1938–2025
Connie Francis Now: “Who’s Sorry Now” Singer Dies at Age 87
Connie Francis, one of the most popular mid-century female singers who recently enjoyed a resurgence as her hit “Pretty Little Baby” when viral on social media, died July 16, 2025, at a Florida hospital. She was 87.
The president of her record label, Ron Roberts, announced the news on Facebook. “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 early Thursday. “I know that Connie would approve that her fans are among the first to learn of this sad news.”
Francis had been ill in recent weeks. On June 25, she announced she wouldn’t be able to perform at a concert three days later due to a bone fracture. “I have undergone tests to determine the cause of pelvic pain on my right side and have been advised that this is due to a fracture,” she wrote. “It looks like I may have to rely on my wheelchair a little longer than anticipated.” Roberts later shared she had a pelvic fracture.
The singer was back in the hospital by July 2 due to extreme pain and spent some time in intensive care. The hospitalization forced her to again cancel an upcoming performance, which had been a rescheduling of her earlier show. Despite posting encouraging messages over the next few days, Francis’ health didn’t improve. She returned to the ICU and was diagnosed with pneumonia the day before she died at Broward Health North hospital in Pompano Beach, Florida.
She is survived by her son, Joseph Garzilli Jr.
Who Was Connie Francis?
Singer Connie Francis was the first woman to have a No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Her most famous hits were “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own,” “My Happiness,” and “Pretty Little Baby,” which experienced a resurgence on social media in 2025. The New Jersey–born singer became a child star after winning the TV competition Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts at age 12. Despite her notable start, she struggled to get a record deal as an adult and nearly left music altogether. Then, her song “Who’s Sorry Now” played on American Bandstand in 1958, and it became an immediate hit. She remained popular around the world into the mid-1960s. Francis faced several setbacks—including the loss of her voice, a turbulent love life, and a brutal sexual assault—that contributed to a lengthy performance hiatus. She returned to the stage in 1981 and continued to sing into her later years. She died in July 2025 at age 87.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Concetta Maria Franconero
BORN: December 12, 1937
DIED: July 16, 2025
BIRTHPLACE: Newark, New Jersey
SPOUSES: Dick Kanellis (1964–1965), Izzy Marion (1971), Joseph Garzilli (1973–1978), and Bob Parkinson (1985)
CHILD: Joseph Jr.
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Sagittarius
Early Life
Connie Francis was born Concetta Maria Franconero, on December 12, 1937, in Newark, New Jersey. (Some sources say Francis was born in 1938, but she told The Spectrum in 2017 that her birth year was, in fact, 1937.) Her parents were Ida and George Franconcero, who was a dockworker and a roofer before becoming Connie’s manager. The couple went on to have a son, Connie’s younger brother, who was also named George.
The Italian-American family lived in Newark’s working-class Italian neighborhood. Music surrounded Connie throughout the area and at home. Her father played concertina and put Connie in accordion lessons at age 3. The next year, she sang “Anchors Aweigh” at a New Jersey amusement park. It was her first performance of many.
Connie continued performing throughout her childhood and eventually booked a recurring gig on a local TV variety show. That led to appearances on national broadcasts, such as Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, where she won first prize at age 12. Godfrey convinced her to adopt a new last name after he had difficulty pronouncing Franconero. As the newly minted Connie Francis, she performed on another variety show Startime for four years. By the time she finished high school in Belleville, New Jersey, Connie was ready to pursue singing full-time.
Songs
Francis signed with MGM Records in 1955 after she was rejected by nearly every major recording label. MGM released her first recording, “Freddy,” because the president of MGM had a son named by the same name. During the next two years, she recorded a number of mediocre songs.
Francis was all set to quit music and study pre-med at New York University on scholarship when her father convinced her to record the decades-old tune “Who’s Sorry Now” with a mere 16 minutes left in her final studio session. Dick Clark introduced the song on American Bandstand in January 1958, and it became an immediate hit, selling 1 million copies in six months to seal her success. As Francis once said, according to The Hollywood Reporter, “Without Dick Clark, there would be no Connie Francis.”
She started working with songwriters Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield, as well as others, and recorded a string of hits, including “Stupid Cupid,” “My Happiness,” “Lipstick on Your Collar,” and “Where The Boys Are.” Her music became a blend of pop, rock ’n’ roll, country, and classic standards. Francis also spent time recording classic songs from various countries. She sang in Italian, German, Hebrew, Japanese, and other languages, a move that propelled her to international fame.
In June 1960, her song “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” topped the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first woman to achieve the feat since the trending songs chart launched in August 1958. Francis went on to have two more No. 1 songs: “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own,” also in 1960, and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You,” in 1962.
