Connie Francis is touched that her 1962 obscure song “Pretty Little Baby” is a hit 63 years later!

The song is adorable.

no one cares

I do, r2, and I'm not even a fan. I certainly respect her career and it's great that this is happening for her.

r2 = Susie Sourpuss

I'm happy for her too but dippy songs like that are why her career ended. The Beatles sounded a lot fresher.

Does translate into $$$ for her?

I thought the younger generation discovered her when Nancy's mother in The Craft had a jukebox that only played Connie Francis songs.

I hear that song online all the time now

R5 who compares Connie Francis to The Beatles? Two very different artists and genres. She’s a solo female artist and they were a 4 man boy band. Mind you, you do weird shit like this all the time.

You don’t compare Madonna to Aerosmith. If you’re gonna compare artists, you compare artists who make similar music and who are similar. Britney/Christina always being compared makes sense. MJ/Prince makes sense. Whitney/Mariah makes sense. The Beatles/Connie Francis makes zero sense. At least attempt to make sense.

Maybe Howard Johnson's can use it in their commercials.

no one cares……that I eat old people’s excrement!

I didn’t know she was still alive

R5 her career started in the 50s and went on for decades. Shes in her late 80s now. Is she supposed to still be performing? No.

Her career sorta ended intentionally when her brother was murdered.

Ah it's a twee song, perfect for Tiktok.

[quote]who compares Connie Francis to The Beatles? Two very different artists and genres. She’s a solo female artist and they were a 4 man boy band. Mind you, you do weird shit like this all the time.

They both did pop music, aimed at the same audience in their teens and 20s. When that audience discovered the British invasion bands, influenced by rock and roll, they quickly lost interest in performers like Connie Francis whose music was still stuck in 50s arrangements and attitudes, and although she'd had plenty of hits before that, her career came to a screeching halt. This is basic pop music history and she'll tell you the same thing.

The yutes listening to a singer who doesn’t need or use autotune, a miracle!

R15 their music was nothing alike. Nothing. Especially for that time period.

Spoken like the r word you are, AS USUAL.

Why hasn’t r15 gotten off his ass and applied for jobs or schooling yet? He was born in 2005. Why is he posting on Datalounge at 11 am?

I love Connie......the first 45 rpm record I bought was her singing V-a-c-a-t-i-o-n!

Actually I was born in 1962 and it's 8 am where I'm posting. Better check your numbers.

And yes, the whole *point* was that their music was nothing alike! But they were targeting the same audience and her music was going out of style and her sales cratered. I love Connie Francis but there's a reason people stopped listening to her music.

From Wikipedia: "Due to music trends in the early and mid-1960s, especially the British Invasion, Francis's chart success on Billboard's Hot 100 began to wane after 1963. She had her final top-ten hit, "Vacation", in 1962. A number of Francis's singles reached the top 40 in the US Hot 100 in the mid-1960s, with her last top-40 entry in 1964 being her cover version of "Be Anything (but Be Mine)", a 1952 song made famous by singer/bandleader Eddy Howard. "

Their music was NOTHING ALIKE. Who compares THE BEATLES to Connie Francis? You compare The Beatles to other BOY BANDS of that era, not female artists.

And you were born in 2005. No one born in 1962 is posting the type of shit you do.

I love her but did they have to style her so that she looked 50 when she was 19? She had another song go viral from a commercial a few years ago. It's Fallin'. A lot different than her usual material. It's a great song and she should have recorded more like this.

She should be a DL icon if only because she knows Where the Boys Are.

It's really wild how ANY song can go viral on tik tok.

R23 that was the style at the time and back then looking older was what was popular. It showed maturity and sophistication. Today everyone wants to look younger.

She's a hero of mine. No just a survivor. A thriver!

[quote]It's really wild how ANY song can go viral on tik tok.

Even one that awful.

I hate what YouTube did to the Shangri-Las Remember.

R9 The Beatles weren't a boy band, you dumbass.

