R.I.P. Connie Francis, "Pretty Little Baby" and "Who's Sorry Now?" singer

The popular recording artist was the first female singer to have a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Everybody's Somebody's Fool."

By Emma Keates | July 17, 2025 | 9:39am

Photo: PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Music News Connie Francis

Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Read our announcement | See the 10 Best Games of 2025 (So Far)

Connie Francis, the pop vocalist and singer of 1950s and 1960s hits like “Who’s Sorry Now?” and “Pretty Little Baby,” has died. Francis’ death was announced by Ron Roberts, her close friend and the president of her label Concetta Records, in a post on Facebook. “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,” Roberts wrote. A cause of death has not been provided as of this writing, but Francis wrote that she had been hospitalized two weeks ago for “extreme pain,” per People. She was 87.

Known for her powerful voice and natural pop style, Francis was one of the most popular artists of the 1950s and early 1960s. Songs like “Who’s Sorry Now?,” “My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own,” “Where the Boys Are,” and “Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You” consistently landed amongst the Billboard Top 10, with 1960’s “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” making her the first female artist to ever have a Billboard No. 1 track.

Most Popular

“Who’s Sorry Now?” was Francis’ breakout song after a number of unsuccessful singles. The song became a hit after Francis performed it on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in 1958, cementing a lifelong friendship between the two, per People. Her career skyrocketed from there, with followup hits like “My Happiness,” “Lipstick on Your Collar,” and “Among My Souvenirs.”

Francis went on to find international acclaim by re-recording her albums in different languages. She also starred in a number of films in the 1960s, including Where The Boys Are and Looking For Love. “I was sitting on top of the world and didn’t know what problems were yet,” Francis told People of that phase of her career in 1992.

Her popularity began to decline, however, in the late 1960s as trends in the music industry changed and she was beset by a series of personal tragedies, such as her brother’s murder and a surgery that made her temporarily lose her voice. She struggled with her mental health through the ’80s, which led to a diagnosis of PTSD later in life. However, she turned these traumatic experiences into a career in advocacy, partnering with the Ronald Reagan administration on a task force on violent crime, advocating for rape survivors, and in 2010, partnering with Mental Health America to raise awareness of the effects of trauma and treatments for it.

“I tried to see humor in everything, even when I was in a mental institution,” she told The Oklahoman in 2018 (per People). “But I have to say the support of the public has also been incredibly uplifting. They saw me through the best and worst of times and never stopped writing from around the world to encourage me.”

Francis also released three memoirs throughout her life: For Every Young Heart, Who’s Sorry Now?, and Among My Souvenirs. In 2017, she told People that she wanted to be remembered “not so much for the heights I have reached, but for the depths from which I have come… I hope I did okay.”