Connie Francis was only 16 years old when she recorded her first single, "Freddy," for
MGM Records in 1955, and while the label released several consequent singles, none of them really took off, and not exactly sold on singing as a way of life,
Francis fully expected a session she did for the label in late 1957 to be her final one. Fate is fate, though, and when she tracked a version of a 1923 song called "Who's Sorry Now?," everything changed. The song was a huge hit and
Francis went on to record for
MGM Records through 1969, charting hits with songs like "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," "Stupid Cupid," and "Where the Boys Are," among others. This three-disc, 85-track set includes "Freddy," "Who's Sorry Now?," and all of the singer's A- and B-side singles from both the U.S. and the U.K. between the years 1955 and 1962. It's an awful lot of
Connie Francis, which is certainly not a bad thing, but casual listeners should probably stick with a single-disc greatest-hits collection that also includes her early-'60s singles. Still, this is a valuable archival set that digs deep and chronicles one of the few true classic female pop singers to flourish and thrive commercially in the early rock & roll era. ~ Steve Leggett
![Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book [Verve]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/8436028694266_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book [Verve]")
![The Best of Eydie Gorme [Curb]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0715187741324_p0_v1_s90x140.gif "The Best of Eydie Gorme [Curb]")
