For those who’ve been on TikTok or Instagram in the previous couple of months, you may’ve heard the music ‘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 Nineteen Fifties, died at 87.
RELATED: Prayers Up! MTV Host Ananda Lewis Passes Away At The Age Of 52
Connie Francis’ good friend and publicist, Ron Roberts, introduced her dying on Thursday, July 17. In keeping with 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 Loss of life, Connie Reacted To ‘Fairly Little Child’ Going Viral
As talked about, the singer had gained renewed consideration in latest months after ‘Fairly Little Child’ turned a sensation on TikTok. Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have been among the many many celebrities citing it in movies. Francis had joined the platform in response to the music’s sudden reputation. She opened up about seeing her music pop after 63 years in her first TikTok video.
“I’m flabbergasted and excited concerning the enormous buzz my 1962 recording of ‘Fairly Little Child’ is making all around the world,” she stated. “To suppose {that a} music I recorded 63 years in the past is charming new generations of audiences is really overwhelming for me.”
@connie_francis_official My because of you all for the massive reception you’ve 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 put up was a close-up of a 1968 picture, taken as a part of her album ‘Connie and Clyde.’ The ultimate put up she shared on June 26 was one other thanks to the celebrities who had posted content material utilizing her music.
@connie_francis_official Hello Everybody – I’m nonetheless astounded by the recognition of “Fairly Little Child”. My because of 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 music!
Connie Francis Was As soon as THAT GIRL In The Leisure Trade!
For those who didn’t know, Connie Francis was a high 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,’ ‘Everyone’s Anyone’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 live shows 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 initiatives embrace ‘The place the Boys Are’ and ‘Comply with the Boys.’
Singer Lived A Traumatic Life
Regardless of snatching hearts together with her tunes, Connie Francis’ private life was a rollercoaster journey full of 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 doable wedding 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 advised The Related Press in 1984, the yr her autobiography got here out. “I noticed I had allowed my father to exert an excessive amount of affect over me.”
Francis was nonetheless well-liked on the live performance circuit when she appeared on the Westbury Music Heart in Westbury, New York, in 1974. She had returned to her resort room and was asleep when a person broke in and raped her at knifepoint. The police by no means captured him. Francis sued the resort, alleging its safety was defective, and a jury awarded her $2.5 million in 1976. The 2 sides then settled out of court docket for $1,475,000 as an enchantment was pending. She stated the assault destroyed her marriage and put her by way of years of emotional turmoil.
Moreover, she suffered tragedy in 1981 when her brother George was shot to dying as he was leaving his New Jersey dwelling. 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 process pressure on violent crime.
“I don’t need individuals to really feel sorry for me,” she advised The New York Instances in 1981. “I’ve my voice, a present from God I took with no consideration earlier than. He gave it again to me.”
Earlier than her dying, Connie Francis was married 4 instances. She typically stated that solely her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, was definitely worth the bother. The opposite marriages every lasted lower than a yr.
RELATED: Prayers Up! 7-12 months-Previous Milwaukee Youngster Allegedly Kidnapped At Gunpoint In Broad Daylight (VIDEO)
Related Press former contributor Bob Thomas and Nationwide Author Hillel Italie contributed to this report by way of AP Newsroom.
What Do You Assume Roomies?
