American Bandstand performing the song, which helped launch her career even more, the song sold more than a million copies.

Francis had a strong and talented voice and because most of her hits came around the same time the pop teen idols were out, along with her definite pop sound, she was often labeled a teen idol but she was far from a teen idol.

Although her appearances on American Bandstand made her seem like a teen idol, she not only did not look the part of a teen idol the majority of her songs were not necessarily appealing or produced for teenagers.

Francis would go on to release “Don’t Break The Heart that Loves You” and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”, both were number one hits. She would go on to have a total of 35 songs that went to the Top Forty between 1958 and 1964.

Her most popular song "Where the Boys Are", became one of the first pop songs to be recorded in foreign languages and made into a movie called by the same name. Francis had a role in the film and sang the title song. During the first half of the 1960s she would star in three additional films.

She was also the first artist to record her songs in a number of different languages making her one of the first international stars and the first to record a song in different languages. Francis would go on to record more than 60 albums including, soundtracks and country songs, she also performed for the troops in Vietnam.

Throughout the 1970’s and early 80’s, she suffered a number of personal tragedies. She was sexually assaulted and robbed in a hotel, she had an operation that prevented her from singing for several years, she was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and her brother was murdered in 1981.

Through all of this Francis returned to her singing career in the late 80’s and has continued to sing and perform.

Francis through her personal tragedies and professional success has influenced many people, however, she has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even though she was one of the first artist to record songs in nine different languages. Connie Francis is definitely a major influence in Pop music.

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