Connie Francis - Multiply

                     The Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury - NY

                                                       8:00 pm

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News from

The Connie Francis International Fanclub

Summer Newsletter Mailed
"Connie In Vietnam" is the theme of the Summer 2008 fan club newsletter. We look back at Connie's historic trip to entertain the troops in Vietnam in 1967, and have included many rare or never-before-seen photos.

Connie Wows 'em In Staten Island
Fans who were fortunate enough to attend Connie's concert at the St. George Theatere in Staten Island were simply blown away! Connie treated her fans to an absolutely amazing show, singing in five languages to a sold-out audience. Fans came from across the country and around the world, including many fans from the Netherlands, whom Connie acknowledged onstage and thanked for coming. After the show, Connie graciously signed autographs and posed for photos for over two hours. This show was dedicated to Dr. Patrick Niglio, whom Connie thanked for many years of support, guidance and tutelage in foreign languages.

more on: Connie Francis International Fanclub 

                                     

 

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Interviewed by: Jeffrey Portnoy

Interview Date: March 25, 2008                    

 

 

BSP: Your debut single was “Freddy”, with the B-Side being “Didn’t I Love You Enough”. Which song did you like better?
CF: I don’t even remember “Didn’t I Love You Enough” (Laughter)
BSP: How close were you to pursuing a medical career after the failure of your first few demos?
CF: I had the choice of either working in my Aunt Marie’s offices, doing stenography and typing and filing or trying to get my scholarship back at NYU. I had left NYU so I could get a job so that my brother could go to law school. Six months after that I had a hit record, and then I could afford to send my brother to law school.
BSP: What is your favorite language to record in?
CF: Believe it or not, the easiest is Japanese. There is no sound in the Japanese language that is foreign to English. It’s simple. What you see is what you say. Phonetically, it’s the easiest. I’ve done Japanese recordings where we got it in two or three takes. German is a guttural sound, Spanish and Italian have the rolled r’s but there’s nothing alien to the English tongue in Japanese.
BSP: Which of your movies was the most fun to make?
CF:  None of them lol. I enjoyed doing “Where the Boys Are” but my mother was with me all the time so that was a drag. The cast was fun and it was the first time I did a movie, so it was exciting. And to see Ft. Lauderdale grow and grow to the metropolis that it is today. My second movie (“Follow the Boys”) was about the navy and one reviewer said that it was the biggest naval disaster since Pearl Harbor. My third movie (“Looking for Love”) was fun. It was produced by Joe Pasternak, who did “Where the Boys Are”. But it was during the Kennedy assassination, so the second half of filming was a very dark time. My fourth movie (“When the Boys Meet the Girls”) was a total disaster.
BSP: What is your favorite style or genre of music to sing?
CF: Legitimate pop. Like “Strangers in the Night” or “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” or “Three Coins in the Fountain”, stuff like that. I like the big ballads.
BSP: Artistically, who has influenced you the most?
CF: Bobby Darrin.

BSP: What was your most embarrassing moment on stage?
CF: There were so many of them! (Laughter) One time the beading came off my dress and the whole thing unraveled onstage. My shoes didn’t fit so I asked if anyone in the audience wore a size 5.5, and they brought them up. (Laughter) There were so many things. I fell over a speaker and into the lap of someone in the audience.
BSP: The “original” wardrobe malfunctions lol. If you could live your life over and do anything differently, what would it be?
CF: I would have married Bobby Darrin.
BSP: What was your father’s problem with him exactly?
CF: He thought he was a threat to my virginity lol. Bobby was very sophisticated and hip beyond his years, and my father was thrown by this character (as he called him). He’d say “he’s a bum, he’s in show business and he’s not going anywhere”.
BSP: What was it like performing in Manila, the Philippines on Valentine’s Day 2008?
CF: There were 12,000 people and it was great. There was also a lot of drama on that trip. There was an attempt made on the President’s life while I was there. When we pulled up to the hotel there were guard dogs sniffing the cars, and they opened up our trunks. Soldiers everywhere. There were four kidnappings of Americans that were never found. I was told about all of this AFTER we went to Manila, including that all Americans were urged NOT to go the Philippines. But the Filipinos are the sweetest people in the world.
BSP: How do you feel about not yet being inducted in the Rock “N Roll Hall of Fame?
CF: I’m in pretty good company. Neil Sedaka wasn’t inducted. Neil Diamond wasn’t. So I consider myself one of the chosen few. And to tell you the truth, I really don’t care. It’s so political. It took Brenda Lee and Bobby Darrin so long to be recognized. It’s a joke.

