The death has taken place of legendary French singer-songwriter, actress and fashion muse Françoise Hardy at the age of eighty. Renowned for her clear alto voice, beautiful looks and androgynous appeal, she encapsulated the French chanteuse of the Sixties, breaking through with a music clip of Tous les garcons et les filles shot by Claude Lelouch broadcast during the 1962 presidential election results. She was truly an idol of that yé-yé era yet stood apart because she wrote her own material and was quick to update her recording style. Her audience expanded when she made albums in London, with Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger just two of her famous admirers. She was an uncompromising talent whose increasingly complex song structures marked her out and she also recorded songs by producers and other songwriters like Serge Gainsbourg. Her interests expanded to other kinds of writing, publishing both fiction and non-fiction books, and she was a well-known astrologer. She was a fashion designer’s dream and worked with Cardin, Courreges and Saint Laurent among others, transformed by photographer Jean-Marie Périer into an international celebrity and pinup wearing futurist fashion despite innate shyness and such crippling stage fright that she stopped performing live in 1968. She collaborated on several records with her husband, fellow actor and singer-songwriter Jacques Dutronc but was eventually forced to retire due to ill-health. Their son Thomas announced her death. Her influence has been wide-ranging and she is simply unforgettable as a performer, writer and enduring cultural icon who touched so many hearts with her songs of longing and loneliness. Repose en paix, Françoise.
mondomovies 