CNN
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Connie Francis, a pop singer and actress whose hits such as \u201cLipstick on Your Collar\u201d and \u201cWho\u2019s Sorry Now?\u201d became a soundtrack for a generation of teens in the 1960s, has died, according to a post from her publicist and friend, Ron Roberts.\n <\/p>\n
\n She was 87.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt is with a heavy heart and extreme sadness that I inform you of the passing of my dear friend Connie Francis last night,\u201d Roberts wrote in a post on a verified Facebook page for Francis. <\/a>\u201cI know that Connie would approve that her fans are among the first to learn of this sad news.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Francis was recently hospitalized for pain issues and had to cancel some appearances earlier this month, according to posts she shared on social media.\n <\/p>\n \n The singer\u2019s hit \u201cPretty Little Baby\u201d had recently gotten attention from a much younger generation, thanks to a TikTok trend.\n <\/p>\n \n Francis participated with a post of her on with the song on the platform.\n <\/p>\n @connie_francis_official<\/a> <\/p>\n First time I\u2019ve lip-synched to this 63 year old recording of mine!<\/p>\n \u266c Pretty Little Baby – Connie Francis<\/a> <\/p>\n \n \u201cFirst time I\u2019ve lip-synched to this 63-year-old recording of mine!\u201d the caption read.\n <\/p>\n \n Francis also shared a video<\/a> to thank other artists, including Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, for \u201cpaying tribute\u201d to her and her song.\n <\/p>\n \n Born Concetta Franconero in Newark, New Jersey, a young Francis won first prize on Arthur Godfrey\u2019s popular television series \u201cStartime Talent Scouts,\u201d which led to her singing on his show for several years as a teen.\n <\/p>\n \n Godfrey convinced her to adopt the stage name \u201cConnie Francis\u201d as he told her it was easier to pronounce than her birth name.\n <\/p>\n \n Success didn\u2019t come easy at first for the singer, who was rejected by multiple labels before signing with MGM in 1955. That company released her first single, \u201cFreddy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Disappointed in her career, Francis almost quit to go to college before her father convinced her to record a song that had been around before, \u201cWho\u2019s Sorry Now?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Other popular tunes followed, including \u201cLipstick on Your Collar,\u201d \u201cMy Heart Has a Mind of Its Own\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Break the Heart That Loves You.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Francis also found success on screen, starring in the films \u201cWhere the Boys Are\u201d \u201cFollow The Boys\u201d in 1963, \u201cLooking For Love\u201d in 1964 and \u201cWhen The Boys Meet The Girls\u201d 1965.\n <\/p>\n \n It was not something she herself was a fan of, Francis revealed during a 2017 interview. <\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI asked the studio why they couldn\u2019t come up with a title without the word \u2018boys\u2019 in it!\u201d she said. \u201cPeople knew [\u2018When the Boys Meet the Girls\u2019] was another lame Connie Francis movie and they stayed home. I was so pleased it was my last one.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Francis faced challenge, including what came to be known as her \u201cdecade of tragedy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In 1974, Francis survived a rape and robbery in her hotel room following a performance at the Westbury Music Fair in Westbury, New York. She subsequently sued the hotel and won, but the attack led the singer into a deep depression.\n <\/p>\n \n Three years later, nasal surgery caused Francis to lose her singing voice, which took her subsequent surgeries and lengthy time to recover.\n <\/p>\n \n Her beloved brother, George A. Franconero, was murdered in 1981 at the age if 40. According to an article from the New York Times dated March 7, 1981<\/a>, he was an attorney who \u201chad twice given law enforcement officials information concerning alleged organized-crime activities\u201d and was \u201cshot several times in the side of the head by two men\u201d who \u201cwere said to have approached him as he scraped ice from the windshield of his car in his driveway.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n She also was treated for bipolar disorder.\n <\/p>\n \n Francis wrote about her hard times in her 1984 autobiography, \u201cWho\u2019s Sorry Now.\u201d\n <\/p>\n