Remembering 2025’s Music Losses: Connie Francis

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Not to be confused with Pope Francis, the other entry today, we turn to music and look at another person who gave us songs to remember. For the first time this month it’s someone I don’t have to “explain” (as in a band member or behind-the-scenes person the way the other four have been thus far). Here’s today’s person. Connie Francis Here’s another one of those “you’re KIDDING me” exclusions from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Connie Francis was the rock era’s first million-selling female. In her career she sold over 100 million records. That’s more than TWO 2025 inductees (Cyndi Lauper and the White Stripes) combined. Well, they’ll probably put her in as an “early influence” this year, now that she’s dead. And you have to remember what an influence any solo female singer was back then. It was a man’s world, and if the women had a voice it was as a backing singer for the men, or in a group. Women didn’t sell in the Elvis stratosphere in those days. Believe it or not, Connie Francis is partly responsible for the keycards we use in hotel rooms now. In 1974 she was raped in a Howard Johnson’s motel. She successfully sued the motel for lack of proper security (if you’re old enough to remember old motel doors, you could probably sneeze and knock one open ). Her ordeal inspired a Norwegian inventor to design the VingCard, the first “keycard” or access control card for door locks. Her biggest hit was “Who’s Sorry Now,” and that was the title of her autobiography and biopic. While her name had faded from the headlines at the time of her death last July at the age of 87, her music is still fondly remembered. Connie Francis Born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, December 12, 1937, Newark, New Jersey Died July 16, 2025, Pompano Beach, Florida (pneumonia) (age 87) Connie singing my favorite song of hers, “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”: