At the height of her career in the late 1950s and early 60s, Connie Francis, who has died aged 87, occupied a unique slot in the American record industry as she amassed sales that comfortably outstripped most of her male contemporaries. She scored her first big hit with Who’s Sorry Now? in 1957, and by 1967 had amassed 35 Top 40 hits in the US and sold 35 million records worldwide.
She was blessed with a voice that could handle everything from amusing novelties such as Stupid Cupid (1958) or Pretty Little Baby (1962) to intimate ballads, tales of heartbreak and even full-blown epics such as the flamenco-flavoured Malagueña (1960).
