Singer Connie Francis, 87, informed fans on Wednesday (July 2) that she had been rushed to the intensive care unit at a hospital in Florida. In a post on her official Facebook feed, Francis wrote, “I am back in hospital where I have been undergoing tests and checks to determine the cause(s) of the extreme pain I have been experiencing. I had hoped to take part in [radio broadcaster Cousin] Brucie’s show for Independence Day, having had to cancel a previous slot a few weeks ago when receiving treatment on my hip. Sadly, I had to let him know that I again had to withdraw.”
In a follow-up post a few hours later, Francis said that after a series of tests for the undisclosed ailment in the ICU she had been moved to a private room. “Thank you all for your kind thoughts, words and prayers. They mean so much!” wrote the singer who retired from the music industry in 2018.
According to People, the singer revealed in May that she was in a wheelchair due to a hip injury after a March FB post in which she said she was awaiting stem cell therapy to treat a “troublesome painful hip.” At press time no additional information was available about the cause of her hospitalization and a spokesperson for the singer had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
In 1960, Francis became the first woman to score a No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her signature hit, “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.” Her follow-up single, “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own,” also reached No. 1, as did 1962’s “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.” Earlier this year, she topped TikTok’s Viral 50 and Top 50 when a slew of lip synch videos of people’s pets and kids — including ones from Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian — cued to her 1962 hit “Pretty Little Baby” blew up on the platform.
Francis, who is also fondly remembered for such top five Hot 100 hits as “My Happiness,” “Lipstick on Your Collar” and “Where the Boys are,” told Billboard in May that she hardly remembered the obscure, six-decade-old “Pretty Little Baby.”
“I had to listen to it to identify it,” she said of “Pretty Little Baby,” which has spawned more than three million TikTok videos to date. “Then, of course, I recognized the fact that I had done it in seven languages.”