BSP: What musician would you most like to collaborate with?
CF: Neil Sedaka and I just wrote a song that I will be recording on Wednesday. I wrote the song in 1983 when I was in a mental institution. It’s a country song so it’s timeless. I handed him the song with the lyrics and within three days he completed a demo. He’s a genius. I will be appearing with him at the Westbury Music Fair in July.
BSP: You received a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall during the recent Neil Sedaka tribute concert. Neil and Howard Greenfield crafted many of your successful songs. Did you know automatically that “Stupid Cupid” would be a hit?
CF: Donnie Kirshner was a struggling music publisher in the Brill Building and he brought Neil and Howie to my house. It seemed like they were there for 97 hours. They played me every gorgeous ballad they ever wrote. I was so bored lol. I threw myself on my couch and started writing in my diary. I said to them “the music is beautiful, but it’s too educated. Kids don’t dig this kind of stuff anymore. Come up with something a lil’ more lively”. So Howie said “play her that sound that we just gave to the Shepherd Sisters this morning.” Neil said “she’s a classy singer, she’ll be insulted”. Howie responded “what have we got to lose, she hates everything we wrote”. They played six bars of “Stupid Cupid”. I leaped up from the couch and said “Hit title! You guys got my next record! Stupid Cupid…what a smash!” Titles were very important. It was such a gimmicky hit title, like “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”.
BSP: What is the status of the movie “Who’s Sorry Now”?
CF: We’re supposed to go into production in November. I’m executive producer so I will be there every day. Both Gloria (Estefan) and I are both not yet happy with the script, and we’re still making changes in it.
BSP: I know that the film has been in pre-production for a long time and the fans would love to see it completed.
CF: Well it’s very difficult to squeeze a fifty year career and a lifetime as eventful as mine into two hours. It’s difficult to decide what to leave in and what to omit. Often you become objective to that; what may be important to ME may not be important to the people watching it. There’s so much to write about.
BSP: Do you have any plans to write a follow-up to your 1984 book “Who’s Sorry Now”?
CF: I’m writing that now. It’s called “Among My Souvenirs”.
BSP: Do you ever visit your old neighborhood in Newark?
CF: I haven’t been there for quite some time. I played the NJPAC in Newark a few years ago. I visited my old neighborhood and it’s like a war zone now. I went to see my old school. A lot of the kids I went to school with still write and call me.
BSP: You have several east coast concerts already scheduled for 2008. The St. George theater in Staten Island will have a large Italian-American turnout and it’s right over the bridge from New Jersey. Aside from the location and the full orchestra you will have, what will make that night special?
CF: The people. It’s always the people. The fans come from Germany, England, Ireland, California, Texas, New York, Louisiana. I know in Staten Island we will have three people from Holland. And they come to almost every show. It’s a wonderful thrill for me. There was a boy that lived behind the iron curtain and tried to contact me twenty six times, and the KGB caught him most of the times. I wrote to him, and he received some of the letters. I told him that when the wall comes down he will be at my show in the front row. Sure enough, in 1989, there he was. It’s a great thrill to be so extravagantly rewarded for doing the thing that you love doing the most, and to share a gift from God that you had nothing to do with.
BSP: Do you have any plans to release any new music?
CF: We may release the song I’m recording with Neil on Wednesday. It’s so mechanical now. I told the engineer that I wanted country guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, etc. he told me that he would do it all on his computer. (Laughter) I’m used to having an orchestra there, and it’s a great thrill, but now they can make an orangutan sound good. (Laughter).

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