Connie Francis' loved ones were "expecting" her death

Ron told People magazine: "We were expecting it, unfortunately ... they couldn't locate where the pain was exactly."

Connie had though it was just trouble with her hip "that she'd been having for some time."

The 'Who's Sorry Now?' singer had maintained a positive attitude until the end.

Hailing Connie a "fighter", Ron said: "It's been two months of the most extreme high then the most extreme low."

The singer was able to leave hospital for a few days before her death but she began to "deteriorate" and was unconscious for at least the final two days of her life.

Ron said: "She slipped away peacefully."

Of the final time they spoke, he added: "She was obviously in pain and she was very weak. She'd been in hospital a good week by that time. She was tired. [Having all the tests done] is debilitating."

Despite her declining health, Connie had been cheered in recent months due to her 1962 track Pretty Little Baby taking TikTok by storm.

Ron said: "That is the incredible story, I think: That she left this world as big a star [as she ever was]."

Asked how Connie would like to be remembered, her friend thinks she would be happy with the line: "I hope I did okay."

He added: "She'd get a kick out of seeing that [written]."

Connie - whose real name was Concetta Franconero - rose to fame in the 1950s and scored a number of chart hits including Stupid Cupid, Lipstick on Your Collar, Who's Sorry Now, and Where the Boys Are.

Her cover of Who's Sorry Now helped propel her to fame after it was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in 1958 and it went on to sell more than a million copies and score her a number one hit in the UK.

Connie's career went into decline in the late 1960 and the following decade was blighted by a number of personal tragedies.

She was raped in a Long Island motel room in 1974 and three years later, she temporarily lost her voice after undergoing nasal surgery.

Connie attempted to stage a career comeback in 1981, but her brother George was murdered by the mafia and her work was hindered by mental health struggles, with her father having her committed to multiple psychiatric facilities.

Away from the spotlight, the singer was married four times, but just one of her unions lasted longer than a year.

Her 1964 marriage to Dick Kanellis ended after five months, with her second, to Izzy Marion in 1971, ending in divorce 10 months later.

Connie's longest marriage was her third, to Joseph Garzilli - with whom she adopted son Joseph Jr. - and lasted from 1973 until 1977. Her fourth union, with Bob Parkinson in 1985, also lasted just a few months.