Iconic 1960s French singer Francoise Hardy dies aged 80 after a long battle with cancer
Legendary French singer Françoise Hardy has died at the age of 80, her son said on Tuesday.
Thomas DuTronc said in a simple post on Instagram tonight: “Mommy is gone.”
Hardy, known worldwide for her crystal clear voice and melancholic lyrics, has suffered from various types of cancer since 2004, including lymphoma and larynx.
She broke through at the age of 18 with her first hit “Tous les Garcons et les Filles” (“All the Boys and Girls”) in 1962, and helped found the ye-ye movement, a pop-inspired cultural movement that embraced British and American music. rock in the sixties.
Hardy was the only French artist to appear in a 2023 ranking of the greatest singers ever published by Rolling Stone magazine.
Legendary French singer Francoise Hardy (pictured) has died at the age of 80, her son said on Tuesday
Since her diagnosis, her life has been marred by illness, at one point falling into an induced coma
Hardy, known worldwide for her crystal clear voice and melancholic lyrics, has suffered from various types of cancer since 2004, including lymphoma and larynx.
As one of the most important cultural icons of the 1960s, she collaborated with Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Salvador Dali, among others.
In addition, she collaborated with songwriters such as Serge Gainsbourg, Patrick Modiano, Michel Berger and Catherine Lara.
She visited London regularly at the height of the Swinging Sixties and admitted that she felt much better in Britain than she ever did in France.
Hardy told the Daily Mail in 2011: ‘From the moment I went to England I felt more confident. In France I had the image of a shy girl – a poor, lonely girl and not very pretty.
‘When I went to England, I had a different image. I had the feeling that the journalists were much more interested in my appearance than in my songs.’
In addition to her songwriting, she was also sought after as a model, with Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne both personally making outfits for her.
she worked with songwriters such as Serge Gainsbourg, Patrick Modiano, Michel Berger and Catherine Lara
In addition to her songwriting, she was also sought after as a model
Hardy co-starred with Antonio Sabato in the 1966 film Grand Prix (photo)
She also graced the silver screen, starring in a string of films in quick succession, including Castle in Sweden (1963), A Bullet in the Heart (1965) and Grand Prix (1966).
Her last film was If it had to be done again (1976) by Claude Lelouch, in which she played herself.
Castle in Sweden (1963). Then A Bullet in the Heart (1965) by Jean-Daniel Pollet and Grand Prix (1966) by John Frankenheimer. She appears briefly in What’s New, Pussycat? (Cliver Donner, 1965),
Paris Match magazine quoted her last year as saying she wanted to “go fast and quickly, without much suffering.”
She was a leading advocate for assisted suicide toward the end of her life
Hardy grew up in post-war Paris as an anxious child with a complex family situation, she told the Daily Mail in 2011
She revealed that her grandmother constantly undermined the way she looked growing up
As one of the most important cultural icons of the 1960s, she collaborated with Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Salvador Dali, among others.
Since her diagnosis, her life has been marred by illness, at one point falling into an induced coma. Her life was saved at the time by a new form of radiation.
She was a leading advocate for assisted suicide near the end of her life, telling the magazine it was “inhumane” for France not to legalize the controversial procedure.
‘It is not up to doctors to grant every request, but to shorten the unnecessary suffering of an incurable disease from the moment it becomes unbearable.’
She joked at the time that while she would have happily chosen to end her life, “given my low profile, no one will want to risk being removed from the medical establishment anymore.”
In one of her last interviews before her death, she said the only thing she would miss was her son.
She told Le Parisien: ‘I think above all of the immense sadness of leaving my son, of hurting him.
‘But I would much rather die than suffer unbearable conditions for a long time. And I always have the idea in the back of my mind that something more will follow.’
Hardy grew up in post-war Paris as an anxious child with a complex family situation, she told the Daily Mail in 2011.
Hardy shoulder to shoulder with Mick Jagger in 1967 (photo)
Jane Birkin and Francoise Hardy during a fashion shoot in 1974
The result of a torrid affair between a young woman and an already married man twenty years older than her. Her parents raised her separately – her mother worked long hours to put food on the table, while her father rarely visited, although he insisted that her mother pays for Françoise to attend convent school.
She revealed that her grandmother constantly undermined the way she looked growing up.
‘She had told me all my childhood that I was ugly and that I was the worst creature on earth. I was afraid that I would never meet anyone and that I would become a nun,” she recalled at the time.
Tributes to the iconic singer are already starting to pour in.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said in a message to X: “How do you say goodbye to her? Eternal Françoise Hardy, legend of French song, who entered the heart of an entire country through her sensitivity and her melodies.
‘I send my warmest thoughts to Thomas Dutronc, her son, her family and her loved ones.’
More to follow.