47 years ago today, Miss Francis released her last chart hit. Then tragedy.

Ah, yes: Tony Orlando & Con

Sorry OP, I'm 47 and I have no idea what happened to her or who she is. Can you provide any kind of context? or an article?

LMGTFY

I think she faked the rape to cover molestation by her father.

Was the story publicized at the time or kept secret?

Highly publicized. They never caught the guy.

Connie was one of the most talented singers ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood. At a time when gay men were oppressed beyond belief they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

^^ She hit all the talk shows that would have her to tell the sordid details. Merv, Mike Douglas, etc.

We simply don't have such talented vocalists like Francis anymore. It's a shame. The most popular female singers all seem to either go over the top with the scream singing or even worse make these weird , passive and whispery infantile vocalizations. It's like they're trying to sound like children.

R2 Hmmmmm.....you think maybe Connie Francis might have been a well known singer 47 years ago? I mean, that's stated in the opening post...

Also: there's this thing called a "search engine". You type words into it to seek information on a subject.

Try it. It's FUN!!!

Makes you seem less stupid to use it!

No Connie Francis thread is complete without a link to her take on Goldfinger from The Ed Sullivan Show, showing that overrated Welsh mulatte how it's really done. That safe door opening and Miss Francis stepping out of it in a gold dress remains one of the most iconic moments in US television history.

Iconic, R13? Do you work for People magazine? I doubt that 5 people outside of the CF fan club would even know what the hell you're referring to. It's not exactly the Beatles on Sullivan.

Many ask me, "Tulsi, did you know that 47 years ago today Connie Francis released her last chart hit, then tragedy?"

I say, well duh! I know everything. I was in Russia when Miss Francis had her "then tragedy." Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Ocheretnaya Putina (Mrs. Vladimir) flew from Kaliningrad to that Howard Johnson's and she cut a bitch. There's a reason the rapist was never found. Lyudmila spent the rest of the evening showing me her athleticism (she was an Indian leg wrester in the 1973 Olympics).

I feel the same way about today's celebrities--I don't care enough about them to look them up.

A new Connie Francis thread! I’m going to get settled in, because these get good!

Connie was the iop female vocalist for many years in terms of record sales and concerts. She graduated from stadiums to first class venues such as Carnegie-=ie Hall, London Palladium and The Copa. her Copa appearances were events. She was a top Las Vegas artist and has appeared there from the late 50s rthe new millenium. She was an international star of the first magnitude. Despite not recording since the 1990s she remains within the top 5 of female vocalist sales of all time. Her great recordings are found on her LPs. She had 75 chart hits in the USA alone. She remains friends with Dean Martin's and Frank Sinatra's families. Some of her best recordings and live performances: The Impossible Dream, Born Free, I Will Wait For You, The Cole porter Medley, The Gershwin Medley, The Judy Garland Medley, and most of her Italian, Spanish and Yiddish/Hebrew recordings.

It's too bad that Connie didn't have the success in her personal life that she had as a recording star.

She was also the singing voice for Tuesday Weld in "Rock, Rock, Rock" and Jayne Mansfield in "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw" and Freda Holloway in "Jamboree."

I can't believe R2 has never seen (or heard) "Where the Boys Are."

Connie Francis was as big in her heyday as Madonna was in hers. She was an icon who singlehandedly changed the industry.

She paved the way for people like Barbra Streisand, Vicki Carr, Edyie Gorme.

Gloria Estefan, in fact tried for years to make a big screen movie on Connie but it didn't happen.

She never gets the credit she deserves, which is a shame. She should have been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ages ago.

Ah yes, 47 years ago today, I discovered the joys of BBC. But I had to pretend it was rape. What would Daddy have said?

No one under the age of 80 has ever heard of this chick. She hasn't had a hit record since LBJ was in office. Or was it JFK? Well, who cares?

She's no Brenda Lee.

[quote]No one under the age of 80 has ever heard of this chick

Where the boys are is an iconic song, and one of the most covered songs in pop music history.

I guess Connie finally found out where the boys were.

She's stunning in OP's pic

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

RIP

#11 shows where she could have gone. But she's too uptight. She needed to blues it up a little, but she too white.

MY God. The Connie Francis troll, recycling that second rate version of Goldfinger and that "she changed music" nonsense. Tie a Yellow Ribbon was made popular by the execrable Tony Orlando and Dawn, not by Francis. By the time of Westbury, she probably was more popular in Israel or maybe Pakistan or wherever else she sang phonetically than in in the US. I wonder if she did a Zulu version of "Where the Boys Are". She opened the door for no one.

She opened the door for all females. She was the first female to have a #1 hit on the Hot 100 Billboard charts and the first to have back to back #1s. She was the first female to have control over her career. She was the first American to perform behind the Iron Curtain. There are many first for this woman.

Her crazy father controlled her career for years. there were tons of women with best selling records and they often were much better singers: Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, Dinah Shore, Rosemarie Clooney. Patty Paige (the singing rage) got a tv show out of being a second rater. No tv shows for Connie!

Her material sucked---just because they liked her in Bosnia (and didn't have much choice) doesn't mean much and don't start with the non-existent #1 hits in Germany. She's probably been touring 3rd tier Indian casinos and second rate cruise ships.

I'm no Connie fan, but you can't deny she had many, many hit records, and was one of the best-selling singers of all time.

Who's sorry now?

Connie Francis, the original saccharine singing stylist. She was sorry excuse for a singer then and she's even more sorry now.

She was married six times and put out for Mafia bosses. Really disgusting person.

R11 cannot die fast enough.

God Bless Connie!

She's a trumpster. Fuck her.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!, Stupid Cupid, Lipstick On Your Collar, Where The Boys Are, Who's Sorry Now ....the list goes on. Probably the best-selling woman of her generation.

