POP/ROCK - May 30, 1989

Singer Connie Francis, whose meteoric career in the 1950s and ‘60s crashed in a series of personal tragedies, returned to the Las Vegas stage last weekend and thanked fans who have stood by her over the years. “You’ve always let me know you were there, in good times and bad, and for that I’ll always love you,” Francis, 50, told a cheering crowd. The audience at the Aladdin Theatre gave her several standing ovations. In 1974, Francis was raped and terrorized at knifepoint in her motel room. In 1977, she underwent surgery that ruined her singing voice until the problem was corrected years later. Career problems, three failed marriages and the death of her brother, who was gunned down outside his New Jersey home, led to emotional problems that required hospitalization on occasion until six months ago.