Source: New York Times
“Connie Francis, who dominated the pop charts in the late 1950s and early ’60s with sobbing ballads like ‘Who’s Sorry Now’ and ‘Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You,’ as well as up-tempo soft-rock tunes like ‘Stupid Cupid,’ ‘Lipstick on Your Collar,’ and ‘Vacation,’ died on Wednesday. She was 87.
Her publicist, Ron Roberts, announced her death in a post on Facebook. He did not say where she died or cite a cause. … Between 1958 and 1964, when her brand of pop music began to fall out of favor, Ms. Francis was the most popular female singer in the United States, selling 40 million records. … Concetta Franconero was born on Dec. 12, 1938, in Newark and grew up in the Ironbound neighborhood. Her father, the son of Italian immigrants, was a dockworker and a roofer who loved to play the concertina, and he put an accordion in his daughter’s hands when she was 3.” (07/17/25)