Connie Francis Obituary, Death – Connie Francis was a popular female vocalist in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s. She was born oncetta Rosa Maria Franconero on December 12, 1937[2,] but is better known by her stage name, Connie Francis. Francis was also an actor.
It is estimated that she has sold more than one hundred million records all over the world. In 1960, Francis was acknowledged as the female artist who had achieved the highest level of success in the markets of Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Australia, as well as in every other nation in which recordings were sold.
She was the first woman in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to reach No. 1, and that achievement was just one of her other 53 career hits. Francis Franconero was the first child of Italian immigrants George Franconero and Ida (née Ferrari-di Vito) Franconero. She was born in the Ironbound district of Newark, New Jersey, but she spent her formative years in the Crown Heights, Brooklyn region (around Utica Avenue and St. Marks Avenue) until her family relocated to the state of New Jersey.
George and Ida Franconero immigrated to the United States from Italy in the early 20th century. As a result of Francis’s upbringing in an Italian-Jewish area, she developed a strong command of Yiddish, which eventually led to the recording of songs in both Yiddish and Hebrew.
Francis recollects in her autobiography titled “Who’s Sorry Now?,” which was released in 1984, that her father encouraged her to participate in talent shows, pageants, and other community celebrations beginning when she was only four years old as a singer and accordion player. Francis says that her father’s encouragement led to her success.
