Remember Connie Francis, the peppy girl singer with the sweet voice who delighted us with her songs in late 1950s and early '60s? Two songs which come to mind immediately are "Lipstick On Your Collar" and "Stupid Cupid".
"Lipstick..." is about a girl who spots lipstick on the collar of her boyfriend when he comes back after going out supposedly to buy a soda pop. On being questioned, he says the lipstick marks are hers although the girl notices the marks are of a different shade. Just then, 'Mary Jane' walks in with lipstick all a mess and it is evident that the boy was smooching Mary, the singer's best friend. "Lipstick on your collar told a tale on you, lipstick on your collar said you were untrue, bet your bottom dollar, you and I are through."
Usually singing in a smooth style, Connie Francis charmingly modulates her voice with a kind of hiccup while warbling the title words in 'Stupid Cupid'. That is what she calls her boyfriend who she blames for being mean and flitting, making her act like a lovesick fool and carrying his books to school. She is bothered that she felt fine after kissing his lips of wine but now pleads, "Hey, hey, set me free, Stupid Cupid stop picking on me."
Her other big hits included "Who's Sorry Now", "The Majesty of Love", "My Happiness", "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You", "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" and "Pretty Little Baby" which though released in 1962, went viral on TikTok this year and became a sleeper hit much to Connie's delight who said she had forgotten the song but was "pleased that her music, and the innocence it sought to represent, was being embraced by a younger audience".
Though her songs keep coming back to me, why am I specially thinking of her today? Because I just read that she is no more. She suffered an injury early this year and was wheelchair bound and passed away yesterday, 16 July, at the age of 87. Connie Francis was the top-charting female vocalist at her prime and sold more than 200 million records worldwide. An American citizen, she was of Italian descent with the originsl name 'of 'Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero'. Her success was international and in 1960, she was recognised as the most successful female artist in Germany, Japan, UK, Italy, Australia and the US.
Unfortunately her love life was not as smooth as her voice. She and Bobby Darin, the popular singer with hits like "Splish Splash", "Mack the Knife and "Beyond the Sea" (English adaptation of the classic French song "La Mer") were deeply in love but Connie's father did not allow them to get married on the grounds that Bobby Darin was not an Italian! She had four marriages and a partner in her final years but maintained that not marrying Bobby was her biggest mistake in life.
Bobby Darin later fell in love with Sandra Dee while filming the beautiful comedy "Come September" with the very catchy title song composed by Bobby. Unfortunately Bobby died at the young age of 37 in 1973 due to a weak heart.
Rest in peace, Connie Francis, your voice will never die.
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