Prayers Up! Connie Francis, Singer Of Viral ’60s Song ‘Pretty Little Baby,’ Passes Away At Age 87

If you’ve been on TikTok or Instagram in the last few months, you might’ve heard the song ‘Pretty Little Baby’ as a trending audio. Tragically, the singer behind the viral ’60s tune, Connie Francis, passed away this week. Connie, who claimed pop star fame in the 1950s, died at 87.

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Connie Francis’ friend and publicist, Ron Roberts, announced her death on Thursday, July 17. According to the Associated Press, he did not immediately provide additional details. Earlier this month, Francis posted that she had been hospitalized with “extreme pain.”

Before Her Death, Connie Reacted To ‘Pretty Little Baby’ Going Viral
As mentioned, the singer had gained renewed attention in recent months after ‘Pretty Little Baby’ became a sensation on TikTok. Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner were among the many celebrities citing it in videos. Francis had joined the platform in response to the song’s unexpected popularity. She opened up about seeing her song pop after 63 years in her first TikTok video.

“I’m flabbergasted and excited about the huge buzz my 1962 recording of ‘Pretty Little Baby’ is making all over the world,” she said. “To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is captivating new generations of audiences is truly overwhelming for me.”

@connie_francis_official
My thanks to you all for the huge reception you have given to “Pretty Little Baby”. I am delighted to join the TikTok Community and share this moment with you.

♬ Pretty Little Baby – Connie Francis

Before passing away, she uploaded three other videos to her TikTok account, including her lip-syncing to ‘Pretty Little Baby.’ The third post was a close-up of a 1968 photo, taken as part of her album ‘Connie and Clyde.’ The final post she shared on June 26 was another thank you to the celebrities who had posted content using her song.

@connie_francis_official
Hi Everyone – I’m still astounded by the popularity of “Pretty Little Baby”. My thanks to 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 their inclusions in the videos that contributed to the 17 billion-plus plays featuring the song!

♬ Pretty Little Baby – Connie Francis

Connie Francis Was Once THAT GIRL In The Entertainment Industry!
If you didn’t know, Connie Francis was a top performer of the pre-Beatles era. After appearances on several TV variety shows, Francis was just 17 when she signed a contract with MGM Records. Her earliest recordings attracted little attention, but then she released her version of ‘Who’s Sorry Now?’, an old ballad by Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby. It, too, had little success initially until Dick Clark played it on his ‘American Bandstand’ show in 1958. Clark featured her repeatedly on ‘American Bandstand.’ Connie said in later years that without his support, she would have abandoned her music career.

Francis followed with such teen hits as ‘Stupid Cupid,’ ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool’ and ‘Lipstick on Your Collar.’ Her records became hits worldwide as she re-recorded versions of her original songs in Italian and Spanish, among other languages. Her concerts around the country quickly sold out.

Between 1957 and 1964, Francis was rarely out of the charts. Her music had appealed to both young people and adults. She had more than a dozen Top 20 hits, starting with ‘Who’s Sorry Now?’ and including the No. 1 songs ‘Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You’ and ‘The Heart Has a Mind of Its Own.’ Like other teen favorites of her time, she also starred in several films. Her projects include ‘Where the Boys Are’ and ‘Follow the Boys.’

Singer Lived A Traumatic Life
Despite snatching hearts with her tunes, Connie Francis’ personal life was a rollercoaster ride filled with tragedy. In her early days, she and fellow teen idol Bobby Darin worked together on songs. After falling in love, her father and manager, George Franconero, caught wind of the romance and a possible wedding. Franconero reacted by storming a rehearsal and pulled a gun on Darin, which ended their teen romance.

“My personal life is a regret from A to Z,” she told The Associated Press in 1984, the year her autobiography came out. “I realized I had allowed my father to exert too much influence over me.”

Francis was still popular on the concert circuit when she appeared at the Westbury Music Center in Westbury, New York, in 1974. She had returned to her hotel room and was asleep when a man broke in and raped her at knifepoint. The police never captured him. Francis sued the hotel, alleging its security was faulty, and a jury awarded her $2.5 million in 1976. The two sides then settled out of court for $1,475,000 as an appeal was pending. She said the attack destroyed her marriage and put her through years of emotional turmoil.

Additionally, she suffered tragedy in 1981 when her brother George was shot to death as he was leaving his New Jersey home. Later that decade, her father had her committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she was diagnosed as manic-depressive. At one point, she tried to kill herself by swallowing dozens of sleeping tablets. After three days in a coma, she recovered.

Around that time, she wrote to President Ronald Reagan and volunteered to help others, calling herself “America’s most famous crime victim.” Reagan appointed her to a task force on violent crime.

“I don’t want people to feel sorry for me,” she told The New York Times in 1981. “I have my voice, a gift from God I took for granted before. He gave it back to me.”

Before her death, Connie Francis was married four times. She often said that only her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, was worth the trouble. The other marriages each lasted less than a year.

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Associated Press former contributor Bob Thomas and National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.

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