The Tragic, Violent, Shocking Story of Connie Francis
This is a movie blockbuster that has yet to be made. The story of Concetta Rosemarie Franconero of Newark is filled with heartbreak, drama and violence amid some of the greatest vocal performances on record ever.
When Connie Francis was 19, she and Bobby Darin fell in love but her father thwarted the romance, going so far as to carrying a gun backstage when the two were on The Jackie Gleason Show. It broke her heart.
In 1957, the first 18 songs she recorded were flops. This includes the rare “Eighteen,” a moaning sexual awakening which finds her purring in lust to discover her libido. She was ready to quit when her father suggested she do a song from 1923. She protested vehemently but relented. “Who’s Sorry Now” sold over a million copies. Hit after hit after hit followed from “My Happiness” and “Lipstick On Your Collar” to “Stupid Cupid” and “Among My Souvenirs.” Worldwide tours catapulted her into super-stardom. She recorded in 12 different languages. “Mama” made ‘em cry. Adults, kids, everybody loved her. Movies followed. She could do no wrong, especially after she won honors as the #1 Female Vocalist by trade publications.
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It was in the pure power of her voice. She was double-tracked on many of her hits, harmonizing with herself with that ever-present teardrop in her voice. It was palpable. It was in the way that voice quivered in all the right spots. Songs of that era, midway though, would be transposed into a higher key for dramatic effect so she could really belt it out.
The pre-Beatles ‘60s had her riding high with “Where The Boys Are.” Las Vegas came calling. So did the prestigious New York City Copacabana venue where she headlined, played Carnegie Hall and sang “Never On Sunday” on the 1961 Oscar telecast. She was the youngest singer to ever have a prime-time television special. Her records went #1 in America, England, Germany, Spain and Italy. She signed a new MGM contract in ’62 which gave her a 50% producer credit on all her films. In ’63, she had a Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth. In ’67, she flew to Viet Nam to sing for American soldiers. The wild success story continued in the 1970s. In ’71, the State Department asked her to represent the American government by singing in Romania to ease tensions between the two countries.
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But her private life was a mess.
Married and divorced four times (suffering the indignity of being a battered wife in two of the four marriages), she made the mistake of having cosmetic surgery. This reporter interviewed her in Atlantic City and she told me that the surgery left her not able to sing in air-conditioned venues. Depression, a miscarriage and a brutal attack in 1974 after a concert at the Westbury Music Fair where she was robbed, beaten and raped made her a recluse. No one heard a note from her for the next seven years. In an attempt to regain her singing voice, she underwent nasal surgery in 1977. It didn’t work, just adding more years of silence. Her brother was murdered by the mob in 1981. This prompted a nervous breakdown.
Yet she became an advocate for victim’s rights and did not flinch upon going public with the tragedies she was forced to endure. She was even responsible for numerous laws being changed. Yet in 1983, her father had her involuntarily committed to a mental institution. After being incorrectly diagnosed as a manic depressive, she was involuntarily committed 17 times in the next nine years in five different states. How ironic is it that this brave woman was ultimately named a National Spokesperson for the trauma campaign of Mental Health America in 2010, hosting a telethon with actor Alan Alda in 2011?
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The Jersey Sound Editor Mike Greenblatt with Connie Francis in Atlantic City
Gloria Estefan’s production company wanted to make her story into a major Hollywood film but it never came to fruition. So did Dolly Parton. Connie Francis never stopped advocating for victim’s rights. She’s since toured all over the globe and although her voice isn’t nearly as strong of an instrument as it once was, her fans love her and gush uncontrollably at the sight of her just walking out on to a stage. When I saw her in Atlantic City, upon her entrance, we stood and applauded her for what seemed like 10 full minutes before she ever even opened her mouth to sing. She remains an outspoken advocate for soldiers with PTSD as well as rape victims. Now 85, she stays out of the spotlight…but that movie will be made someday and it will, indeed, be a blockbuster.