She's no Dionne Warwick.

Gloria Estefan raped me again!

[quote]They chose to use amateur writers to write the screenplay. I wanted the writer Robert Freeman who wrote that miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which won I don’t know how many Emmy Awards, but Gloria and company were unwilling to hire that writer. I absolutely adored his screenplay of Judy’s life ... he was so eager to do my life story for film, but she [Gloria] wouldn’t agree to hire him and that was the end of that. And I’m sorry I wasted ten years with those people [i.e. the Estefans].

Her style of performing was as dead as a doornail after the early '60s. She never sounded contemporary or fresh, which is why her last hit record was actually way longer than 47 years ago.

What a weird thing to commemorate, OP. It's probably not anything Connie Francis wants to remember, if she's even still alive.

[quote] She never sounded contemporary or fresh

The producer of Lady Gaga and Destiny's Child disagrees with you.

[quote] Iconic, [R13]? Do you work for People magazine? I doubt that 5 people outside of the CF fan club would even know what the hell you're referring to. It's not exactly the Beatles on Sullivan.

Yes only the 5 people who subscribed to national newspapers . . .

She had a great voice and was hugely popular for a time. But tastes change, styles change, and she stopped having hits. I think she's still remembered.

She was a very big star for about 6 or 7 years. She's listed as the 9th best-selling singles artist of the 60's, but like a lot of American pop stars, the Beatles-led British Invasion of 1964 basically killed her recording career. She's not that well-remembered today because most of her big hits just haven't endured in the public consciousness. She was from the early rock and roll era, but she wasn't really a rock and roll act, even though some of her hits were kind of rock, like "Lipstick on Your Collar" and "Stupid Cupid". She was best known for her weepy ballads. Most of her stuff was never played on oldies radio, and it just eventually vanished down the memory hole. "Where the Boys Are" is probably the one that is best remembered today. She had a good voice. I wonder if maybe all the publicity about her rape made oldies radio stations reluctant to play her old hits...like it was something they didn't want to be reminded of.

[quote]That very night, Miss Francis life changed forever.

When she took her very first bite of a York Peppermint Patty.

R30 is delusional. Either that or Connie herself...

Connie,

The 33 Top 40 hits, 12 Number One hits, 3 Number One Albums, 16 Ed Sullivan Appearances, and Two NBC-TV hour long TV Specials that The Supremes and I racked up between 1964 and 1969 will never live up to you and your hit ‘Where the boy’s are.’ You truly own the 1960s...

Love,

Diana Ross

Connie Francis has been married four times. In 1964, she was married for three months to Dick Kannellis, a press agent and entertainment director for the Aladdin Hotel. In 1971, she married Izzy Marrion, a hair-salon owner, separating 10 months later and divorcing another two months later, in 1972. In 1973, Francis married for the third time – her only marriage to last more than a few months – to Joseph Garzilli, a restaurateur and travel-agency owner; they divorced in 1978. Francis married TV producer Bob Parkinson in 1985, divorcing nine months later, in 1986.

Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, 82

December 12, 1937

Newark, New Jersey

Wasn’t the rape some sort of mob revenge thing?

Did they ever catch the guy?

R52, Please keep up.

R50, I remember Connie on "The Mike Douglas Show" announcing that she had just married the hairdresser. She looked at the audience with a grin and said "And he's not gay . . ." .

She’s no Bjork

I know two eldergays that absolutely love Francis. They get so queenie when they talk about her hits and how they met her once. Their house has a room filled with Francis albums on the wall.

The hotel industry went through a revolution when it came to safety after Francis sued for the rape

Francis sang at John Gotti's daughter's wedding even after he ordered a hit on her brother. Classy. Probably whined her way through the theme from The Godfather, without irony.

Like she had a choice.

First of all, no one would do a biopic of Francis these days because no one's heard of her or don't care. Secondly, it would be done only after she's dead so they can tell the true story about her Mafia connections, mental illness, multiple marriages and the slide into oblivion from the '60s onward.

Did Connie cum "multiple times" and squirt while her "dirty parts" were getting crushed by Black cock? Was she a Moaner or a Thrasher while he was pounding her PUSSY

Diana,

Per Billboard, I'm in the top 10 female singers of all time, with 53 hits. You're way down the list at 40. And incidentally, I held their number ONE spot for nearly 20 years, until 1977, when Aretha Franklin took the spot over.

Love,

Connie

[quote] The Queen of Soul has accumulated 73 Hot 100 charting songs over the course of her career. In 1977 her 54th song made the Hot 100, which moved her ahead of the previous record holder, Connie Francis

I went to see Bette Midler perform in the '70s after Connie Francisi was raped. It became a quite a joke back then. Bette was very popular, talented, cutting edge and bawdy back then. Bette probably wouldn't want to admit it today, but Bette used to say in a deadpan voiice, "Did you hear? Did you hear that Connie Francis was...raped! You don't rape Connie Francis. It's not done!" And Bette would get a lot of laughter from the audience given Bette's delivery of "the joke." Her pause, just before she would say, "It's not done" made the audience roar.

Oh my times have changed even long before "MeToo." No one, Bette included, would be making rape joke these days. And the audience wouldn't be laughing.

Was she ever in the legitimate theater?

Connie's latest pic, from her FB post 6 days ago. Still looking ravishing at 82. That ponytail makes her look at least a decade younger.

Connie loves the weed.

R66, Is Connie standing with Patti LuPone?

Connie, you’re a stupid wop.

Rare Coke ad with Connie.

R57 Her case was a watershed case and led to new safety laws. She, herself, used the money she was awarded, to form and pass the Victims Rights Laws. She worked hard and long at this. Great woman. She not only was a great star, but she she did great things to change the world for the public. The Vietnam vets have never forgotten her for what she did and continues to do for them.,

R50. All true. Her engagement to Bobby Darin was broken up by her father. Frank SInatra ran her first husband out of town before she divorced him.

