“Who’s Sorry Now?” Legions of Connie Francis fans, that’s who, mourning the death of the singer whose signature tune that became. Francis herself hated the song, but it was her breakout hit from 1958, and she paid homage to its importance in her life and career by using the phrase to title her 1984 autobiography. Francis was translated to the celestial choir on 16 July 2025, aged 87.
Born Concetta Franconero, radio host Arthur Godfrey suggested she change it to something more pronounceable (and less ethnic), and she became Connie Francis. From 1958 through 1964, Francis was the most popular female vocalist in the US, the first woman to garner three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She sold more than 40 million records before she turned 25, and 16 of her songs went gold. She is best remembered for her 1960 megahit “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” and the title track from 1961’s “Where the Boys Are,” in which film she also appeared.
But what may have seemed like a charmed life from the outside was actually one stalked by tragedy. In 1967, a close friend was strangled to death in her home, and she underwent a cosmetic procedure meant to narrow her nose, but which damaged her ability to sing. Corrective surgery made matters worse, and she was effectively silenced until 1981, when, after three more surgeries, she regained her singing voice. This was shortly after her brother was gunned down in a gang-related shooting after testifying against the Mafia. Francis resumed performing, but by then the music world had left her far behind, though she enjoyed some recording success under her own label. She continued to sing at live venues into her 80s.
In 1974, she was beaten and raped at knifepoint in a Westbury, New York Howard Johnson’s motel. Francis later sued the company for poor security, and won a $2.5 million award, one of the largest in a rape case to that date. In 1984 she was misdiagnosed as manic depressive, and the prescribed drugs altered her metal state to the extent that she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and attempted suicide, remaining in a coma for several days.
She married and divorced four times, most unions lasting under a year. She had no children, but adopted a baby boy during her third marriage.
Born 12 December 1937 at 7:28 AM EST in Newark, NJ (Rodden Rating AA), Connie Francis’ lifepath was laid out plainly, with her 20 Sagittarius Sun in a Thor’s Hammer (a “fated” pattern similar to a Yod), sesquiquadrate to asteroid Singer 10698 with Uranus at 12 and 10 Taurus, and asteroid Francis at 6 Leo. Francis is at station, signaling an outsized importance in her bio, which, as her surname of choice, certainly qualifies. The Sun squared Saturn at 28 Pisces signals a hard-knock life, but a semisquare to Singer from Saturn cements a career (Saturn) as a vocalist (Singer).
There are no asteroid markers for her given names of Concetta and Franconero, but the adoptive ones conform to the typical PNA (Personal-Named Asteroid) placement of interaction with the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Mercury (as ruling the naming function), with Francis sesquiquadrate both the Sun and her 22 Sagittarius Ascendant, as well as trine the 8 Aries Moon; and asteroid Conniewalker 29292 at 11 Cancer (the only PNA to begin with “Connie”) opposing her 10 Capricorn Mercury and squared the Moon.
Francis had a prominent asteroid Melpomene 18, named for the Greek Muse of tragedy, which may help to explain the more calamitous aspects of her biography. At 1 Libra, Melpomene is the most elevated point in the chart, just past the Midheaven, conjoined asteroid Nemesis 128 at 28 Pisces (ruin and undoing) and opposed both Saturn (hardship) and the Moon.
Two minor bodies that resonate to issues of rape and sexual battery or abuse are asteroid Aristaeus 2135 and centaur Nessus 7066. Aristaeus is named for the pursuer and would-be rapist of the hapless Eurydice, who fled his unwelcome embrace only to trod upon a poisonous serpent and die. Nessus is named for the centaur who attempted to rape Heracles’ wife Deianira after giving her a piggyback ride across a flooded river, whereupon Heracles shot and killed him with an arrow from the far bank.
Asteroid Aristaeus at 2 Aquarius widely conjoins asteroid Howard 12561 at 11 Aquarius and squares centaur Nessus at 27 Aries. With Nessus also semisquare asteroid Johnson 5905 at 13 Pisces, we see both names of the Howard Johnson’s rape venue tied to energies representing that criminal act. Asteroid Howard also conjoins asteroid Beate 1043 at 17 Aquarius, for the beating inflicted in that attack, and Beate in turn conjoins Mars, ruling sex, violence and attacks, at 23 Aquarius. Aristaeus opposes both asteroid Frances at 6 Leo, sparking a personal connection, and Pluto at 29 Capricorn, also associated with rape, as the abductor and seducer of Persephone.
When Connie Francis died on 16 July 2025, a precise Grand Trine pertained, of Pluto at 2 Aquarius, modern ruler of death, exactly trined both asteroids Francis at 2 Gemini and Conniewalker at 2 Libra. Francis is accompanied by asteroid Anubis 1912 at 29 Taurus (named for the Egyptian deity govern funerary rites). This pattern becomes a Kite twice over, with oppositions from Pluto to “Strings” formed by asteroids Lachesis 120 (named for the Greek Fate who determines the span of life) and Requiem 2254 (named for the funeral mass for the dead) at 6 and 10 Leo; and from Conniewalker to Saturn (ancient lord of death) with Neptune (music) at 1 and 2 Aries. That Pluto-Lachesis/Requiem opposition also forms a T-Square with asteroid Singer at 8 Taurus, affirming the death of the songstress.
Connections from the transit sky to natal death indicators include transit Lachesis exactly conjunct natal Francis at 6 Leo; the transit Sun at 24 Cancer exactly sextile natal Anubis at 24 Virgo; transit Saturn at 1 Aries exactly opposed natal Lachesis at 1 Libra; transit Anubis at 29 Taurus sextile natal Saturn at 28 Pisces; transit asteroid Atropos 273 (named for the Greek Fate who severs the thread of life at death) at 10 Virgo opposed natal asteroid Osiris 1923 (named for the Egyptian god of the dead) at 14 Pisces; transit asteroid Rip 7711 (“RIP”) at 14 Capricorn conjunct natal Conniewalker at 11 Cap; transit Pluto at 2 Aquarius conjunct natal Requiem at 28 Capricorn; transit Osiris at 19 Taurus opposed natal Rip at 16 Scorpio; and transit Requiem at 10 Leo squared natal Singer at 12 Taurus.
Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, whose website AlexAsteroidAstrology.com offers a trove of info on the role of asteroids in personal and mundane astrology. He is the author of The Black Hole Book (available on Amazon.com) and The Urban Wicca, former editor of “The Galactic Calendar,” and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society. His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one. Alex’s books and writings are available on his website. Alex can also be reached for comment or services at .
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