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 Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero "Connie Francis" |
Connie Francis had flopped on every demo song that MGM Records had given her to try. She was about to give up on an entertainment career when as a last shot she recorded a cover of a Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby tune called "Who's Sorry Now".  This is
another excellent example of Dick Clark and American
Bandstand's prowess in the business. The song debuted on
the show and within 3 months had sold a million copies launching
Francis's career. Her hits continued with "Stupid
Cupid", "Fallin" and "Where the Boys
Are" all of which were written by Neil Sedaka and Howard
Greenfield.Her music at that time was aimed at the youth market and she would frequently pass up more sophisticated tunes which would have broadened her audience. An appearance on The Perry Como Show changed that however. She was now introduced to the adult market, with Como's help she recorded an album of Italian hits and made several repeat visits to the show. Young, attractive and could belt out a tune she became the television media darling. She did numerous commercials, guest spots on game shows like Password and What's My Line as well as musical variety shows like The Dean Martin Show and Ed Sullivan. She did shows in Las Vegas as well as the Copacabana in New York. As the spokesperson for Coca Cola her public exposure was greater than that of even the superstars of the day.  That exposure
even landed her a starring role in
"Where the Boys
Are", the film which started spring break fever and helped
make Ft. Lauderdale the college break capital of the country. The
title song from the movie put her on top of the charts once
again. She subsequently appeared in three more films of the same
genre.Her early success with recording an album of Italian hits both in English and Italian led her to record almost all of her albums in numerous languages. She enjoyed #1 status in Italy, Spain, Germany and the UK as well as more moderate success even in some Iron Curtain countries. In total, Francis recorded in fifteen different languages throughout her career. She would sound out the lyrics phonetically always cross checking her pronunciation with a bilingual translator to ensure that there weren't any embarrassing mistakes.  Francis
didn't enjoy the same popularity after the
British Invasion of the mid 1960's. Her hits hung onto the charts longer than
any of her contemporaries even having a major hit in 1973 with
"The Answer" a song written specifically for her. Even
though her records saw declining chart successes she remained a
big concert draw. Her touring work came to an abrupt stop when
due to some
botched plastic surgery she was unable to perform for
any length of time in air conditioning.She returned to the stage later in life but suffered manic depression and had several hospitalizations. It later surfaced that she had been bipolar for most of her life and now suffered from chemical dependence in trying to treat the disorder. She has received the proper medical care and is once again doing limited engagements and is very active in several philanthropic causes.
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