Connie was one of the most versatile singers ever. Her voice was great and her best material can be found on her LPs. Her voice was magnificent. It was even better live than on record.

Wasn’t she one of those mob-related Italian American East Coast pre- packaged singers like Bobby Darrin, Frankie Valli & Fabian? Dick Clark was partial to those stars & personally showcased some of them, helping their careers. Sinatra came out of NJ and the mob realized there was money to be made in the music industry. They’d already been fronting guys like Vic Damone & decided to go with people who appealed to the younger generation.

R66: Vietnam vets? Did she find a cure for cancer while she was at it? She played zero role in the fight over vets' PTSD---that was something the vets themselves and organizations like the Disabled American Vets fought.

She looks like hell in R66's pic. She seems ready to topple over--she'll need the cheek implants and that troweled on makeup to cushion the fall.

R75, I'm not R66, but the Vets love her. She was actually at the battle fronts.

Gee, all those hits and nobody can name more than one of them, if that. Of course, that was back in the days when you could buy a single for a quarter. CF has no staying power. other than with a few elderly fans fighting dementia. But by all means, Francophiles, indulge in nostalgia for the days when you were allowed out into daylight and the hair on your head was longer than the hair in your ears.

R77

[quote] May 15, 1973, Connie Francis released her new hit "Should I Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree." It remained in the top 40 for three weeks.

This never happened. The single went no higher than 108.

In the U.S., R79. In Australia it hit 31.

CF was a pretty good singer, B list at best. Just watching that clip of her doing "Goldfinger," she isn't invested in the song at all. The singing isn't bad, but the performance is as dull as it gets. She isn't Streisand, Aretha, or Whitney, and she didn't have the career of Madonna or Bette Midler.

Lol. Hardly "dull".

R66, can you imagine that leather-face up close?

R82, what is she staring at in that clip? She's looking slightly upwards throughout the whole thing -- not at the musicians, not at the dancers/partygoers -- just up towards, what, a cue-card? Bizarre.

How does the mob “front” a singer?

She's dull as dishwater, and just as sexy. There's a reason she never made it in the movies or got her own TV show. She was boring and always looked older than her age. Of course, she has her dedicated fans -- on Datalounge! Where some old gays go to die. It's just sad with all of the dynamic singers that have appeared over the past 50 years, OP has settled for a lowbrow mediocrity like Connie Francis as the object of his obsession.

Now that I know she is a Trumper...

Despite what some of the cronies on here say, her voice was great. At times, she over-did it emotionally, but the voice was still great. When she attacked a song, it was perfection. She did not have time for a TV show. She was making millions from her concerts. She was dynamic on stage and could handle most songs. Born Free, I Will Wait For You, Impossible Dream are some of her masterpieces. Sullivan stated that she was one of the few who could evoke a standing ovation from a TV audience. He had her on 26x.

Connie had more charisma than any star today.

Minaj is such a miserable, nasty slag.

She made a commercial for NIxon and started out playing the accordion. Being able to perform Stupid Cupid phinetically in Khmer, Urdu or whatever isn't a qualification.

She became well known internationally by recording in Italian and Hebrew as well as English.

Connie has the distinction of having starred in the only feature film in which Johnny Carson appeared.

In "Looking for Love"(1964), Johnny played himself.

Her Yelp review of the room service at Howard Johnson's Lodge in Jericho, New York is not a rave.

Her Yelp review of the room service at Howard Johnson's Lodge in Jericho, New York is not a rave.

As I recall, the Howard Johnson rape went on for hours, with Connie getting it multiple times.

She tried to reason with the guy using her celebrity, but the rapist had no idea who she was.

I prefer Connie Franklin.

Connie is a woman to be admired. She fought for Victim's Rights laws and used her award money to form and pass them. She squandered millions upon millions of dollars during the 1980s on spending sprees, mainly on Rodeo Drive, and nearly bankrupt herself. Mansions upon mansions bought. Her father stepped in and saved her. Yet, she never filed for bankruptcy. Instead, she pulled herself up and went on concert tours., paid her bills and wised up, and the fortune that she has today is from these comeback performances. She continues to live like a star. She is a survivor. During her dark days in the 1980s and early 1990s, she continued to fight for victims, the vets, and for mental health issues.

R98 Admired? She sounds like an idiot. Whoever she is.

R20 and r61 have some truly bizarre views on rape. I guess you think it's "hot"

She’s no Kim Carnes that’s for sure!

Only on Datalounge would there be a Connie Francis thread every few months.

Because only on Datalounge would there be a Connie Francis thread at all.

[quote] R82, what is she staring at in that clip? She's looking slightly upwards throughout the whole thing

She's looking back at the musicians, she even tells them to play a riff, specifically the bass player (the cute Joby Baker), who has a crush on her in the movie.

But yes, they did film the angle a bit too high.

R102: That's because there's a Connie Francis troll who recycles the same stuff every time.

The magnificence of Connie Francis...none better!

There are millions of Connie fans. One or two cronies who keep posting negative stuff about her and other stars on this board. It is not nature of this board to downgrade people, especially famous people. Get a kick out of it!

Even though most of her hits were very uptempo, she's probably now remembered for Who's Sorry Now, or possibly, Where The Boys Are.

Even though most of her hits were very uptempo, she's probably now remembered for Who's Sorry Now, or possibly, Where The Boys Are.

Some of her music is still fun to listen to. I like "My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own" and "Everybody's Somebody's Fool." They were good pop tunes.

She's is no Annette.

