''My Thanks to You'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

recorded by American entertainer

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

. The album features songs which had been popular on both sides of the Atlantic between the 1920s and the 1940s. It was recorded March 4–6, 1959, at

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

's famous

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

in London.

Background

During the sessions, Francis recorded two versions of the song ''I'll Close My Eyes'', written by Billy Reid and

Buddy Kaye Jules Leonard "Buddy" Kaye (January 3, 1918 – November 21, 2002) was an American songwriter, lyricist, arranger, producer, and author. His songs were recorded by top performers, including Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washingto ...

. Both recordings share the same orchestral arrangement but different sets of lyrics, which are referred to as "American version" and "British version" for distinction. The British version was included on the album, while the American version remained unreleased until 1993.

Geoff Love Geoffrey Love (4 September 1917 – 8 July 1991) was a prolific British arranger and composer of easy listening and pop versions of film themes. He became famous in the late 1950s, playing under the pseudonym of Manuel and The Music of The Mou ...

and Tony Osborne, who both also appeared as conductors, provided arrangements in the style of British Light Music to make the album more appealing especially to British audiences, who had rewarded Francis with two No. 1 chart hits. '' Who's Sorry Now?'' and ''

Stupid Cupid "Stupid Cupid" is a song written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka which became a hit for Connie Francis in 1958. Recording history After almost three years of failure, Connie Francis finally had a hit in the spring of 1958 with a rock ballad ...

'' had reached the top in 1958, making her even more successful on the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an side of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

than in her native America, where both songs had peaked at No. 4 and No. 16 respectively. However, even with sophisticated singles such as '' My Happiness'' (a US No. 2 and a UK No. 4 for her in early 1959), Francis was still considered too much of a

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

singer to be also accepted as a performer of adult contemporary material; hence, the albums failed to make an impression on the charts. The album was re-packaged with a new cover design and re-released in March 1962.Connie Francis: ''Souvenirs'', Booklet of 4-CD-Box, Polydor 1996, Cat.-No. 314 533 382-2

Track listing

Side A

Side B

Unreleased songs from the sessions

References

{{Authority control Connie Francis albums 1959 albums MGM Records albums Albums conducted by Geoff Love Albums arranged by Geoff Love Albums produced by Norman Newell