Connie Francis
| Connie Francis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero |
| Born |
December 12, 1938 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Accordion, vocals |
| Years active | 1943–present |
| Labels | MGM, Polydor, GSF Records, Ivanhoe Records, United Artists, Malaco, Herzklang, Legacy Recordings, Carlton Music, Concetta Records |
| Associated acts | Bobby Darin, Brenda Lee, Patti Page, Neil Sedaka, Lesley Gore, Carole King, Ricky Nelson |
| Website | Official site |
Connie Francis (born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, December 12, 1938) is an American pop singer and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw. Despite several severe interruptions in her career, she is still active as a recording and performing artist.
Francis was born in the Italian Down Neck, or Ironbound, neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey, the first child of George Franconero, Sr., and Ida Franconero (née Ferrari-di Vito), spending her first years in a Brooklyn neighborhood on Utica Avenue/St. Marks Avenue before the family moved to New Jersey.
Growing up in an Italian-Jewish neighborhood, Francis became fluent in Yiddish, which would lead her to later record songs in Yiddish and Hebrew.
In her autobiography Who's Sorry Now?, published in 1984, Francis recalls that she was encouraged by her father to appear regularly at talent contests, pageants, and other neighborhood festivities from the age of four as a singer and accordion player.
Francis attended Newark Arts High School in 1951 and 1952. She and her family moved to Belleville, New Jersey, where Francis graduated as salutatorian from Belleville High School Class of 1955.
During this time, Francis continued to perform at neighborhood festivities and talent shows (some of which were broadcast on television), appearing alternately as Concetta Franconero and Connie Franconero. Under the latter name, she also appeared on NBC's variety show Startime Kids between 1953 and 1955.
During the rehearsals for her appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, Francis was advised by Godfrey to change her stage name to Connie Francis for the sake of easier pronunciation. Godfrey also told her to drop the accordion – advice she gladly followed, as she had begun to hate the large and heavy instrument. Around the same time, Francis took a job as a singer on demonstration records, which were brought to the attention of established singers and/or their management who would subsequently choose or decline to record the song for a professional commercial record.
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