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Connie Francis, known for musical hits such as “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” and “Pretty Little Baby,” has died. She was 87.
Ron Roberts, the president of Francis’ record label Concetta Records, first shared the news on the artist’s official Facebook page on Thursday.
“It is with a heavy heart and extreme sadness that I inform you of the passing of my dear friend Connie Francis last night.”
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“I know that Connie would approve that her fans are among the first to learn of this sad news. More details will follow later,” the message concluded.
Earlier this month, Francis revealed she had been hospitalized for “extreme pain.”
“I am back in hospital where I have been undergoing tests and checks to determine the cause(s) of the extreme pain I have been experiencing,” she wrote on Facebook. “I am pleased to advise that following a series of tests and examinations in Intensive Care, I have now been transferred to a private room.”
Two days later, she informed her fans that she was “feeling much better after a good night,” Her last post was on July 4.
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Francis, who first found fame and success in the 1950s, was best known for hit singles such as “My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own,” “Where the Boys Are,” “Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You” and more.
In 2018, Francis opened up about the story behind one of her biggest hits, “Who’s Sorry Now?”.
“My father wanted me to record that song for a year and a half and I turned him down,” she told Fox News Digital. “It was a square song, it was written during the 1920s, and the kids on ‘American Bandstand’ would laugh me right out of the show. He said, ‘If you don’t sing this song, sister, the only way you’ll get on ‘American Bandstand’ is if you sit on top of the television set.’ So I did it as the last song.”
“I stretched the other songs before I got to ‘Who’s Sorry Now’ so there wouldn’t be time,” she continued. “But there were 16 minutes left. My father said, ‘If I have to nail you to that microphone, you’re gonna do “Who’s Sorry Now.”’ So I did it. I didn’t like it… I remember that record had been out for three months and it went nowhere… But Dick Clark liked it… It was a cosmic moment for me. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. Because I knew in five seconds my life would never be the same. And it wasn’t. It was a happy shock.”
Francis faced a number of personal challenges throughout her life, including a suicide attempt in 1984, surviving rape in 1974 and family turmoil.
“To make a short story long, in the ’80s, I was involuntarily committed to mental institutions 17 times in nine years in five different states,” she told the Village Voice in 2011. “I was misdiagnosed as bipolar, ADD, ADHD, and a few other letters the scientific community had never heard of. A few years later, I was discovered to have had post-traumatic stress disorder following a horrendous string of events in my life.”
Francis was married four times and is survived by a son, Joseph Garzilli Jr.
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