Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero net worth is $25 Million
Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero Wiki Biography
Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero was born on the 12th December 1938, in Newark, New Jersey USA, and as Connie Francis is a singer who was very popular in the late 1950s and 1960s, and released many hit songs including “Who’s Sorry Now?” (1958), “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” (1960) and “Where The Boys Are” (1961). Francis has been active in the entertainment industry since the 1940s.
How much is the net worth of Connie Francis? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the singer’s wealth is over $25 million, as of the data presented in the early 2017. Singing is the main source of Francis’ fortune.
Connie Francis Net Worth $25 Million
To begin with, Francis was schooled at Newark Arts and Belleville High Schools, but came in contact with music very early. At the age of ten, she appeared in the USA television show “Star Time” (1948), in which young talents had the chance to prove themselves. She first performed playing the accordion, yet soon continued with just singing. In the above mentioned show, she gained more accessible and short stage name.
Concerning her professional career, Francis adopted her stage name at this time, and began recording singles in 1955. However, by and large everything she released flopped, until her breakthrough in 1957, when she released the single “Who’s Sorry No”. Over the next decade the song was followed by many more hits, making Connie Francis one of the most popular singers in the world. She is often recognised by specific weeping in the style of slow songs as “My Happiness” (1958), “I’m Sorry I Made You Cry” (1959) and “Among My Souvenirs” (1959). The well known songs “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” (1960) and “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” (1960) took first place on the Billboard charts.
Francis sang songs in nine languages, most of them were performed in English and Italian, although she sang in French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Yiddish and Hebrew, releasing several albums in Italian, Spanish and Hebrew. Connie Francis also had a hugely successful career in Germany; her first German recording, “Die Liebe ist ein Seltsames Spiel” (Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool) topped the German sales charts in 1960, and she came to have two more number ones in Germany, “Paradiso” (1962) and “Barcarole in der Nacht” (1963).
During the Vietnam War Connie Francis performed many times for military audiences, but then in 1969, Francis left music, only to return in 1973. Connie Francis always liked country music, and she experienced a minor success with the song “The Wedding Cake” (1982), adding her name on the country charts. In 1996, she released the tribute album to Buddy Holly entitled “With Love to Buddy” which is her last studio album, so far.
In addition, Francis’ autobiography “Who’s Sorry Now?” was released in 1984.
Finally, in the personal life of the singer, Francis has had four marriages, firstly in the ‘60s to Dick Kanellis, yet they divorced after three months. In 1971, Francis married for the second time, to Izzy Marrion, and again divorced within a year. In 1973, she married Joseph Garzillin, and the pair adopted a son, but the union ended in divorce in 1978. In 1985, she married then divorced Bob Parkinson. The singer has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Golden Globe Special Achievement Award, NME Award for World Female Singer, NME Award for Favourite US Female Singer, Where the Boys Are, Stupid Cupid, Lipstick on Your Collar
Record Labels
MGM, Polydor, GSF Records, Ivanhoe Records, United Artists, Malaco, Herzklang, Legacy Recordings, Carlton Music, Concetta Records
Nominations
Star on the Italian Walk of Fame (2009, Toronto, Canada)
Movies
Rock, Rock, Rock (1956), Jamboree (1957), The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958), Where the Boys Are (1961)
TV Shows
“This Is Your Life“, “Star Time” (1948)
#
Quote
1
[on her hit singles] They were the least-artistic endeavor of my career. They were bubblegum songs. They were teenybopper songs. But I enjoy seeing the reaction of people when I do them. [The Arizona Republic, Feb. 9, 2006]
2
On truth: Don't confuse me with the facts!
3
[regarding Dick Clark playing "Who's Sorry Now" on New American Bandstand 1965 (1952)] He continued playing it until it sold a million. Without Dick Clark I wouldn't have stayed in show business. I was ready to go back to school to study medicine.
4
[on Elvis Presley's inner-circle crew] Well, they were yes men. They overlooked his excesses and the chemicals he was taking. For a Cadillac, they would say the right thing. I said, "God forbid that day comes that you die, Elvis. Red West is gonna write a bad book about you," and I was absolutely right.
5
[on her late brother George] He had the greatest sense of humor in the world. When he heard that I was getting married for the third time, he said, "Let me ask you a question", he said. "Don't you think it would be a good idea if you bought a drip-dry wedding dress?" I said, "Don't get cute, Georgie". Then he said, "Is Anita going to be my best friend? Is Anita going to be your Matron of Honor again?" I said, "Yes". He said, "It is a nice thing you keep doing for Anita. Everybody needs a steady job."
6
In an interview published in the September 1991 issue of DISCoveries Magazine, Connie tells Jerry Osborne: One day in 1960 I was going through my collection of Al Jolson and Judy Garland records, and I played Al's "Are You Lonesome Tonight". I said, "Daddy, come listen to this. I could make it a No. 1 song". He agreed and I called Don Costa in to do the arrangement. I said, "I'm more excited about recording this song than anything I've ever cut." We were in the car on our way to New York when the radio played [Elvis Presley's] "new" single, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?". Can you believe that? I was literally on my way to the studio to record it. How do you like that? Elvis even did the recitation part just like Al Jolson did.
7
[regarding her version of "God Bless America"] In an interview published in the September 1991 issue of DISCoveries Magazine, Connie tells 'Jerry Osborne': Irving Berlin had a fit when he found out I was doing it. He called my manager and said, "If that teenybopper louses up my beautiful 'God Bless America' the way she did poor Harry Ruby's 'Who's Sorry Now', I'm going to have a stroke". My manager said, "Please, Irving, relax. You'll be the first to hear it." "I just don't want it loused up with any of that 'Stupid Cupid' crap!", said Irving. Then when the record came out, my manager sent it directly to him and he said, "She did it just the way I thought she'd do it. It stinks! It's worse than that." I can't even tell you what he said. So, when it made the Top 10 in Variety, Irving called my manager and says, "George, do you think she can do 'God Bless America' on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948).