Connie Francis : Where The Boys Are

Record performance:

Connie Francis- Where The Boys Are

Singing live for the military boys:

R180 Also Mama and Lipstick On Your Collar, th elatter famous for the difficult guitar bridge performed by either George Barns or Bucky Pizzerelli. It is debatable which one, but it is one of the greatest guitar bridges in pop music. Lipstick was written by George Geohring and Edna Lewis, and it was meant to be the b side, but it gave Connie her first double sided million seller. He pays tribute to Connie on youtube for changing his life.

Brian May of Queen has just stated that she was an influence on him. Chris Isaak says the same.

Is she dead yet?

Is so, thoughts & prayers.

Hogs & Quiches

[quote]Brian May of Queen has just stated that she was an influence on him. Chris Isaak says the same.

Yes, wherever they stay, they have the bell hops check their rooms for rapists.

I believe Eddie Fisher was one of her many husbands.

Fuck this Trump-loving bitch.

R117, No, but Connie Stevens and Eddie were once married.

Connie Francis was kind of doomed in terms of a personal life. The love of her life was Bobby Darin who had a heart defect and was destined to die young---he was driven, spoiled and would have made a lousy husband. they would have butted heads---he was far more talented than Francis---he could play multiple instruments and sing in different genres (unlike Francis who could sing the same dated material phonetically in different languages). He also had pretense of being an actor.He had a disastrous marriage to no-talent actress Sandra Dee who later became an anorexic boozing recluse. She was probably destined to have bad marriages and sing a lot of bad material.

Connie Francis was a low rent sob sister lacking sophistication or instinct for a song. She sang everything the same way, with full-blown, in-your-face, cloying smarm. That's why all of her fans tend to be on the lower end of the economic scale. They have no appreciation for talent that requires subtlety to perform or appreciate. And the funny thing about her performing in 56 different languages is that she sounds fake in all of them, even English.

Fun fact: My Mom babysat her a few times in the early 1940's (Mom is 91 now).

Bobby Darin may have been the love of her life, but she wasn't his. He had other girlfriends at the same time and the idea that Francis' father kept the two young lovers apart is laughable. He never would have married her. His life was well documented and she was just a tiny part of it.

She was known as the town pump in Vegas, having shacked up with numerous Mafia henchmen and the like all through the '60s. She threw herself at Sinatra but he wisely kept his distance. Imagine wanting to fuck Connie Francis after you've had Ava Gardner. She had better luck with Don Rickles, dating him for several months, but their romance came to a screaming halt when he learned she'd given him the clap. After that, the best she could do was hairdressers and other hangers-on. That's why her father kept pushing her to sing in other languages. He could ship her out of town on tours where her name wasn't yet a joke.

Interesting, R122. Did she have any stories to tell about her?

R120, Bobby Darin was also left emotionally shell shocked when he learned later in his life that the woman he grew up thinking was his sister was really his mother. He was never able to forgive or reconcile the years of deceit within his family.

This is my favorite Connie LP:

[quote] She had better luck with Don Rickles, dating him for several months, but their romance came to a screaming halt when he learned she'd given him the clap.

Rickles gave her the title "The Hairiest Pussy in Vegas."

One of Connie's biggest, obsessed fans would come on boards like this and posy very negative comments about her for attention. This culminated in a situation that made the papers. This fan had every record Connie ever made and scrapbooks of her, etc. Yet, he loved to post negative comments. Tom.....I'll have you know, you are just like him.

[quote] This culminated in a situation that made the papers

What? A Datalounge discussion about Connie Francis was reported in the papers? Link please.

"She was known as the town pump in Vegas, having shacked up with numerous Mafia henchmen and the like all through the '60s. She threw herself at Sinatra but he wisely kept his distance. Imagine wanting to fuck Connie Francis after you've had Ava Gardner. She had better luck with Don Rickles, dating him for several months, but their romance came to a screaming halt when he learned she'd given him the clap. After that, the best she could do was hairdressers and other hangers-on. That's why her father kept pushing her to sing in other languages. He could ship her out of town on tours where her name wasn't yet a joke."

You are full of shit. You sound kind of deranged, too. And as for Sinatra...well, he used to fuck Judy Garland. Which would seem to indicate that Connie Francis was definitely NOT out of his league.

Jesus Christ, what kind of awful plastic surgery has she had? She looks like a fucking burn victim. Usually when you get a face lift, you look somewhat improved even if you look a little overdone, like Joan Rivers. Wait, did Connie have to have a face transplant? That would explain it.

R130, the Washington Post tan a week-long investigative series on it. Mostly anonymous sources, but you could absolutely tell when the quotes came from from Janbot.

[quote]And as for Sinatra...well, he used to fuck Judy Garland.

No, Judy, during her fat phase, would blow Sinatra. She complained bitterly that he wouldn't fuck her. But he hated seeing fat women naked.

R123 To the contrary. He was the one who decided to elope with Connie.

R129...Sort of like homophobics who protest too much. Tom Tom is obsessed with Ms. Francis .

R120 Connie was just as talented as Darin, and more successful chart-wise. Darin wrote her first song she recorded and he sang back up and was called the Blue Jays on the record. The song he wrote for her to record was My First Real Love. It was not a success. Ironically, she and he made it about the same time.

R130 Yes, it made the guy's local paper where he lived, and the supermarket rags. The guy posted negative things about Connie and even about the rape (as you see here on this board), and he eventually booked her at his college. He was obsessed with her. That is what obsession causes. Of course, the college could not afford her and contacted her management and he was reprimanded and banned from her concerts. He managed to sneak in once or twice, but was intercepted.

R46..I always hear her hots played on Oldies stations, both FM and satellite. They play Whos Sorry Now, Everybody's Somebody's Fool, Lipstick On Ypur Collar, Stupid Cupid, Where The Boys Are, Together the most. You will hear Mama around Mother's Day. She is played very often on Oldies stations. Baltimore Net Radio features her every week for an hour with repeats during the week, and they have hourly Connie streaming programs.