Well, when the Beatles first started out they could be considered the equivalent of a boyband. Listen to "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". And their fan base at that time was mostly pre-teens and teens. Largely girls. Shouting and fainting.

By 1966 the Beatles had evolved into a mature sophisticated band, but that's not how they started out.

I am so happy for her. She is an icon and a legend. Yes, her hit singles lessened after The Beatles, but she remained a top concert performer. She owns many of he recordings, and published most of her hits. The success of Pretty Little Baby coincides with the success of Just In Time on Broadway in which Gracie Lawrence plays Connie. Connie acknowledges that she does not like most of her hits, but that is what made her. She did some great LPs, but her hits stood out because singles were the thing at that time. I never cared for Pretty Little Baby, and neither did she. However, I find myself humming it now. Regardless, she has done so much for the public not only through her music, but by forming The Victims Rights Laws, reforming hotel security laws, supporting USA vets, and mental health reform. She deserves this recognition and more. She did not need it, as her place was etched in legendary status a long time ago. However, it is a real plus. The number of downloads this song is getting is mindboggling.

[quote] [R5] who compares Connie Francis to The Beatles?

Wait, I forget... did I marry a Beatle, or Connie Francis?

"CONNIE FRANCIS, STOP!"... No, that doesn't sound quite right...

R6 Yes it does. She owns the rights and she published it. This is the case with youtube listens, as well. Connie was sitting pretty all along, and still lives like a superstar. She was smart and savvy in her career. A few months ago, she bought herself a new white Rolls which sits in front of her mansion.

Compared to the other female hit makers of the 1960s, Dionne Warwick, Petula Clark, Diana Ross, Cher, Jackie DeShannon, Barbra Streisand, Aretha etc....Connie Francis was C-list.

Connie was only C-List once those other girl singers came along, but they were all successes after the height of Connie's A-List career which was brief but strong and lasted from about 1959-1962. She stuck around the charts for about another 5 years but with none of her earlier success.

She's a major character in the new Bobby Darin musical Just In Time but the girl who portrays her makes no attempt to recreate her distinctive sound, which is very puzzling and unfortunate. She also doesn't sing any of Connie's big hits in the show, also puzzling.

R32 The Beatles have nothing to do with her success or lack thereof. And you didn’t know Pretty Little Baby before this. It was never a single and an obscure song on a forgotten album

Connie was a lot more than a singer, she was also very intelligent to the point of genius level, could play instruments and speaks numerous languages.

She unfortunately had deep ties with the Mafia and her brother ended up murdered.

She is a first generation American, the daughter of Italians. Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero went by Connie Francis to be marketable in the mainstream pop world.

She wanted to be a Doctor but her father pushed her into the world of music when her talent was noticeable from a young age. He put her in a music school when he noticed her talent at a very young age. She struggled to breakout in the industry but reluctantly recorded “Who’s Sorry Now” despite hating the song because her father pushed her to. The song originally flopped but a popular tv show played it in 1958 leading the song to become a hit and sell over 1 million copies. Her career took off after that, which led her to abandon her dream of becoming a Doctor.

[quote]A few months ago, she bought herself a new white Rolls which sits in front of her mansion.

A Rolls? How impressive that would be... if this were still 1962.

R36 makes sense she is a major character in Bobby Darin’s story as they both met while up-and-comers and became close friends and creative partners turned tumultuous and rocky relationship. They never officially dated (at least not openly) but everyone could tell they were into each other.

Her father was 100% her dating a non-Italian. He forbade it.

R39 No one, but I mean no one, cares.

[quote]R34 She owns the rights and she published it. This is the case with youtube listens, as well. Connie was sitting pretty all along, and still lives like a superstar. She was smart and savvy in her career. A few months ago, she bought herself a new white Rolls which sits in front of her mansion.

Are you her publicist? Why would you know this about her?

[quote]Well, when the Beatles first started out they could be considered the equivalent of a boyband. Listen to "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". And their fan base at that time was mostly pre-teens and teens. Largely girls. Shouting and fainting.

