Connie Francis, the whose given name is Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero and who was born on December 12, 1937, is a famous American female pop singer and actress from the late 1950s and early 1960s. She has reportedly sold over 100 million records worldwide and has been dubbed the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” by one tabloid.
In 1960, Francis was the best-selling female artist in every place where recordings were sold, including Germany, Japan, England, Italy, Australia, and everywhere else. Of her 53 total singles, she was the first woman ever to top the Billboard Hot 100.
The Beginnings
Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (later shortened to “Connie Francis”) was born on December 12, 1938, in Newark, New Jersey, to Italian-American parents George and Ida. She learned the language as a child because her neighborhood was populated by Italian Jews. Francis’s father constantly pushed the family to participate in community events, which is how she came to participate in neighborhood pageants and talent shows. She started her educational career at Newark Arts High School and continued on to Belleville High School, where she graduated in 1955.
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Professional Origins
Francis began her career as a singer in the early to mid-1950s, when she made an appearance on the NBC variety show Startime Kids and began working as a demo singer. Finally, she signed with MGM Records, where she promptly released a series of commercial flops. Francis afterward moved over to MGM’s film division, where he recorded vocals for Freda Holloway in “Jamboree” and Tuesday Weld in the musical feature “Rock, Rock, Rock!”
Does Anyone Know if Connie Francis Is Dead or Not?
Connie Francis is still among us, she hasn’t died. In 1996, she recorded both her final album, “The Return Concert: Live at Trump’s Castle,” and a tribute album, “With Love To Buddy.” As a result, she disappeared from public view for a long time and stopped releasing new music. Both of her sold-out San Francisco gigs in 2007 occurred in March and October. She shared the Las Vegas Hilton with Dionne Warwick in 2010. She published her memoir titled “Among My Souvenirs” in 2017.
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Private Matters
Marriages
There have been four marriages for Francis. She wed Aladdin Hotel press agent and entertainment director Dick Kanellis for a short time in 1964. She tied the knot with hair salon owner Izzy Marion in the first month of 1971 and filed for divorce ten months later.
Francis married Joseph Garzilli, a restaurant and travel agency owner, for the third time in 1973; the marriage did not last long, and they divorced the following year, in 1977. Francis adopted Joey, a baby son, during his third marriage. After marrying Bob Parkinson, a TV producer, in 1985, Francis and Parkinson divorced later that year.
Relationship with Bobby Darin
Francis met Bobby Darin, a promising young singer, and songwriter, early in her career. Darin collaborated with her on a number of songwriting projects thanks to his manager’s efforts. Darin and Francis developed love feelings for each other despite their initial disagreements over the subject matter.
The relationship was fraught with tension since Francis’s conservative Italian father attempted to keep the couple apart at every turn. At gunpoint, her father chased Darin out of the theater after he found out that Darin had suggested that the two elope after one of her performances.
There were only two more occasions Francis would see Darin: once when they were both performing on a TV show and once when she was the featured guest on This Is Your Life. Darin had already wed Sandra Dee, an actress, by the time the latter was recorded. Francis wrote in her autobiography that she and her dad were driving through the Lincoln Tunnel when they heard the news of Dee and Darin’s wedding on the radio.
Her dad made a snide remark about how good it was that Darin was finally gone from their lives. Francis, in a fit of rage, admitted in a letter that she wished the Hudson River would flood the Lincoln Tunnel, killing her and her father.
