Singer Connie Francis, whose hits included Stupid Cupid and Pretty Little Baby, has died at age 87.<\/p>\n
Her death was confirmed by friend and publicist Ron Roberts, who did not provide any further details about her death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It is with a heavy heart and extreme sadness that i inform you of the passing of my dear friend Connie Francis last night,” he wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n
“I know that Connie would approve that her fans are among the first to learn of this sad news.”<\/p>\n
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Francis poses for a portrait in the 1970s. (AP: Wally Fong\/ File)<\/p>\n
Francis was a top performer of the pre-Beatles era, rarely off the charts from 1957\u201464.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In recent months, her hit Pretty Little Baby has become a viral sensation on TikTok.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking in May to People magazine, Francis said the song was forgotten \u2014 even to the star herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is touching the hearts of millions of people is truly awesome. It is an amazing feeling,” she said.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Able to appeal to both young people and adults, she had more than a dozen top 20 hits, starting with Who’s Sorry Now? and including the No. 1 songs Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You and The Heart Has a Mind of Its Own.<\/p>\n Her records became hits worldwide as she re-recorded versions of her original songs in Italian and Spanish, among other languages.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her concerts around the country quickly sold out.<\/p>\n Like other teen favourites of her time, she also starred in several films, including Where the Boys Are and Follow the Boys.<\/p>\n Francis with Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand.\u00a0 (AP: Reed Saxon\/ File)<\/p>\n A teen fling with Bobby Darin\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a romance bloomed with fellow teen idol Bobby Darin, who had volunteered to write songs for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n But when her father heard rumours that the pair were planning a wedding, he stormed into a rehearsal and pulled a gun on Darin, ending their relationship and seeming to set Francis on a pained and traumatic path.<\/p>\n She chronicled some of it in her autobiography, Who’s Sorry Now?<\/p>\n “My personal life is a regret from A to Z,” she told The Associated Press in 1984, the year the book came out.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I realised I had allowed my father to exert too much influence over me.”<\/p>\n Singer Connie Francis performs in Germany in 2004. (AP: Eckehard Schulz\/ File\u00a0)<\/p>\n Her father, George Franconero, was a roofing contractor from New Jersey who played the accordion, and he had his daughter learn the instrument as soon as she began to show an aptitude for music.\u00a0<\/p>\n When she was four, he began booking singing dates for her, going on to become her manager.<\/p>\n At age nine she began appearing on television programs, including Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts and The Perry Como Show.<\/p>\n Later life besieged by trauma\u00a0<\/p>\n In 1974, after performing in New York, Francis returned to her hotel room and was asleep when a man broke in and raped her at knifepoint. He was never captured.<\/p>\n Francis sued the hotel, alleging its security was faulty, and a jury awarded her $2.5 million in 1976. The two sides then settled out of court for $1,475,000 as an appeal was pending.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said the attack destroyed her marriage and put her through years of emotional turmoil.<\/p>\n She suffered further tragedy in 1981 when her brother George was shot to death as he was leaving his New Jersey home.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you or anyone you know needs help:Suicide Call Back Service<\/a> on 1300 659 467Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 224 636<\/p>\n Later in the decade, her father had her committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she was diagnosed as manic-depressive.\u00a0<\/p>\n At one point, she attempted suicide by swallowing dozens of sleeping tablets. After three days in a coma, she recovered.<\/p>\n She was married four times and would say that only her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, was worth the trouble. The other marriages each lasted less than a year.<\/p>\n The singer was also recently portrayed by Gracie Lawrence in the Broadway musical Just in Time.<\/p>\n Francis said she had planned to see the musical.<\/p>\n ABC\/AP\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Singer Connie Francis, whose hits included Stupid Cupid and Pretty Little Baby, has died at age 87. 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