Françoise Hardy, whose elegance and beautifully lilting voice made her one of France’s most successful pop stars, has died aged 80.
Her death was reported by her son, fellow musician Thomas Dutronc, who wrote “Maman est partie” (or in English, “mum is gone”) on Instagram, alongside a baby photo of himself and Hardy.
Hardy had been battling lymphatic cancer since 2004, undergoing years of radiotherapy and other treatments.
In 2015, she was briefly placed in an induced coma after her condition worsened, and she faced issues with speech, swallowing, and respiration in the subsequent years.
In 2021, she advocated for euthanasia, criticizing France for not allowing the procedure, calling it “inhuman.”
Hardy was born during an air raid in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944 and was raised in the city, primarily by her mother.
At 16, she received her first guitar as a gift and began writing her own songs, performing them live and auditioning for record labels. In 1961, she signed with Disques Vogue.
Francoise Hardy in 1960 (Credits: Getty)
Influenced by the French chanson style of crooned ballads and the emerging edgier styles of pop and rock’n’roll, Hardy became a key figure in the yé-yé style that dominated mid-century French music.
This style was named after the tendency of English-language bands of the time to chant “yeah,” and Hardy contributed to its coinage: an early song, “La Fille Avec Toi,” began with the English words: “Oh, oh, yeah, yeah.”
The self-penned ballad “Tous les garçons et les filles” was her breakthrough in 1962, selling more than 2.5 million copies.
It topped the French charts, as did early singles “Je Suis D’Accord” and “Le Temps de L’Amour.” In 1963, Hardy represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest and finished fifth.
Her growing European fame led her to rerecord her repertoire in multiple languages, including English. Her 1964 song “All Over the World,” translated from “Dans le Monde Entier,” became her only UK Top 20 hit, but her fame endured in France, Italy, and Germany.
In 1968, “Comment te Dire Adieu,” a version of “It Hurts to Say Goodbye” (originally made famous by Vera Lynn) with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, became one of her biggest hits.
Hardy’s beauty and deft aesthetic, which included cleanly silhouetted tailoring alongside more casual looks, like knitwear and rock-leaning denim and leather, defined the effortless cool of 20th-century French style.
Francoise Hardy in 2012 (Credits: Serge Benhamou/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)
She became a muse to designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne, and was frequently photographed by the likes of Richard Avedon, David Bailey, and William Klein. Later, designer Rei Kawakubo would name her label Comme des Garçons after a line in a Hardy song.
Hardy was admired by many male stars of 60s pop, including the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. Bob Dylan wrote a poem about her for the liner notes of his 1964 album “Another Side of Bob Dylan,” beginning: “For Françoise Hardy, at the Seine’s edge, a giant shadow of Notre Dame seeks t’ grab my foot …”
She was also pursued by directors, appearing in films by Jean-Luc Godard, Roger Vadim, John Frankenheimer, and more.
Hardy left Disques Vogue amid financial disputes and signed a three-year deal with Sonopresse in 1970.
This creatively rich period saw her collaborate with Brazilian musician Tuca on 1971’s highly acclaimed “La Question,” and continue her multi-lingual releases. However, by the end of the contract, her stardom had waned, and it was not renewed.
She spent the mid-1970s primarily focused on raising her son Thomas with her partner, musician and actor Jacques Dutronc. Releases resumed with 1977’s “Star,” and Hardy embraced—though not always enthusiastically—the sounds of funk, disco, and electronic pop.
A longer hiatus in the 1980s was punctuated by 1988’s “Décalages,” billed as her final album, though she returned in 1996 with “Le Danger,” switching her palette to moody contemporary rock. She released six further albums, concluding with “Personne D’Autre” in 2018.
Having first met in 1967, she and Jacques Dutronc married in 1981—“an uninteresting formality,” she later said of marriage in general—and separated in 1988, though they remained friends. She is survived by him and their son.