Ariana Grande's uncle Charlie Calello looks after Connie in Florida. They've been good friends since the 1950s.

"Looks after"?

R110, thanks for the Annette video, mostly because of the quickie glimpses of her Beach Movies co-star John Ashley. Probably nobody remembers him, but he went on to star (and direct) some really B-level horror flicks, where he usually had a blink-and-you-miss-it sex scene.

I much prefer Brenda Lee. Better singer, better legacy. No one cares if "Miss Francis" sold records back in 1959. They were completely forgettable. Even the titles her obsessive fan keeps posting here as examples of her fame are mostly unknown.

Like who would want to be known for a song like "Mama"? Especially the way she groans her way through it in 57 languages? DL's resident Connie Francis troll does her no favors by constantly hyping her mediocrity as a performer. He probably thinks Mrs. Miller was an underrated gem as well.

"Mama" was a song of that era. It was considered wonderful then; today it sounds sappy and embarrassing. It reminds me of Eddie Fisher's "Oh My Papa." It's an excruciatingly soppy, saccharin song, but people back then (1954) loved it. It made Number 1 on the Billboard chart. By the way, when it comes to forgotten singers Eddie Fisher is one of the most notable. He was a huge star in his day, but the only thing he's remember for is for being the husband of Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor and the father of Carrie Fisher. Connie's hits still get played on oldie stations but I don't think anything by Eddie Fisher gets played anywhere.

Connie Francis was unpopular by 1974. Sorry.

Bobby Darin never seriously proposed to Connie; he was dating other women at the same time. And the idea that Connie's father chased him away with a gun for any other reason than to protect the cash cow that was his daughter's career is laughable. She was pushing 30 by that point, hardly an innocent virgin. She just likes to pretend he's the one that got away since she never had another big name love.

There were definitely singers who were technically better than Connie around but there was something about the color of her vocals that gave all of her songs a dreamy quality of some sort. In her prime her voice was so mellow that she somehow managed to make even the harsh German language sound lovely. Connie could stand on the podium at the Nüremberg rally grounds and read out the Nazi manifesto and she'd still sound charming, that's how magical her voice was.

And as a Trumpster, she would have been very comfortable doing that, r148.

Everyone is wise to you, Tom.

R148 Put down the pasta, honey.

R148 Put down the pasta, honey.

[quote] She was pushing 30 by that point

She was 19.

She wasn’t the only one who was tortured and raped in a hotel room. Yet, she gets all the sympathy and gay boys worshiping her. I only got some grainy pictures and blunt force trauma to my cranium, from “videographer”.

I don't know her....

And her voice wasn't all that great either.

Can she still play Mama Rose?

Did she ever work in the "legitimate theater" like that other Miss Francis?

Connie's career and songs didn't have the longevity of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Everybody still knows all the iconic Four Seasons songs, but nobody remembers Connie's songs.

You will never see a huge Broadway musical about Connie and her music like you did with Jersey Boys.

[quote] You will never see a huge Broadway musical about Connie and her music like you did with Jersey Boys.

There have, in fact, been several plans for a Broadway musical bio about Connie Francis.

R159 If wishes and buts were clusters of nuts, we'd all have a bowl of granola!

Link, please, r159.

R159, Dick Clark was a major supporter of Connie Francis. If he were alive and healthy, he would probably produce a Connie Francis jukebox musical on Broadway.

R158 Funny. It seems many recall her hits, especially Who's Sorry Now, Where The Boys Are, Lipstick On Your Collar, and Mama.

She had one of the best voices.

R148 Most of the best singers are not technically great. That would make them dull. Babs is another who is not great technically. Anne Murray was technically good and was influenced but Connie, but due to the emphasis upon the technical, she sang on one level. Connie had subtle intonations that emphasized certain phrases that colored them. She introduced her own style and made just about any song sound great.

The millions of hits she gets on youtube attests to her continued popularity.

If you say so R166, but lots of people with better voices and material have many more

Not as much as Connie. Some of her videos have millions of hits. And the number of hits to the video ins not really related to th equality of the voice, but to the popularity, and the number of hits to hers attests to her popularity. BTW IMO, there is none better than Connie in quality and versatility of voice.

Oh please, get your prescription refilled.

R29, I love you!

And IMO, she's a blowsy hack whose present obscurity is well-deserved and whose voice was never as pretty or sophisticated as her more talented contemporaries such as Brenda Lee, Petula Clark, Diana Ross, Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick...well, the list of her betters is endless.

And if Dick Clark were alive, he'd have better things to do than develop a Broadway show about Connie Francis. The mere suggestion of it is deranged. Besides, he was alive for a long time and it didn't seem to have been on his to-do list.

The Tom troll is deranged as they come, and likely the biggest Connie fan around.

R171, Jersey Boys began the jukebox musical craze on Broadway in 2005, but Dick Clark had suffered his debilitating stroke the year before.

He most definitely would have mounted a Connie Francis jukebox musical on Broadway, if physically able to. He adored Connie Francis and the feeling was mutual.

She has always credited him for her early success and he was the one who encouraged her to perform again after the 1974 rape incident, hosting her television comeback appearance.

Her favorite hardcore anal lesbo porn is titled “Where the boys Aren’t.”

Portraying Francis in the new biopic is everyone's favorite Italian musical savant Bhad Bhabie (aka Danielle Bregoli, aka the "catch me outside girl).

"It's too bad that Connie didn't have the success in her personal life that she had as a recording star."

Except she did. It was always quantity over quality. Lots of crappy marriages and lots of crappy records.

Which Datalounger recorded this?

Smarm? Saccharin? Cloying? Connie didn't just sing in one style. She was also fluent in Italian and Spanish. And she was such a "terrible" phonetic singer that her foreign language songs were popular in countries that spoke those languages.

