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Tony Bennett, Connie Francis, Barbara Jordan, George Hamilton IV

I would love to know where I could write to Tony Bennett.
-Margaret S., Arizona

You can write to him c/o RPM Music Productions, 130 West 57th St., Suite 9D, New York, NY 10019. The 78-year-old crooner, who Frank Sinatra once called "the best singer in the business," has a new album titled The Art of Romance. The record is all about love and includes a song called All For You, with lyrics written by Bennett (a first for him), to the melody of the instrumental jazz standard, Nuage.

Please tell me everything you can about singer Connie Francis.
-Gilbert A., New York

The sweet-voiced native of Newark, N.J., started out as a child performer, playing the accordion while singing. That won her a spot on a New York City TV children's talent show, which led to a long career-minus the accordion. Francis didn't miss the bulky instrument. "It died in a flood in my basement in 1967," she recalls. "And I threw a big party that night." A teen sensation starting with the 1958 hit Who's Sorry Now?, Francis went on to a stellar singing career in rock and pop music. She still tours today and is putting together a live CD of her performances. Now 66, she lives in Parkland, Fla. (pop. 13,835), and spends her spare time "shopping, shopping, shopping. I have a black belt in shopping!" says Francis, who has one son.

What can you tell me about Barbara Jordan, who passed away Jan. 17, 1996?
-Ida M., Illinois

Her eloquence as keynote speaker at the 1976 Democratic National Convention made Jordan a nationwide political star. But her fellow Texans knew of her strength and passion for many years before then. Born in Houston, Jordan excelled in school, graduating from Texas Southern University and Boston University's law school. After passing the bar exam, she spent a year teaching at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, then returned to Houston to set up her own law practice. She first got involved in politics there, helping to register black voters before the 1960 presidential election, and eventually went on to become a state senator in Texas. In 1973, she was elected to the House of Representatives, and she made quite an impression during the 1974 Watergate hearings. She retired from politics in 1979 to teach. She delivered another keynote address at the 1992 Democratic Convention and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. She died at age 59 from pneumonia.

Whatever happened to country singer George Hamilton IV?
-Judy W., Ohio

Dubbed the International Ambassador of Country Music after being the first American country artist to perform behind the Iron Curtain in 1974, the native of Winston-Salem, N.C., still performs all over the world. Known for songs such as Abilene and A Rose and a Baby Ruth, he recently won the British Country Music Association's International Artist Award. "People, especially in the British Isles and Ireland, react very warmly to country music because the roots of it are over there," says Hamilton, 67. "It sprang from the folk songs and ballads of the Celtic areas and came over with the Pilgrims and early settlers. So when we play there, we're really taking the music back home." Hamilton and his wife live outside of Nashville, Tenn., and he enjoys movies, reading and listening to all kinds of music.

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