Photo Credit: Connie Francis for ABC Television, 1961
Connie Francis reacts to her 1962 song “Pretty Little Baby” becoming a viral hit on TikTok, 63 years after she recorded it.
Connie Francis, 87, was surprised to learn her 1962 song “Pretty Little Baby” is having a massive resurgence, going viral on TikTok—even if she had to ask what exactly that meant.
Sixty-three years after she recorded the track, it’s become a huge hit on TikTok, where even celebrities like Kylie Jenner have recorded lip-sync videos. Overall, “Pretty Little Baby” has been used in nearly 15 million TikToks this year, and has been streamed over 20 million times on Spotify.
“My thanks to TikTok and its members for the wonderful, and oh so unexpected, reception given to my 1961 recording ‘Pretty Little Baby,’” said Francis in a statement posted to her Facebook page. “The first I learned of it was when Ron [Roberts] called to advise me that I had a ‘viral hit.’ Clearly out of touch with present day music statistic terminology, my initial response was to ask: ‘What’s that?’ Thank you everyone!”
Francis was only 23 when the song came out as a B-side to her single, “I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter.” The track was featured on her 1962 album, Connie Francis Sings Second Hand Love & Other Hits, but the record failed to make the Top 100 on the Billboard Top LPs chart. Nonetheless, Francis enjoyed a highly successful career in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Her hit “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” made her the first woman to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Now, with such renewed interest in the track, “Pretty Little Baby” has been streamed more than 20 million times on Spotify, and it currently sits at No. 67 on the streaming platform’s Global Top 100. The song has also topped TikTok’s Viral 50 and Shazam’s new Viral Charts, and hit No. 2 on Spotify’s Global Daily Viral Songs chart. Over 600,000 daily TikTok creations use the track, and a new version of the song is in the works in six different languages.
Connie Francis also features as a character in the new Broadway musical, Just In Time, based on the life of Bobby Darin. Francis had a brief relationship with Darin before he went on to marry Sandra Dee. Francis is played by Gracie Lawrence, while Darin is played by Jonathan Groff.
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.