Connie Francis Memorabilia / Courtesy MGM-Public Domain

Singer Connie Francis, best known for her chart-topping hits in the ’50s and ’60s, has died at the age of 87.

Francis’ copyrights and royalties manager, Ron Roberts, in a post on social media: “It is with a heavy heart and extreme sadness that i inform you of the passing of my dear friend Connie Francis last night. I know that Connie would approve that her fans are among the first to learn of this sad news.”

Although an official cause of death was not announced, Francis had recently revealed that she was “back in hospital” on July 2, telling fans she’d been “undergoing tests and checks to determine the cause(s) of the extreme pain I have been experiencing.”  However, Francis laster wrote in a Fourth of July post on Facebook that she was “feeling much better after a good night,” two days after it was confirmed that she had been hospitalized.

Francis, born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in Newark, New Jersey, is estimated to have sold more than 200 million records worldwide in her lifetime. Her first hit song, “Who’s Sorry Now,” debuted in 1958. In 1960, Francis was only 21 when she became the first female artist to get a Billboard Hot 100 No 1 hit, with her song “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.” Francis went on to have 53 hits on the Billboard charts over the course of her decades-long career. n 1964, she was awarded a special Golden Globe for her contributions to the recording world.

Most recently, Francis’s 1962 hit “Pretty Little Baby” had a resurgence after it went viral on TikTok. The song has been used in more than 17 million videos totaling more than 27 billion views globally on the app. Francis said at the time in response to the renewed interest in her music: “My thanks to TikTok and its members for the wonderful, and oh so unexpected, reception given to my 1961 recording ‘Pretty Little Baby.’ The first I learned of it was when Ron called to advise me that I had ‘a viral hit.’ Clearly out of touch with present-day music statistics terminology, my initial response was to ask: ‘What’s that?’ I’m flabbergasted and excited about the huge buzz my 1962 recording of ‘Pretty Little Baby’ is making all over the world To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is captivating new generations of audiences is truly overwhelming for me.”

According to PEOPLE, in addition to her music career Francis was an advocate for rape victims and those impacted by trauma after she was raped in 1974 and survived a suicide attempt in 1984.  She is survived by her son,  Joseph Garzilli Jr.

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