LEGEND GONE

‘Pretty Little Baby’ Singer Dies at 87 Weeks After Her Song Becomes TikTok Hit

Connie Francis passed away in Florida on July 16 soon after her 1962 B-side exploded on social media.

Connie Francis, the voice behind “Who’s Sorry Now?” and the freshly rediscovered “Pretty Little Baby,” died Wednesday aged 87, longtime friend Ron Roberts confirmed on Facebook, according to People. The New Jersey-born star had revealed on July 2 that she’d been hospitalized with “extreme pain,” as fans rallied around her. Her death comes just weeks after the 1962 B-side rocketed up TikTok’s Viral 50, logging billions of views and introducing her to a new generation. Francis was the first solo woman ever to top the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to sell an estimated 200 million records. She survived rape, botched vocal-cord surgery, her brother’s murder and four failed marriages, yet kept performing until 2018 and had hoped for a comeback appearance this month before her health faltered. Francis told People in 2017 that she hoped she would be remembered “not so much for the heights I have reached, but for the depths from which I have come.” She is survived by her son, Joseph Jr.