Forever No. 1: Connie Francis’ ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool’

Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Connie Francis, whose infectious 1960 smash “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” — the first of her three No. 1s on the Hot 100 — was the first song by a female solo artist to top the chart. Francis died on Wednesday (July 16) at age 87.

Connie Francis’ “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” may be the cheeriest-sounding song ever recorded about unrequited love. The peppy toe-tapper made history in June 1960, becoming the first song by a female solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100, which had been introduced nearly two years earlier.

Francis was born on Dec. 12, 1937, to an Italian-American couple in Newark, N.J. At 13, she appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, a top-rated TV variety show. Francis was just shy of 19 in December 1957 when she made her first appearance on a pre-Hot 100 Billboard pop chart with “The Majesty of Love,” a duet with Marvin Rainwater. The song peaked at No. 93. She landed her first big hit, a remake of the 1923 ballad “Who’s Sorry Now,” the following spring. It climbed all the way to No. 4.

Francis nearly became the first solo woman to top the Hot 100 in January 1959 when “My Happiness” (a cover of another vintage ballad, from 1948) peaked at No. 2. It was kept from the top spot by a classic, The Platters’ doo-wop remake of the standard “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” In November of that year, Della Reese nearly was first to the honors  when her torchy ballad “Don’t You Know” also peaked at No. 2, again stopped by a classic – Bobby Darin’s version of “Mack the Knife.”

Francis would simply not be stopped with “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.” The song opens with an organ solo, which gives it a distinctive sound. It has a steady beat, a pleasing shuffle arrangement and a pronounced country/pop sound.  Francis, who was just 21 when she recorded the song, sings with youthful zest.

The song has an unusual lyrical thrust — she’s staying in a bad relationship, reasoning “I’d be twice as blue without you” and “Though I’m a fool/at least I know the score.” (This is not the most clear-headed logic, but we’ve all been there.) The song is similar to Guy Mitchell’s “Heartaches by the Number,” a No. 1 hit in November 1959, both in the way its jaunty melody belies its heartache theme, and in its overall country/pop sound.

The lines “And there are no exceptions to the rule / Yes, everybody’s somebody’s fool” were recycled almost word-for-word in The Main Ingredient’s 1972 hit “Everybody Plays the Fool.” (Of course, the exact title of Francis’ song was itself recycled from a different song that Lionel Hampton recorded in 1950 – and which Michael Jackson covered on his 1972 album Ben.)

“Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” was the top new entry on the Hot 100 at No. 52 in the issue dated May 9, 1960. In the June 13-dated issue, it reached No. 2, matching “My Happiness” as Francis’ highest-charting hit to that point. It remained in that position the following week, making it seem like she might just miss out on a No. 1 again. But in the issue dated June 27, in its eighth week on the chart, Francis bumped the Everly Brothers out of the top spot, after five weeks on top with their smash “Cathy’s Clown.” She remained in pole position for a second week, before she was dethroned by Hollywood Argyles’ “Alley-Oop.”

Francis’ version of “Fool” also reached No. 24 on Hot C&W Sides – C&W standing for Country & Western. (The chart name was modernized to Hot Country Singles in November 1962; today, it’s Hot Country Songs.)

Many country artists have since covered the song. Country legend Ernest Tubb had an even higher-charting country hit with the song in 1960. His version, produced by the great Owen Bradley, reached No. 16 on Hot C&W Sides. Debby Boone – daughter of Pat Boone, a contemporary of Francis on the pop charts in the late ’50s and early ’60s, took it to No. 48 in 1979 on what was then called Hot Country Singles. (Debby Boone had previously had country hits with covers of two other Francis hits, “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You”). The song also appeared on Billboard 200-charting albums by instrumentalist Billy Vaughn (in a country arrangement), Jody Miller and Marie Osmond. Loretta Lynn and Lynn Anderson, among others, also took a crack at it.

According to lore, “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” was originally intended to be the B-side of Francis’ Italian-language ballad “Jealous of You (Tango Della Gelosia).” That’s plausible: Francis’ previous single release, “Mama,” which made No. 8 on the Hot 100, had been an Italian ballad.  And Francis had reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in March 1960 with Italian Favorites, her first of four chart albums sung in Italian.

We should be glad that “Fool” got the push instead, because it’s an irresistible pop confection; a one-listen smash. (“Jealous of You,” released as the B side of “Fool,” reached No. 19 on the Hot 100.)

A polka-style version of “Fool,” recorded by Francis in German, was a smash in what was then West Germany. The song was titled “Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel.”

Francis’ follow-up single, “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own,” also topped the Hot 100, making Francis the first female solo artist to land two No. 1 hits. Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller co-wrote both songs. Greenfield had co-written three earlier Francis hits – “Stupid Cupid,” “Fallin’ ” and “Frankie” – with his usual collaborator, Neil Sedaka. Greenfield and Sedaka would go on to write “Where the Boys Are,” the title song to the 1960 movie in which Francis co-starred. The ballad became one of her signature hits.

Greenfield and Sedaka went on to co-write two more No. 1s with for other artists – Sedaka’s 1962 smash “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” (1962) and Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” (1975). These Francis hits were Keller’s only No. 1 hits. The two songwriters also composed pitch-perfect theme songs for two sitcoms that debuted within a year of each other – Bewitched (1964) and Gidget (1965). 

Francis topped the Hot 100 for a third and final time in March 1962 with “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.” She was the only female solo artist with three No. 1 hits in the ’60s. She stood alone as the only female solo artist with three Hot 100 No. 1s until Cher nabbed her third No. 1 with “Dark Lady” in March 1974.

Francis had 14 Hot 100 top 10 hits, the last being “Vacation” in September 1962. (This tally doesn’t count the pre-Hot 100 smash “Who’s Sorry Now.”) Those 14 top 10s constituted the record among solo women artists until Aretha Franklin’s “Freeway of Love” became the Queen of Soul’s 15th top 10 Hot 100 hit in August 1985.

Francis never received a Grammy nomination and has never even been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But while such institutional honors never came her way, she was beloved by fans. “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” is one of the best indications of why.