Beloved singer Connie Francis has passed away at 87. The news was confirmed by her longtime friend and label head, Ron Robert,s in a heartfelt Facebook post on Thursday, July 16. Her death came shortly after she was hospitalized for severe pain.
Born Concetta Franconero in Newark, New Jersey, Francis rose to fame in the late 1950s with timeless hits like “Who’s Sorry Now?” “Where the Boys Are,” and “My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own.” In 1960, she became the first solo female artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 with “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.” Her fame soared globally thanks to her multilingual recordings and appearances on shows like American Bandstand and The Ed Sullivan Show.
Behind the spotlight, Francis endured immense hardship, surviving a 1974 assault, losing her voice temporarily after surgery, and grieving the mafia-linked murder of her brother in 1981. Misdiagnosed mental health struggles followed, leading to multiple involuntary hospitalizations.
Despite it all, she made multiple comebacks and became a powerful advocate for trauma survivors, partnering with the Reagan administration and Mental Health America.
Francis was married four times and adopted a son, Joseph Garzilli Jr. In 2017, she said she hoped to be remembered “not for the heights I have reached, but for the depths I have risen from.” She is survived by her son.
