- Born
- Birth nameConcetta Rosemarie Franconero
- Nicknames
- Queenie
- The Queen of Song
- Height5′ 1½″ (1.56 m)
- Singer, composer, actress, entertainer and publisher Connie Francis was educated at Arts High School and was a music student of her father. At age 11 she appeared on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (1948) as a singer and accordionist. She has toured the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe, owned publishing companies, and has made many records. For a time she had her own television show, and has performed in nightclubs and in concert. Joining ASCAP in 1959, her popular-song compositions include "Senza Mama" and "Italian Lullaby".- IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234! (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- SpousesBob Parkinson(June 27, 1985 - March 31, 1986) (divorced)Joseph Garzilli(September 16, 1973 - October 1, 1978) (divorced, 1 child)Izzy Marion(January 16, 1971 - February 14, 1972) (divorced)Dick Kanellis(August 15, 1964 - November 15, 1964) (divorced)
- ChildrenJoseph Garzilli Jr.
- ParentsGeorge FranconeroIda Ferrari-di Vito
- RelativesGeorge Anthony Franconero(Sibling)
- Mezzo-soprano vocals
- 11/6/74: After an appearance at the Westbury Music Fair in New York, she was raped at knifepoint at the Howard Johnson Motel where she was staying. She subsequently sued the hotel chain for failing to provide adequate security when she learned that a year after the rape occurred, the broken lock to her former room had never been repaired. She was awarded a reported $3 million.
- According to a broadcast on the A&E Biography channel, singer Elvis Presley attended one of her concerts and had to leave for emotional reasons once he heard her sing the song "Mama" as his mother had just recently died. The next day Elvis sent Connie two dozen yellow roses with a note apologizing for his abrupt exit.
- She previously dated singer Bobby Darin, who quickly ended the relationship once her father ran him off from one of her shows with a pistol.
- She originally did not want to sing her first smash hit, "Who's Sorry Now", since it was originally written in the 1930s. Her father convinced her otherwise.
- The news of President John F. Kennedy's assassination reached her on the set of her third MGM film, Looking for Love (1964). She recorded the single "In The Summer of His Years" in honor of the fallen president and packaged it in a conservative gold sleeve with no photos. All proceeds from the song were donated to the family of Dallas police officer J.D. Tippitt, who had been shot and killed by alleged Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
- [speaking about Hollywood trying to get her thin] I didn't know anything about speed or diet pills, but they gave me these little red pills, like Benzedrine, that you can only buy in Mexico now.
- [on her MGM record contract] I never paid for anything. There was never any recoupment for all the sessions I did. Not one penny. I had four people I hired to work for me on letters and on foreign releases. They paid for every photograph and I kept the photos. Travel, everything, was paid for. Even if it wasn't on MGM business, it was paid for. Gowns-bills were sent to MGM because I needed them for album covers. I bought them, and wore them. I could record where I wanted, however many songs I wanted, in whatever country, in whatever language, with whatever arranger, and then the bottom line was, if I didn't like any of it, I didn't have to release it. I didn't abuse it. I tried to release even the garbage so that I wouldn't just be recording and not releasing stuff.
- Overseas, especially in England, I was an adult star before I was an adult star in America. But here, they didn't take me seriously until that night on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948). I remember it was a Wednesday night, and I had a concert at Carnegie Hall the following Sunday and only 200 seats had been sold. Within 24 hours after doing "The Perry Como Show" they were scalping tickets to get into my show at Carnegie Hall.
- [regarding her version of "God Bless America"] In an interview published in the September 1991 issue of DISCoveries Magazine, Connie tells 'Jerry Osborne': Irving Berlin had a fit when he found out I was doing it. He called my manager and said, "If that teenybopper louses up my beautiful 'God Bless America' the way she did poor Harry Ruby's 'Who's Sorry Now', I'm going to have a stroke". My manager said, "Please, Irving, relax. You'll be the first to hear it." "I just don't want it loused up with any of that 'Stupid Cupid' crap!", said Irving. Then when the record came out, my manager sent it directly to him and he said, "She did it just the way I thought she'd do it. It stinks! It's worse than that." I can't even tell you what he said. So, when it made the Top 10 in Variety, Irving called my manager and says, "George, do you think she can do 'God Bless America' on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948).
- In an interview published in the September 1991 issue of DISCoveries Magazine, Connie tells Jerry Osborne: One day in 1960 I was going through my collection of Al Jolson and Judy Garland records, and I played Al's "Are You Lonesome Tonight". I said, "Daddy, come listen to this. I could make it a No. 1 song". He agreed and I called Don Costa in to do the arrangement. I said, "I'm more excited about recording this song than anything I've ever cut." We were in the car on our way to New York when the radio played [Elvis Presley's] "new" single, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?". Can you believe that? I was literally on my way to the studio to record it. How do you like that? Elvis even did the recitation part just like Al Jolson did.
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