Francesca Rose Connolly is an English singer from Helmshore. She was a member of the groups Mini Viva, who had a No. 7 hit with "Left My Heart in Tokyo", and M.O, with whom she had a No. 18 hit with "Who Do You Think Of?".

Francesca Rose Connolly^[1] was born to Eddie and Lorraine,^[2] and has two older sisters,^[3] Natalie and Jade;^[4] both Natalie and their uncle were dentists in Rawtenstall. She grew up in Helmshore in Rossendale Valley in Lancashire,^[3] and attended All Saints' Catholic High School in Rawtenstall,^[4] before spending two months on a Business Access to Higher Education course at a college in Bury in Greater Manchester. Growing up, she idolised Beyoncé and Destiny's Child, and regularly attended their concerts; she also looked up to Mel B, as a successful Northerner. After dropping out of college, she formed an amateur girl band with two other members for fun.^[3]

In 2007, after Xenomania decided to form a band in response to Girls Aloud taking a year off,^[5] they contacted Connolly via her Myspace account, prompting her to attend an audition in London, where she met Britt Love, a singer from Newcastle upon Tyne, who she bonded with over their shared Northern roots.^[3] Their band name, Mini Viva, was a portmanteau of Love and Connolly's nicknames;^[6] the pair told the Lancashire Telegraph in September 2009 that Love acquired her nickname after wearing a Minnie Mousesque polka dot dress and that Connolly acquired hers after Love described her as bright and beautiful.^[7] Connolly then underwent her first singing lessons, having not taken any prior to being signed.^[3]

Mini Viva's singles "Left My Heart in Tokyo" and "I Wish" charted at numbers 7 and 73 on the UK Singles Chart,^[8] and the pair supported the Saturdays,^[9] Diversity,^[10] and Aggro Santos on tour.^[11] They announced their split in November 2010;^[12] Connolly later formed M.O in 2012 with Nadine Samuels and Annie Ashcroft of the girl group Duchess,^[13] taking their name from a lyric in "The Motto" by Drake.^[14] Between 2014 and 2016, the band supported Little Mix on their Salute Tour^[15] and entered the UK Singles Chart at numbers 49, 51, and 18 with "Dance On My Own", "Preach" and "Who Do You Think Of?",^[16] and then teamed up with Kent Jones for "Not in Love", which peaked at No. 42.^[17] Connolly left the band in June 2017; she was replaced by Chantal Benjalili, who had auditioned for the previous year's series of The X Factor.^[18]

As supporting act

• 2009: The Saturdays – The Work Tour (select dates)
• 2010: Diversity – UK tour