Little Rock groupie 'Sweet Sweet Connie' of Grand Funk fame dies at 66

Little Rock groupie 'Sweet Sweet Connie' of Grand Funk fame dies at 66
Legacy lives on in band's tune
by Bill Bowden | Today at 7:30 a.m.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/aug/23/little-rock-groupie-sweet-sweet-connie-of-grand/

Arkansas' most famous rock 'n' roll groupie has died.

By all accounts, Connie Hamzy died Saturday at the age of 66. The funeral home didn't want to be quoted.

They said get details from the family. But Hamzy's parents preceded her in death, and she was an only child.

More distant relatives said they heard it through social media.

"Connie was a character," said Rita Ann Lawrence of Heber Springs, Hamzy's cousin. "She was very colorful. She was always in the news."

Hamzy had Grand Funk Railroad to thank for her fame.

She's mentioned in the first verse of their defining anthem "We're an American Band":

Out on the road for forty days
Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze
Sweet, sweet Connie, doin' her act
She had the whole show and that's a natural fact

Released in 1973, the song "We're an American Band" rose to No. 1 and remained on the Billboard chart for 17 weeks.

In her later years, Hamzy could be seen around Little Rock wearing a T-shirt that read "Grand Funk'd."

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I talked to her several times and she actually was a pretty cool person. My sister had classes with her at UALR and my sister really liked her too. I'd describe her personality as Earthy.