American pop singer, actress and one of the top-charting female vocalists of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ms Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, known professionally as Connie Francis, sadly passed away on Wednesday last, in Pompano Beach, Florida on July 16th 2025, at the age of 87 years.
During her career she was estimated to have sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
Ms Francis had recently been treated for pelvic pain, caused by a fracture and had been confined to a wheelchair.
The performer, whose hits included ‘Stupid Cupid‘ and ‘Who’s Sorry Now‘, had recently enjoyed a resurgence of her 1962 song ‘Pretty Little Baby‘ .
Somewhere My Love.
Vocals: American singer the late Ms Connie Francis (1937 – 2025). (Sung to the melody of “Lara’s Theme” from the film Doctor Zhivago.)
Lyrics: American lyricist and three time Academy Award winner the late Paul Francis Webster (1907 – 1984).
Somewhere My Love.
Somewhere, my Love, there will be songs to sing,
Although the snow covers the hope of spring.
Somewhere a hill blossoms to green and grow,
And there are dreams all that your heart can hold.
Someday we’ll meet again, my love,
Someday whenever the spring breaks through.
You’ll come to me out of the long ago,
Warm as the wind, soft as the kiss of snow.
Till then, my sweet, think of me now and then,
God speed my love till you are mine,
Till you are mine again.
END
Ms Francis grew up in a working-class Italian American family in Brooklyn, New York. She started playing the accordion at the age of three, encouraged by her father. By the time she was a teenager, she had changed her name from Concetta Franconero, to Connie Francis.
During her early career she was turned down by almost every record label; only securing a contract with MGM Records, because her demo song, ‘Freddy‘, happened to be the name of the then president’s son. She would go on to sell millions of records in multiple dialects, including teen hits like ‘Lipstick On Your Collar‘ and ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool‘.
Following being beaten and raped at knife point in 1974 at her motel, at the Westbury Music Fair in New York, she became a recluse, spending several spells in psychiatric hospitals. At her lowest point, she attempted suicide using sleeping pills. She later won $1.5 million lawsuit against the Howard Johnson’s motel chain, for failing to provide safe locks on the glass door through which her attacker entered.
Ms Francis had just begun her return to the stage in 1981, when her younger brother George Franconero, who had testified against the Mafia, was shot to death in front of his house. This event plunged her deeper into depression, leaving her to spend much of the next decade receiving treatment, during which time she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
She would go on to become an outspoken voice within victim advocacy groups, including Women Against Rape, and the Victims’ Assistance Legal Organisation, and became a spokesperson for Mental Health America.
In ár gcroíthe go deo.
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