Connie Francis

Connie Francis established the template followed by contemporary women in pop music. During her peak commercial period spanning the final years of the 1950s and the opening years of the 1960s, she stood apart among female performers by achieving sales figures that matched or exceeded those posted by numerous male artists of the era. Over time she expanded her range to encompass big band, country, ethnic material, and additional genres. Her cumulative sales continue to rival those of Madonna for the title of top-selling female recording artist in history. Concetta Rosemarie Franconero, who shared Madonna’s Italian-American roots, began performing at age three on an accordion purchased by her father George, a contractor whose goal was to equip his daughter with the means to operate an independent accordion school rather than to pursue stardom. At ten she secured a spot on Startime, the New York City program showcasing gifted young entertainers, and remained the sole accordionist among its participants. Host Arthur Godfrey, the renowned television talent scout, struggled with her surname and proposed an “easy and Irish” alternative that became Francis. Three weeks into her appearances the producer, who also sought to manage her, urged her to abandon the instrument and focus exclusively on vocals; she continued weekly performances on the program for the next four years.

After rejections from nearly every label she contacted, the sixteen-year-old secured a contract with MGM solely because one track on her audition tape, “Freddy,” matched the name of the company president’s son. That song appeared in June 1955 as her debut single. Following a succession of unsuccessful releases, she entered what she expected to be her final MGM session on October 2, 1957, having just accepted a premed scholarship to New York University and begun planning a life outside music. After completing two numbers she expressed gratitude to the engineers and musicians, only to be asked for a third selection her father had chosen—an obscure 1923 composition. A false start preceded a single flawless take. When Dick Clark aired “Who’s Sorry Now?” on American Bandstand he informed the program’s eight million viewers that Connie Francis was “a new girl singer that is heading straight for the number one spot.”

The recording inaugurated an extended run of international successes. By 1967 she had moved thirty-five million units globally, including thirty-five U.S. Top 40 entries and four chart-toppers—“Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own,” “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You,” and “Stupid Cupid.” Issued in 1963, “In the Summer of His Years,” a tribute to the assassinated John F. Kennedy, ranks among the earliest documented charity singles, its proceeds directed to families of the officers killed in the attack. Francis possessed a notable facility for languages and became one of the first pop artists to cut versions of her material in multiple tongues; the 1961 title song from Where the Boys Are ultimately appeared in six languages. She headlined four films of modest distinction, supplied singing voices for actresses lacking that ability, and made countless television guest appearances. Critics initially dismissive of her pop output later acknowledged her adaptability; the Italian and Jewish albums repositioned her from teenage idol to seasoned entertainer in major venues worldwide. Composers frequently selected her as the first interpreter of songs that later became signature hits for others, among them “Somewhere My Love,” “Strangers in the Night,” “Angel in the Morning,” and “When Will the Apples Fall.”

Although the 1957 session for “Who’s Sorry Now?” had been intended as her last for MGM, the association actually concluded in 1969 when she declined to renew after the label’s acquisition by Polydor, electing instead to concentrate on domestic life with her third husband. She did not re-enter the studio until 1973, when the songwriters of “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” created “The Answer” expressly for her. In 1974 her husband persuaded her to resume live performance, an effort that ended catastrophically: after the third show she was assaulted at her hotel, an event that contributed to the dissolution of the marriage. Nasal surgery in 1975 temporarily eliminated her voice. While mounting a return in 1981, her brother George was murdered. Seven years passed before it was established that she had also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder amid these upheavals. She resumed stage and recording work in 1989 and has since maintained sold-out appearances into the new millennium, ultimately releasing more than seventy LPs.