I was molested.

Connie and Bobby

Piffle. She's a lesbian and Darin had many women in his life he was more enamored with then that hairy little midget.

Singing "Stupid Cupid" in perfect Italian or phonetic Croatian is a novelty act, not a great star. Much like monekys who paint or horses who do addition.

The original.

R183 It's so Gwen Stefani, being in your 20s and singing about doing your homework.

What a fucking joke! She looks like a woman in her 40s in that clip and sings in such an irritating, cutesy way. If this is what she was all about, she is deservedly living in obscurity.

This is what it sounds like when a real singer performs a classic song. Makes Francis sound amateurish and completely out of her depth.

Words can't describe the difference between the sublime Ella and novelty act Connie.

Connie was 19 in that clip.

R185 Stupid Cupid was a million seller. That is not what she was all about. Her best work is found on her LPS. R186 Connie's Who's Sorry Now was a new sound at the time and was chosen as one of the top songs of the Millennium. So, Tom Tom knows nothing...and is actually a huge fan of Ms. Francis.

" Connie's Who's Sorry Now was a new sound at the time and was chosen as one of the top songs of the Millennium." Link, please. I was unaware that someone had made a list of the top songs from the past 1,000 years.

I always thought Brenda Lee was a more authentic singer -- not showy and simpering like Connie Francis. There's a reason why Brenda is in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame and Connie isn't.

Who keeps trying to drag this Trump-loving old bag out of obscurity? And why would you think she wants the anniversary of her rape commemorated?

Brenda is equally annoying, but in a different way. Schlocky material, but with a different saccharine delivery, which propelled her into a long career in country music.

R192, the "anniversary" was of her last charted hit. And she has never opined about Trump and has clearly said she supported Obama. She's also been a big supporter of gay rights.

These threads, pushed by a few of her elderly fans, only diminish what ever legacy she has.

The less heard of her post 1964 output the better. The more you hear it, the more you understand why she was washed up by the late 1960s. She's just not in the league of Diana, Barbra, Petula, Dionne, Cher, Eydie, ...not even close.

It's better to remember her for "Where The Boys Are" and that brief period of "teen" music from 1958 to 1963 when acts like Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Annette, Fabian, Connie Stevens and Connie Francis where the thing. Trying to make her any more than that only looks foolish.

Why wasn't she Oscar nominated for Where the Boys Are?

You're wrong, R195. Some of her best songs were after 1964.

Is she a boozehound? She looks like one.

(See what I mean...)

She and Dionne Warwick did a co-tour together about 10 years ago.

[quote]She and Dionne Warwick did a co-tour together about 10 years ago.

More bullshit.

They performed separately.

And it wasn't a tour.

"Connie Francis & Dionne Warwick Perform Together Live"

They performed separately. One after the other. Find one photo of them together on the stage. One video of them singing together. You can't. Because they didn't.

So stop making up shit. It only makes you look ridiculous.

Her 1987 opus, "Cokehead Connie," a celebration of the disco era, failed to gain traction because, as usual, she found herself sadly behind the times.

R204 They sang separately. They appeared in interviews together. This was an idea of the producer. The Divas it was called. It was not a tour. It was to intrduce Dionne back to LV as she spent many years in Brazil and did not perform in th eUSA> She and Connie grew up in the same area, share the same birthdays, and Cissy Houston sang backup for Connie on several recordings, as I think Dee Dee did as well.

R197 Yes. The period between 1964 and 1970 is considered her peak in terms of vocalization. Her greatest recordings were done within this period, all on LPs. as well as live. Live performances such as The Cole Porter Medley and The Gershwin Medley were superb.

R190

number 302, I believe. Two of my favorite songs made the list. Who's Sorry Now by Connie and My Way by Frank. This list was previously posted on DL. Connie's rendition of WSN was in your face, as if she meant it, and that was the secret to its success. She did not coldly sing through it. She hated the song, and her fater had been telling her to record it for 2 years. She recorded it in 1 take at the tail end of her what was to have been her final session. It was not planned, but she had 10 minutes left and the conducter and arranger on the session, Joe Lipman, pleaded with her to record it. She did so in 1 take. Every Oct. 2, this is noted on radio stations and in newspapers as creating one of the biggest careers in entertainment history.

Does Connie have any children?

R209, One adopted son.

She abandoned her son and the father raised him. She hasn't seen him in years.

Wrong, R211.

That pic is obviously 40+ years old.

R211, He's probably better off.

"Every Oct. 2, this is noted on radio stations and in newspapers as creating one of the biggest careers in entertainment history."

It's Connie's world and we're just living in it.

Did Connie ever reconcile with her father after he had her committed against her will?

Who was the worse parent, Connie Francis' father or Natalie Wood's mother?

She got pregnant with Bobby Darin's child, but she either miscarried or terminated the pregnancy.

R:215: It's in some trivia column on the 2nrd buried near the comics and Connie is in smaller print than Sting, Bud Abbot or Groucho Marx.

Connie has a relationship with her son. He was just at a ceremony given in her honor. He has put on a great amount of weight. Connie and her parents raised him. The father, Joe Garzilli, died when he was young.

R215 Connie and her father were estranged fro only 2 years.

R219 Always highlighted on radio and newspapers on Oct. 2 and/or Oct. 3 as one of the events on that day.

Connie's son is an algebra teacher.

r222, link please.

R222 Bullshit

Connie's "superfan" has an exhaustive supply of trivia surrounding Connie's life and an exhausting ability to cast the trivial as bombshell material. If I thought that Connie herself had the wherewithal to turn on a computer, I'd suspect it was her actually posting. I mean, who else would be pathetic enough to have devoted his life to this train wreck of a has-been?

