Should you’ve been on TikTok or Instagram in the previous few months, you may’ve heard the track ‘Fairly Little Child’ as a trending audio. Tragically, the singer behind the viral ’60s tune, Connie Francis, handed away this week. Connie, who claimed pop star fame within the Fifties, died at 87.
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Connie Francis’ buddy and publicist, Ron Roberts, introduced her demise on Thursday, July 17. In response to the Related Press, he didn’t instantly present extra particulars. Earlier this month, Francis posted that she had been hospitalized with “excessive ache.”
Earlier than Her Demise, Connie Reacted To ‘Fairly Little Child’ Going Viral
As talked about, the singer had gained renewed consideration in current months after ‘Fairly Little Child’ turned a sensation on TikTok. Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner had been among the many many celebrities citing it in movies. Francis had joined the platform in response to the track’s sudden recognition. She opened up about seeing her track pop after 63 years in her first TikTok video.
“I’m flabbergasted and excited in regards to the large buzz my 1962 recording of ‘Fairly Little Child’ is making all around the world,” she stated. “To assume {that a} track I recorded 63 years in the past is charming new generations of audiences is really overwhelming for me.”
@connie_francis_official My due to you all for the massive reception you could have given to “Fairly Little Child”. I’m delighted to hitch the TikTok Neighborhood and share this second with you.
Earlier than passing away, she uploaded three different movies to her TikTok account, together with her lip-syncing to ‘Fairly Little Child.’ The third submit was a close-up of a 1968 picture, taken as a part of her album ‘Connie and Clyde.’ The ultimate submit she shared on June 26 was one other thanks to the celebrities who had posted content material utilizing her track.
@connie_francis_official Hello Everybody – I’m nonetheless astounded by the recognition of “Fairly Little Child”. My due to Kylie Jenner, Timothée Chalamet, Kim Kardashian, North West Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Agnetha Fältskog, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Gracie Lawrence, Shaq O’Neal & Jimmy Fallon and others for his or her inclusions within the movies that contributed to the 17 billion-plus performs that includes the track!
Connie Francis Was As soon as THAT GIRL In The Leisure Business!
Should you didn’t know, Connie Francis was a prime performer of the pre-Beatles period. After appearances on a number of TV selection exhibits, Francis was simply 17 when she signed a contract with MGM Data. Her earliest recordings attracted little consideration, however then she launched her model of ‘Who’s Sorry Now?’, an outdated ballad by Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby. It, too, had little success initially till Dick Clark performed it on his ‘American Bandstand’ present in 1958. Clark featured her repeatedly on ‘American Bandstand.’ Connie stated in later years that with out his help, she would have deserted her music profession.
Francis adopted with such teen hits as ‘Silly Cupid,’ ‘All people’s Any individual’s Idiot’ and ‘Lipstick on Your Collar.’ Her information turned hits worldwide as she re-recorded variations of her unique songs in Italian and Spanish, amongst different languages. Her concert events across the nation shortly bought out.
Between 1957 and 1964, Francis was hardly ever out of the charts. Her music had appealed to each younger individuals and adults. She had greater than a dozen High 20 hits, beginning with ‘Who’s Sorry Now?’ and together with the No. 1 songs ‘Don’t Break the Coronary heart That Loves You’ and ‘The Coronary heart Has a Thoughts of Its Personal.’ Like different teen favorites of her time, she additionally starred in a number of movies. Her tasks embrace ‘The place the Boys Are’ and ‘Observe the Boys.’
Singer Lived A Traumatic Life
Regardless of snatching hearts along with her tunes, Connie Francis’ private life was a rollercoaster experience crammed with tragedy. In her early days, she and fellow teen idol Bobby Darin labored collectively on songs. After falling in love, her father and supervisor, George Franconero, caught wind of the romance and a attainable marriage ceremony. Franconero reacted by storming a rehearsal and pulled a gun on Darin, which ended their teen romance.
“My private life is a remorse from A to Z,” she instructed The Related Press in 1984, the 12 months her autobiography got here out. “I noticed I had allowed my father to exert an excessive amount of affect over me.”
Francis was nonetheless in style on the live performance circuit when she appeared on the Westbury Music Heart in Westbury, New York, in 1974. She had returned to her lodge room and was asleep when a person broke in and raped her at knifepoint. The police by no means captured him. Francis sued the lodge, alleging its safety was defective, and a jury awarded her $2.5 million in 1976. The 2 sides then settled out of courtroom for $1,475,000 as an attraction was pending. She stated the assault destroyed her marriage and put her via years of emotional turmoil.
Moreover, she suffered tragedy in 1981 when her brother George was shot to demise as he was leaving his New Jersey house. Later that decade, her father had her dedicated to a psychiatric hospital, the place she was recognized as manic-depressive. At one level, she tried to kill herself by swallowing dozens of sleeping tablets. After three days in a coma, she recovered.
Round that point, she wrote to President Ronald Reagan and volunteered to assist others, calling herself “America’s most well-known crime sufferer.” Reagan appointed her to a job pressure on violent crime.
“I don’t need individuals to really feel sorry for me,” she instructed The New York Instances in 1981. “I’ve my voice, a present from God I took without any consideration earlier than. He gave it again to me.”
Earlier than her demise, Connie Francis was married 4 instances. She typically stated that solely her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, was well worth the hassle. The opposite marriages every lasted lower than a 12 months.
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Related Press former contributor Bob Thomas and Nationwide Author Hillel Italie contributed to this report through AP Newsroom.
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