Connie Francis 1937-2025

The American singer and actress was one of the biggest pop stars of the 50s and early 60s.

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Signing a recording contract with MGM Records at the age of 17, her first few singles met with limited success. After her version of Who's Sorry Now? was played by Dick Clark on his American Bandstand show in 1958 the single proved an international smash, reaching No 1 in the UK. The double Aside, Stupid Cupid/Carolina Moon, also topped the UK charts that year and a stream of hits followed including Everybody's

Somebody's Fool, Lipstick On Your Collar, and Mama. Her 1960 recording, Everybody's Somebody's Fool, became the first single by a female artist to top the US charts.

While the hits had begun to dry up by the mid-60s she continued to perform. Following a performance in New York state in 1974, she was raped at knifepoint in her motel room. While the perpetrator was never captured, Francis successfully sued the motel chain, alleging its security was lax. The event would lead to a period of depression, and she retreated from the public eye. More tragedy followed after her brother was shot dead in 1981 and she was committed to a psychiatric hospital later that decade after being diagnosed with manic depression. Francis resumed recording in 1989 and continued to make concert appearances until she was in her 70s. Her career had recently seen a resurgence after her 1962 song, Pretty Little Baby, went viral on TikTok, gaining millions of streams.

Mick Ralphs, died 23 June, age 81.