Well, we had an Arlene Golonka troll who was quite thoughtful, so perhaps everyone has a fan. But yeah, other than some deranged former fan club prexie, I can't imagine anyone trying so hard to inflate the reputation of someone who is basically a trivia question.

Well, Arlene Golonka I can understand, but Connie Francis?

Oh Connie, I loved her so much!!! Here she is appearing on some TV show in Germany - this was my idea of glamour when I was a kid. The dowdy, common people in the audience and then the sublime star in a sparkly sequin dress, appearing like an angel to the shepherds, like a messenger from a divine place!

Funny and bittersweet watching it now.

R229 I loved her album "Connie Francis Live at Oktoberfest's Hofbräu Tent".

[quote]this was my idea of glamour when I was a kid. The dowdy, common people in the audience and then the sublime star in a sparkly sequin dress, appearing like an angel to the shepherds, like a messenger from a divine place!

MARY!

R229 that looks like a clip from RuPaul's Drag Race.

[quote]this was my idea of glamour when I was a kid. The dowdy, common people in the audience and then the sublime star in a sparkly sequin dress, appearing like an angel to the shepherds, like a messenger from a divine place!

MARY!

R229 that looks like a clip from RuPaul's Drag Race.

[quote]this was my idea of glamour when I was a kid. The dowdy, common people in the audience and then the sublime star in a sparkly sequin dress, appearing like an angel to the shepherds, like a messenger from a divine place!

MARY!

R229 that looks like a clip from RuPaul's Drag Race.

I'm sure Connie inspired a whole generation of Drag Queens.

Somehow, the witty retort loses its punch when it's posted three times.

R235 There is a glitch. I don't post more than once. But I often see double postings. Three is a first.

All Music.

Salvatore Presti October 17, 2019 · Today in Entertainment History By The Associated Press October 2, 2019 On Oct. 2, 1957, CONNIE FRANCIS recorded “Who’s Sorry Now.” Francis, in what was to be her final recording session for MGM, at age 18, recorded her usual three tracks with 10 minutes left. She called it a wrap. Joe Lipman, who conducted the session, advised her not to waste the 10 minutes left and suggested that she record that dreaded song that her father had been begging her to record for 2 years. She recorded it in one take, launching one of the most successful careers in entertainment history!

It's surprising that people turn the noses up at Connie because she is seen as low class and vulgar, given how truly low class and vulgar singers are now.

I think it is time to move on..............to other topics. This is ridiculous. We all have our likes and dislikes. If you do not like a performer, no need to over do it. Accept diversity in tastes and move on. That is the reasonable thing to do. If I do not like Madonna, or any other star, I would not go and post and post and post about it. That is an obsession. Now, I am moving on!

r238, link please

R240 Bullshit. Completely made up by one of her tacky fans

Miss Francis stirs controversy where ever she goes.

Her version of WSN one of the songs of the 20th Century! She made history in many ways in entertainment. Facts.

Connie Makes History - Billboard

Author of the song commented below youtube video:

Pamela Belford 3 weeks ago (edited) I'm absolutely thrilled to see this. I am the sole writer of this song. I live in Nashville, and wrote it back in 1980 or so. Connie Francis' father was in town visiting my publisher and listening to songs for her. He liked it and they recorded it, I believe, in 1981. I got to hear a rough mix of it, along with my publisher, in the office of her then producer, Harold Shedd, who also produced Alabama, I believe. I never heard anything about it again until a few years again...I either assumed or heard that the project was never finished or the record was never released or something like that, I don't remember. Anyway, a few years ago, I did hear it online, someone had posted it and I asked him about it, told him I was the writer, he told me he thought it had been on a South African album. I looked high and low for more info about that album, couldn't find anything, called my former publisher...no one could find a thing. A week or two ago a guy friend-requested me on FB and I accepted, and yesterday I saw that he had posted a link to this. WONDERFUL SURPRISE! Am I bragging? Hell, yes! When I was a little kid in the late 50's, early 60's, Connie Francis was one of my earliest idols and influences. The fact she recorded a song that I'd written means the world to me. So, as Paul Harvey used to say...:now you know the rest of the story. Oh...my name is Pam Belford.

Did her rhinoplasty affect her singing voice? I loved her in WHERE THE BOYS ARE. That was a cute little movie.

Why was she staying at a Howard Johnsons motel in the first place? Was there nothing else available?

R248, Picture Westbury in the 1970s.

Westbury, Hempstead, Uniondale...Elmont...memories. Few of them pleasant.

Connie's "Woodstock" song in 1967. The song's writer was inspired to organize Woodstock two years later. So, yes, Connie was asked to perform at Woodstock.

LOL: "So, yes, Connie was asked to perform at Woodstock."

Add she would have made it, too, except that her '63 Chrysler Imperial broke down outside Poughkeepsie.

LOL, R253! These Connie Francis threads are a hoot! I don’t know what’s more hilarious — the unverified factoids and theories that unhinged Connie stans keep posting, or DL’s comments on them!

Not a joke.

[quote] Artie Kornfeld is the Legendary Songwriter, Record Producer, Music Label Executive, Manager, and Co-Creator, Producer, and Promoter of Woodstock '69. Artie has worked with: Jan Berry, Jan & Dean, The Angels, The Shirelles, The Changin' Times, Crispian St. Peters, The Cowsills, Johnny Crawford, Freddie Cannon, Cher, Jay & the Americans, Al Hirt, CONNIE FRANCIS, Gene Pitney, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, The Tokens, The Hullabaloos, Oscar Benton & Artie Kaplan, Jerry Butler & Betty Everett, Bert Sommer, Dusty Springfield, Minnie Ripperton, Tony Orlando, Reparperata & The Delrons, Wayne Newton, Bobby Hebb, Woody Allen, The Bangles, Survivor, and many, many more.