During her heyday, Francis sold tens of millions of records and notched 35 songs in the Top 40. More than a dozen cracked the Top 10. Her popularity put her on par with the likes of Elvis Presley and Bobby Darin. In 1964, she received a Golden Globe Award for special achievement on account of her global musical impact. But as music tastes changed, Francis’ star began to tarnish for all but her dedicated fans.
In the late 1960s, Francis went to Vietnam to sing for U.S. troops in the war. A general had warned her against singing “God Bless America” on account of low morale. Often her closing song, Francis decided to start the show with it instead. As she later told TV host Larry King: “I sang the first four lines of ‘God Bless America’ before one lone soldier stood up, put his hand over his heart, and with tears streaming down his face, began singing along with me. Then there was 100, then 1,000.” Francis said the performance was the highlight of her professional career.
Around this time, Francis had a cosmetic nasal surgery that limited her singing abilities. In 1977, she had another surgery to correct the damage, but instead, it left her voiceless. “I had a range of about seven notes,” Francis told NPR. “There was not one song I could sing from beginning to end.” The failed procedure as well as depression forced her into seclusion for years, and only after three more surgeries did Francis regain her ability to sing.
Francis returned to performing in 1981 at the Westbury Music Fair. She continued singing for the public—sometimes to support charities such as UNICEF, the USO, and the global poverty-fighting nonprofit CARE—into her later years.
In 2025, her song “Pretty Little Baby” took over TikTok in a viral trend that saw millions of people lip-sync to the upbeat tune while displaying their children, pets, or other prized items. The song subsequently became popular on other social media platforms. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t even remember the song,” Francis told People in May. “I had to listen to it to remember. 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.” The singer subsequently took TikTok to thank many celebrities who joined in, such as Kylie Jenner, Timothée Chalamet, Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Shaquille O’Neal, and Billie Eilish.
Movies and Books
In the early 1960s, with her music career white-hot, Francis was offered the chance to start acting. She played the lead in four movies created for teenagers: Where the Boys Are (1960), Follow The Boys (1963), Looking For Love (1964), and When The Boys Meet The Girls (1965). The most successful was Where the Boys Are, for which Francis also recorded the title song of the soundtrack. That tune became an enduring hit.
However, acting never truly appealed to Francis. “I just didn’t feel comfortable, as though I didn’t belong there,” she later said. “[Where the Boys Are] was a very popular film, but I didn’t think I lent much credence to the plot.” She skipped the premiere and tried to get out of future gigs but, per the terms of her contract, wasn’t able to.
Francis released the autobiography Who’s Sorry Now? in 1984. Not satisfied with the quality of her writing, she published another memoir titled Among My Souvenirs: The Real Story Volume 1 in 2017.
Troubled Personal Life
As her popularity waned, Francis began to experience significant challenges in her personal life. She was married and divorced four times, with her longest union lasting five years. Her first marriage, to publicist Dick Kanellis, lasted just three months, from 1964 to 1965. Next, Francis wed beauty salon owner Izzy Marion. Their union was also short-lived, spanning 1971 to 1972. The following year, Francis married restaurateur Joseph Garzilli, with whom she adopted one son, Joseph Jr. Their five-year marriage lasted from 1973 until 1978. The singer’s final marriage, to TV producer Bob Parkinson, also lasted less than a year. They wed and divorced in 1985.
During her third marriage, Francis experienced a horrific sexual assault while in New York for a concert. After performing at the Westbury Music Fair in November 1974, she returned to her room at a nearby Howard Johnson motel. An intruder broken in, held her at knifepoint, then brutally raped, and beat her.
The man was never caught, but Francis won a lawsuit against the motel for inadequate security. She was awarded $2.5 million, one of the largest awards in a rape case at the time. The jury decision further influenced the hotel and motel industry to install deadbolts, viewing ports, and improved lighting.
The traumatic experience severely impacted the singer’s mental health, and as she reeled from the assault, her younger brother was murdered in 1981. Intensive psychiatric care helped Francis take control of her mental health. She was diagnosed with manic depression but later said she had post-traumatic stress disorder.
Quotes
- Singing was the one and only thing I was born to do.
- Without Dick Clark, there would be no Connie Francis.
- There were exhilarating highs and abysmal lows. But it was fighting to get out of those lows that I feel most proud of.
- I often say, I’d like to be remembered not for the highs I’ve reached but for the depths from which I’ve risen.
Universal Records Pretty Little Baby 7" Vinyl Single
Concetta Among My Souvenirs: The Real Story Volume 1 by Connie Francis
Warner Archive Where The Boys Are DVD
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