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Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites
Studio album by
Connie Francis
ReleasedNovember 1959
RecordedAugust 22, 1959
August 25–27, 1959
Genre Pop
Length42:34
Label MGM
E-3791 (mono)/SE-3791 (stereo)
Producer Danny Davis
Connie Francis chronology
My Thanks to You
(1959) 		Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites
(1959) 		Christmas in My Heart
(1959)
Singles from Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites
  1. "Mama"
    Released: February 1960

Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites is a studio album recorded by American singer and entertainer Connie Francis.

Background

The album consists of traditional Italian and Neapolitan songs (e. g. Santa Lucia) as well as then-current contemporary songs like Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu) or Piove which both had risen to international fame after being Italy's entries to the Eurovision Song Contests of 1958 and 1959.

Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites was recorded following a suggestion from Francis' father, George Franconero Sr., who played an active part in directing Francis' career. He had realized that Francis would have to make a timely transition from the youth-oriented Rock 'n' Roll music to adult contemporary music if she wanted to pursue a successful long-term career in music. [1]

To make the album appealing to both Italian immigrants as well as listeners not familiar with Romanic languages, Francis sang most of the songs bilingual in either Italian/English or Neapolitan/English. Only Volare and Piove are sung entirely in Italian whilst Torna a Surriento is sung entirely in Neapolitan. Francis, who didn't learn to speak Italian and Neapolitan fluently until 1962, received assistance from a Berlitz teacher to achieve the correct pronunciation of the lyrics' Italian and Neapolitan lines. [2]

The album was recorded between August 22 and 27, 1959, at EMI's famous Abbey Road Studios in London [3] under the musical direction of Tony Osborne [4] and was released in November 1959. Soon afterwards it entered the album charts where it remained for 81 weeks, peaking at # 4. It remains to this day as Francis' most successful album release. [5]

Following the success of Connie Francis sings Italian Favorites, Francis recorded seven more albums of "Favorites" between 1960 and 1964, including Jewish, German and Irish Favorites, among others.

Track listing

Side A

# Title Songwriter Length
1. "Comm'è bella 'a stagione" Gigi Pisano, Rodolfo Falvo, George Brown 1.51
2. "Anema e core" Salvatore d'Esposito, Domenico Titomalino, Curtis Mann, Harry Akst 3.03
3. " Arrivederci Roma" Renato Rascel, Pietro Garinei, Sandro Giovannini, Carl Sigman 2.56
4. "Solo tu (You alone)" Robert Allen, Al Stillman 2.57
5. "Volare" Domenico Modugno, Franco Migliacci 3.19
6. "Non dimenticar" Gino Redi, Michele Galdieri, Shelly Dobbins 3.16
7. "Toward the End of the Day (Alla fine del dì)" Jeffrey Stillman 3.16

Side B

# Title Songwriter Length
1. " Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)" Domenico Modugno 2.52
2. "Mama" Cesare Andrea Bixio, Bixio Cherubini, Harold Barlow, Phil Brito 3.55
3. "Do You Love Me Like You Kiss Me (Scapricciatiello)" Pacifico Vento, Ferdinando Albano 2.39
4. "I Have But One Heart (O' Marenariello)" Gennaro Ottaviano, Salvatore Gambardella, Johnny Farrow, Marty Symes 3.33
5. "'O sole mio (There's No Tomorrow)" Eduardo di Capua, Giovanni Capurro 2.56
6. " Santa Lucia" traditional, transcription by Teodoro Cottrau 3.12
7. "Torna a Surriento (Come back to Sorrento)" Ernesto De Curtis, Giambattista De Curtis 2.49

Not included songs from the sessions

# Title Songwriter Length Remark
1. " Volare" Domenico Modugno, Franco Migliacci unknown alternate version with different arrangement and tempo, unreleased to this day

References

  1. ^ Connie Francis: Who's sorry now, St. Martin's Press, London 1984
  2. ^ as above
  3. ^ Ron Roberts: Connie Francis Discography 1955–1975
  4. ^ William Ruhlmann: Connie Francis 1955–1959, supplement to 5 CD Boxed Set White Sox, Pink Lipstick… and Stupid Cupid, Bear Family Records BCD 16 616 EI, Hambergen (Germany) 1993
  5. ^ Connie Francis: Souvenirs, Booklet of 4-CD-Box, Polydor 1996, Cat.-No. 314 533 382-2
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