On top of that, Artie has signed, promoted, or developed: Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, Jack Johnson, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Melissa Etheridge, Extreme, Edie Brickell, Vanilla Ice, Kix, Sass Jordan, Nuclear Valdez, Queensryche, Depeche Mode, Felony, Billy Joel, John Fogerty, Santana, Steve Perry, Kiss, Neil Young, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty, Survivor, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, The Band, Blondie, Davy Jones, The Left Banke, Bert Sommer, Bob Seger, Triumph, The Cowsills, J. Giles Band, Roger Miller, Linda Ronstadt, Alanis Morissette, Lou Rawls, Mandrill, Jimmy Castor, George Segal, Tragically Hip, April Wine, Joe South, Wilson Phillips, Alice Cooper, Paul Cotton, Michelle Shosked, Joe Cocker, ZZ Top, Marshall Tucker, Greg Allman Band, Ratt, Vixon, Steel Heart, Asia, TNT, Quiet Riot, Eddie Money, Patti Griffin, just to name a few

Connie Francis was one of the first widely seen and accepted transvetite performers and for this she deserves respect. RIP. But like so many trans of today, she overdid the plastic surgeries and body modifications to point of appearing like a freak. When she was raped and murdered in that motel room, it was possibly a blessing. Her career was over as she had no nasal passages left. She hadn't the range or resonance anymore. Jim Bailey had already overtaken her on the hit parade.

People always say that Michael Jackson had surgeries to look like Diana Ross. Truth is his template was Miss Connie Francis. 40 years after her murder, her influence is still felt in pop culture, though her reputation as a singer has not fared as well. God rest her soul. Happy Pride!

R255 How exactly does any of that translate to Connie Francis...of all people... being asked to perform at Woodstock? So, she recorded a song written by this guy that no one bought or cared about.

I bet if her '63 Imperial hadn't broken down' she would have performed this little ditty for the Woodstock crowd:

Nixon's the One!

"Stupid Cupid" was a novelty song. They were quite popular in the fifties. Others included "Splish Splash" by Connie's amour Bobby Darin and "Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley.

Some of Rosemary Clooney's biggest hits were novelty songs.

Rosemary Clooney is one of the best singers of all time. Her phrasing and ability, musicality, vocal tone and texture were impeccable. She was such a great singer that people didn't notice until her vocal prime was over. Connie Francine had a not bad voice if you like that nasal kind of blaring and braying. She had no artistry or ability as a singer other than the crying sound. She was dead before I was born. RIP. But I remember old Rosie. One of the greats. A singer.

R260, Rosemary Clooney died in 2002.

You're younger than 18?

Yeah, but that Rosemary Clooney got as fat as a Jimmy Dean hog. At least Ms. Francis retained her svelte figure!

Connie Frances was dead before I was born R261. I think the syntax of my post made that clear. I was born in 1983.

Connie Francis had arranged to hook up with Jimi Hendrix after her set at Woodstock, so it was a double tragedy when her Imperial blew that head gasket. The two were destined to never meet again.

R263, No, not at all. Especially since Connie is alive and well and Rosemary is deceased.

Well, as Connie was hitchhiking down the road after her automotive mishap, she got picked up by a roadie for Sha Na Na and shacked up with him in his van for the next 24 hours. So it actually worked out pretty well for her.

The Lennon Sisters were also scheduled to appear at Woodstock, but were forced to back out when ticket holders discovered that John Lennon was an only child.

The obsessed Connie fan is at it again! Obsessed, deranged, and childish!

Which one is worse? An obsessive Connie Francis fan or an obsessive internet troll?

Some of these comments sound LIK Connie nuked NYC or something. Don’t get me wrong I can’t stand most Rump lovers but this woman is 80 years old and a rape survivor so I say we give her a pass.

Connie was personally chosen by President Kennedy to be one of the Apollo astronauts but her father put the kibosh on that and made her do six weeks in Reno instead.

R270, Connie was also one of the three females JFK did not have sexual contact with during his administration, the other two being Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. Nikita Khrushchev.

r268, I'd rather be obsessed than redundant.

R268..but also deranged and infantile.....not to mention redundant. To be obsessed is to be overly-redundant!

Billboard honors Miss Francis.

[quote] she became the first female solo artist in Hot 100 history to amass three No. 1 hits. (She was the only one until Cher equaled the feat in March 1974.)

R274 Let me correct that for you: "Billboard lists Miss Francis."

[quote]Why was she staying at a Howard Johnsons motel in the first place?

She'd heard the room service was rather satisfying.

If anyone were to think of Connie Francis today, it would be in reference to two songs that were popular around 60 years ago. Nobody cares how many records she sold back in the day because comparisons between that era and the modern era are meaningless. She was a person of her time whose exaggerated style didn't transfer well to more sophisticated contemporary tastes. If she's the kind of person you like, then by all means, listen to her records to your heart's content. But stop trying to make her something she is not. You only embarrass her and yourself.

R277 Untrue....again infantile and obsessed.

Elder gays will remember "16 Magazine".

Well, Connie had an advice column in the monthly magazine, "Secret Sister".

Yeah, I did, I wrote her . . . and my letter got published.

Is this yours, R279?

There are probably some here who also wrote to Mary Pickford's column in Photoplay.

Why was Connie’s father such an asshole?

Was her rapist ever caught?

No, Connie's "rapist" was never caught.

R283 why the quote marks?

r284, Connie knows why.

A repressed Catholic girl being given BBC repeatedly for hours in a hotel room.

To your average DLer, that's a dream date.

Connie may have been a repressed Catholic girl but it didn't keep her from kicking a cop in the nutsac.

What a dumb bitch! Like she was such a star the rules didn't apply to her. She probably pulled the old, "Do you know who I used to be?"

Looks like the incident with the police happened after the rape. Sounds possibly like PTSD.