Connie Francis - In Deutschland mit Ausflügen nach Holland und Schweden
Francis, Connie
116 pages; 22/15cm - German language
Photo book with many rare, never before published photos, a reprint of the Bravo Story, plus discography of their German, Dutch and Swedish recordings by Richard Weize. German/DIN A5 - stock of remaining copies from the 1988 8-LP BOX (BFX 15305).!*****
Germany with excursions to Holland and Sweden
By Richard Weize with discography and introduction by Manfred Fleckenstein.
Preface:
Connie Francis, apart from her native United States, enjoyed by far the greatest popularity abroad for years in Germany and found her most loyal and devoted fan base in this country. What's more, Constance Franconero, who comes from an Italian immigrant family, was not only enthusiastically received by the German public, she was virtually adopted.
Yet her original English-language hits merely served as the initial spark for an independent German recording career that was to bring her some 30 chart placements in Germany in the course of just under a decade. Gerhard Mendelson, Polydor producer based in Vienna, who also accompanied Peter Kraus' recording career, was in charge of the German recording career of the international top star Connie Francis.
He carried out his task with outstanding success. With Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel (Love is a strange game), a sensational live success was achieved: at the beginning of August 1960, the song reached number 1 in the national hit parade and remained among the 1U best-selling records for more than four months. Connie Francis received the Golden Otto for it in 1961 as the most popular pop singer in the republic. Awards of that kind were the order of the day for her in several countries. In Germany alone, Connie Francis landed half a dozen top hits of the calibre of her first success in the following three years. Let us remember Schöner fremder Mann, Paradiso, Wenn du gehst and Barcarole in der Nacht.
Between 1958 and 1963, 25 million Connie records were sold in 83 countries worldwide. For her record company, Connie Francis was a rare stroke of luck, as she did not appeal to a limited audience, but embodied the star for everyone and more, the star with a family connection, like very few in her industry. Always friendly and neat, without appearing extravagant, attractive and charming, but without any vampish behaviour, Connie Francis offered a smorgasbord of the most positive qualities, which enthused and attracted children as well as parents, teenagers and twens alike.
This resulted in a feeling of closeness between the star and her audience, who saw in Connie Francis someone from their midst to whom they were happy to relate and to whom they remained loyal.
Behind all of this was a tough marketing strategy that brought the star's business environment brilliant balance sheets, but almost destroyed Connie Francis mentally and physically.
The result was a forced break of several years. It was not until the second half of the 70s that she made a comeback, but she was unable to repeat her golden years.
The Connie Francis Retrospective re-releases all the songs she sang for the German market. A whole series of previously unreleased songs, plus a few bonus tracks in Swedish and Danish, are included.
Manfred Fleckenstein, September 1988
