Singing Legend Connie Francis Dies at 87

A singing legend is gone: Connie Francis has died at age 87, per the Hollywood Reporter. A cause of death has not been revealed, but Francis had been hospitalized earlier this month after experiencing what she described as "extreme pain." Francis rose to fame in the late 1950s and was one of the biggest singing stars into the 1960s. A small sampling of her hits include:

• "Who's Sorry Now?"
• "Where the Boys Are"
• "Everybody's Somebody's Fool." (With this one, she was the first woman to have a No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, per People.)
• "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own"
• "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You."

"She was best known for the pulsing, emotional delivery that coaxed every last teardrop from slow ballads like 'Who's Sorry Now? and made 'Where the Boys Are' a potent anthem of teenage longing," per the New York Times. "Sighing youngsters thrilled to every throb in 'My Happiness' and 'Among My Souvenirs.'" Francis was born Concetta Franconero in Newark, and she was still performing in her final decade. Her 1963 hit "Pretty Little Baby" had been seeing a resurgence of late thanks to TikTok.