She ruled the airwaves before most of us were born, and somehow, against all odds, Connie Francis was going viral on TikTok at 87.

The pop powerhouse behind hits like “Stupid Cupid,” “Who’s Sorry Now,” and the surprise 2025 TikTok sensation “Pretty Little Baby” has died at the age of 87. Her passing marks the end of an era, the kind where voices weren’t autotuned and artists didn’t have to dance for a stream. Connie Francis didn’t need gimmicks. She had pipes, pain, and presence, and it still hit decades later.

Her label confirmed the news but didn’t offer specifics. Fans knew she’d been recently hospitalized for a suspected broken hip, but her legend was far from fractured. At her peak, Connie wasn’t just competing with Elvis Presley and Brenda Lee. She was selling more records than any woman in the game. She stacked over 100 million in record sales, pulled 5,000 fan letters a week, and had hits in fifteen languages. That’s not just success; that’s global domination in a skirt and stilettos.

But Francis’s life wasn’t some rose-colored memory of old-school stardom. It was hell and high notes in equal measure. Her career, often controlled with an iron grip by her father, saw her swing between teen-bop gold and devastating trauma. She survived a brutal assault in a motel room in 1974, battled bipolar disorder through a haze of lithium and shock therapy, and spent more time institutionalized than any performer of her stature ever should have. Add in a string of failed marriages, an unsolved rape case, her brother’s mob-style murder, and a string of lawsuits, and you’ve got a country ballad’s worth of heartbreak without a damn note sung.

Still, she showed up. She performed. She cracked jokes about her past. And somehow, through all the broken glass and bad headlines, she managed to create music that outlived all of it.

A little-known B-side from 1962, “Pretty Little Baby,” exploded on TikTok in 2025. Proof that what’s real never dies. The same kids who’d never seen a turntable were lip-syncing to her voice. Connie didn’t even remember recording it. “To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is touching the hearts of millions of people is truly awesome,” she told People with a chuckle. That viral wave gave her a whole new audience and reminded everyone who forgot just how timeless real emotion can be.

Connie wasn’t just a pop star. She had country in her bones, too. Her 1959 album Country & Western – Golden Hits featured covers of Hank Williams and Don Gibson. “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” cracked the Billboard country charts in 1960. That blend of heartbreak and melody made her a quiet trailblazer in the crossover space, decades before it was cool. And while she wasn’t inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, that doesn’t mean her twang didn’t matter. The genre has long buried its roots under polished boots and Spotify algorithms. Connie sang them straight, without the rhinestone filter.

She once said she only felt like herself onstage. No therapist, no rehab, no relationship could compete with the connection she felt singing to a crowd. That’s the part of her story that sticks: not the tragedy, not the TikTok fame, but the grit it took to keep showing up. If there’s any justice, she’s somewhere right now belting out “God Bless America” to a room full of legends and soldiers, no introduction needed.

Connie Francis never fit the mold. And that’s exactly why she’ll never be forgotten.