8
Overseas, especially in England, I was an adult star before I was an adult star in America. But here, they didn't take me seriously until that night on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948). I remember it was a Wednesday night, and I had a concert at Carnegie Hall the following Sunday and only 200 seats had been sold. Within 24 hours after doing "The Perry Como Show" they were scalping tickets to get into my show at Carnegie Hall.
9
[on her MGM record contract] I never paid for anything. There was never any recoupment for all the sessions I did. Not one penny. I had four people I hired to work for me on letters and on foreign releases. They paid for every photograph and I kept the photos. Travel, everything, was paid for. Even if it wasn't on MGM business, it was paid for. Gowns-bills were sent to MGM because I needed them for album covers. I bought them, and wore them. I could record where I wanted, however many songs I wanted, in whatever country, in whatever language, with whatever arranger, and then the bottom line was, if I didn't like any of it, I didn't have to release it. I didn't abuse it. I tried to release even the garbage so that I wouldn't just be recording and not releasing stuff.
10
[speaking about Hollywood trying to get her thin] I didn't know anything about speed or diet pills, but they gave me these little red pills, like Benzedrine, that you can only buy in Mexico now.
#
Fact
1
She was nominated for the 2016 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Performance Arts category.
2
She was nominated for the 2012 New Jersey Hall of Fame for her contributions to Arts and Entertainment.
She and ex-husband Joseph Garzilli adopted a son, Joseph Garzilli Jr.(born 1974).
5
One of the guests shown on the episode of This Is Your Life (1952) spotlighting Connie was her fourth-grade teacher. Connie said that she always appreciated her support over the years, as the teacher she had the year previous told her that she'd never make it.
6
1961: Singer Allan Chase released a vinyl 45 record titled "I'm In Love With Miss Connie Francis", backed with the song "Lonely Heart". The song gushes over her, often using titles of her songs in the lyrics.
7
Stated that the two highlights of her career, thus far, were her performance of the song "Never on Sunday" at the 1961 Academy Awards Ceremony, and her performance for troops in Vietnam in 1968 in which she ended with the song "God Bless America" and the entire army of soldiers present stood and sang along, most of whom were in tears.
8
Singer Gloria Estefan has been very vocal since the mid-1990s that she is interested in playing Connie in a movie about her life.
9
She was originally supposed to be born in Brooklyn, where her family lived at the time. However, her mother was visiting relatives in Newark, NJ, and attended an all-night dance when she went into labor.
10
Was the editor of her high school yearbook.
11
Received a scholarship to New York University to study medicine after high school.
12
Was advertised in magazines to appear in an MGM movie titled "The Girl with a Definite Maybe" in 1965 but the film was never made.
13
Her first national appearance was on Talent Scouts (1948).
14
1958: She earned her first million dollars, topped polls for Favorite Female Singer and received 5,000 fan letters a week.
15
7/3/63: She played a Command Performance before Queen Elizabeth II at the Alhambra Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland.
16
She was not allowed to attend her high school prom by her parents but was permitted to attend her school's weekly chaperoned "Beehive" dances.
17
1967" She was voted Best Female Singer in Las Vegas.
18
The news of President John F. Kennedy's assassination reached her on the set of her third MGM film, Looking for Love (1964). She recorded the single "In The Summer of His Years" in honor of the fallen president and packaged it in a conservative gold sleeve with no photos. All proceeds from the song were donated to the family of Dallas police officer J.D. Tippitt, who had been shot and killed by alleged Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
19
When she was first making demos, a New Jersey mobster approached her father and offered to place Connie's songs in every jukebox along the East Coast. Mr. Franconero protested, stating that if his daughter was going to make it he wanted to see her do it on her own.
20
When her first hit, "Who's Sorry Now", first aired on New American Bandstand 1965 (1952), host Dick Clark stated, "There's no doubt about it. This girl's headed straight for the #1 spot.".
21
According to a broadcast on the A&E Biography channel, singer Elvis Presley attended one of her concerts and had to leave for emotional reasons once he heard her sing the song "Mama" as his mother had just recently died. The next day Elvis sent Connie two dozen yellow roses with a note apologizing for his abrupt exit.
22
She has appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) (aka "The Ed Sullivan Show") a total of 26 times.
23
She has been trying to promote a possible follow-up movie to her 1960s hit Where the Boys Are (1960) since the early 1980s titled "Where The Men Are".
24
She did not learn to drive until she was in her 20s.
25
Singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka was originally hesitant to offer her the song "Stupid Cupid", as he thought it was much too juvenile for her.
26
When she first appeared on the scene she was written up in several magazines as being the new Judy Garland.
27
When show host Perry Como wanted her to sing the Italian song "Mama" on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948), she was very hesitant as she didn't want to be labeled an ethnic singer. The performance gained such a positive response that she released several records in Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese and a number of other languages.
28
She originally did not want to sing her first smash hit, "Who's Sorry Now", since it was originally written in the 1930s. Her father convinced her otherwise.
29
She previously dated singer Bobby Darin, who quickly ended the relationship once her father ran him off from one of her shows with a pistol.
30
As a child she was asked by her father if she would rather have piano or accordion lessons. Since her father was an accordion player and often played to her, she chose the accordion, a decision she said she has come to regret.
31
11/6/74: After an appearance at the Westbury Music Fair in New York, she was raped at knifepoint at the Howard Johnson Motel where she was staying. She subsequently sued the hotel chain for failing to provide adequate security when she learned that a year after the rape occurred, the broken lock to her former room had never been repaired. She was awarded a reported $3 million.