Yeah, when The Beatles broke out in the US in 1964, they were not doing anything different/innovative that hadn't already been done by the likes of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly & The Crickets -- all of whom they admired. Their band name was even inspired by Buddy Holly's.

Their novelty was that they were British (i.e. foreign but not too much) and thus were heavily promoted as an antidote/distraction to the recent JFK assassination and issues that were dividing the U.S. at the time, like civil rights and the counterculture movement.

However, they opened the doors for other British bands/singers to break through. Hence the so-called British Invasion of the latter '60s, when Vietnam, inflation, and political assassinations added to the strife.

Over the decades, it's become a myth that American music was stale and The Beatles brought over a new sound, but thanks to the internet/social media, you can see the acts that The Beatles were emulating.

Connie Francis is currently a main character in the hit Broadway musical about Bobby Darin called JUST IN TIME.

Gracie Lawrence, who plays her, is nominated for a Tony as Leading Actress in a Musical.

The Beatles were also inspired by the American folk musical revival of the early 1960s (e.g. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary).

TBH, I thought she had died decades ago.

[quote]Over the decades, it's become a myth that American music was stale and The Beatles brought over a new sound, but thanks to the internet/social media, you can see the acts that The Beatles were emulating.

You're wrong about that.

The Beatle's did indeed bring over a new sound. Listen to their first two smash hits, "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand", they sounded like nothing else at the time.

Certainly the Beatles were influenced by a slew of American singers and bands but the music they came up with was different from anything out there at the time. "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand", were comparable to nothing. Were they better or worse? I think those songs are pretty awful in retrospect, but they were something new, never heard before.

I was kid when the Beatles hit the scene. I saw their TV debut on the Ed Sullivan show, saw them in concert that same year. We were reacting to this fresh new sound.

[quote]Gracie Lawrence, who plays her, is nominated for a Tony as Leading Actress in a Musical.

FEATURED (i.e., supporting) not LEADING.

R35 That is ridiculous! She sold more records than any of them. At the top pf A lister.

R36 Gracie does sing Connie's big hits. Who's Sorry Now is a highlight.

R43 I know her main assistant.

R43 I know her main assistant.

r51, you're right about Who's Sorry Now. I forgot that one because the actress doesn't sound remotely like Connie and the song really doesn't come off as much. But that's the only true Connie Francis hit that's sung in Just in Time.

No Stupid Cupid. No My Happiness. No Everybody's Somebody's Fool. No Lipstick on Your Collar. Now Where the Boys Are. No Vacation!

She appeared in a handful of movies, and was quite adorable in them.

R54 see r39

r56, why are you telling me to re-read to r39?

Stupid Cupid is a perfect pop song. If you want to get a glimpse of her popularity from folks in her time, go to the Dorothy Kegallan thread and look up Connie's appearance. It was right after Where The Boys are was released. The crowd went wild and she was so popular they guessed her identity in about 30 seconds.

Connie and Bobby

If you've never seen the young Connie Francis sing, that clip at r59 really captured her essence.

Connie was 22 here. She looks like a 40 year old Italian housewife. She really needed a stylist.

Connie and Bobby make it seems so effortless. A perfect performance and they don't even break a sweat.

I actually think Connie's "look" when she was young was a part of what made her so hugely popular with teenagers. She wasn't that pretty but she looked real, she looked ethnic, she was very relatable. She looked every bit the girl from Jersey she was.

r61, you really need to look through some high school year books from the 1950s.

Goldfingaaaah

Bobby Darin was a genuine all-around talent but not much of the music of Connie Francis, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Brenda Lee...that whole group of pre-Beatles teen idols has held up well.

At least Avalon was able to continue with movies and TV on the strength of his personality, Fabian acted, Brenda Lee transitioned successfully to country and remains respected...but Connie Francis became a mess and a joke.

It's a shame, like a lot of us, that she couldn't escape her family. She would have achieved even more and have been spared a lot of heartache.

R41: Bobby Darin was Italian.

I've always thought DL should be renamed Where The Boys Are.