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| Birth Name(s) : Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Connie Francis 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 "Everybody's Somebody's Fool". She is known to have one of the most distinct voices in the history of pop music.
Francis' first single, "Freddy", (1955) met with little success. Her next nine singles were also failures, and she began to consider a career in medicine. However, a cover version of the song "Who's Sorry Now?" (1923) by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby launched Francis into super-stardom worldwide. Francis recorded the song at what was to have been her final recording session for MGM; the label was about to drop her due 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.
Francis 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", and "Vacation".
In March and October 2007, Francis performed to sold-out crowds at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.
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 thereafter. She has stated that it was because of the rape that she divorced Joseph Garzilli.
Nasal surgery to correct previous surgery caused a sensitivity to air conditioning and deprived her of her ability to sing professionally for four years.
Francis was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She has long suffered from ongoing mental impairments that developed as a result of her rape, including drug dependencies and suicide attempts. She uses lithium to treat the illness.
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.
- "Never On Sunday" (1961)
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 of the charts. But in August 1961, Francis recorded the song for an album with motion picture songs.
- "Al di là" (1962)
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.
- "Tommy" (1964)
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.
- "Somewhere, my love (Lara's Theme)" (1966)
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. |
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