The last farewell to Françoise Hardy

How do you say goodbye? Françoise Hardy, who made her name in the 1960s with the hit ‘Tous les garçons et les filles’, has died aged 80. The elegant singer and icon of the sixties has left this world, as H24 MEDIA has learned from those close to her. The Frenchwoman with the iconic, timeless style and leading face of the yé-yé movement was 80.

On social networks, her son Thomas Dutronc shared a photo of himself as a child next to his mother, with a short message: ‘Maman est partie.’

The former companion of Jacques Dutronc, to whom we owe French variety hits such as ‘Tous les garçons et les filles’, ‘Le temps de l’amour’, and ‘Message Personnel’, had announced in June 2019 on RTL that she was suffering from a new cancer. A regular source of news, Françoise Hardy declared last March that she would ‘never be able to sing again’.

“I’ve been deprived of saliva for three years by 45 sessions of radiotherapy, and I’m constantly in respiratory distress, choking and suffocating, not to mention the endless nasal haemorrhages. I’m not afraid of dying, but I’m very, very afraid of suffering, especially as that’s already the case”, she described.

A long battle against illness

She had battled lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, for many years. In 2015, in the midst of chemotherapy, after a fall and a period in an induced coma, the singer confided:

‘I don’t know what finally made me come back to life (…) It’s very strange because, at the same time, I think it would have been consistent for me to have died at that point (…) I feel like I professionally did everything I could do.’

She returned to music with the album ‘Personne d’autre’ in 2018 – the 28th of her career – from which is extracted the song in the form of a farewell ‘Le Large’, signed by La Grande Sophie.

A career that began at the Petit Conservatoire de la Chanson

For Françoise Hardy, it all began at Mireille’s Petit Conservatoire de la Chanson in 1961. A child of the end of the Second World War, Françoise Hardy was born on 17 January 1944 in Paris. Brought up by her mother and grandmother, with her father absent, the young girl, with her sickly shyness, spent a solitary and melancholy childhood, despite the presence of her little sister Michèle.

Teased by her grandmother, who thought she was too tall and skinny, Françoise took refuge in reading and music, dreaming of a life as an artist. After passing her baccalauréat in 1961, all she wanted was a guitar. Self-taught, she learnt a few chords and began singing lessons at the conservatoire. At the age of 17, she landed a contract with the Vogue record label.

Her first single, ‘Tous les garçons et les filles’, released in April 1962, sold over two million copies. Despite her shyness, she took part in the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘L’amour s’en va’, placing fifth but revealing herself to the whole world.

A fashion and music icon

Françoise Hardy quickly established herself as a youth idol. Dressed by the most fashionable designers, from André Courrèges to Paco Rabanne, she became a fashion reference in the 1960s.

Before meeting Jacques Dutronc, the great love of her life, Françoise Hardy was engaged to photographer Jean-Marie Perrier. Their five-year relationship was followed by her meeting Jacques Dutronc in 1967. She gave birth to their son, Thomas, in 1973.Their relationship, though complicated, inspired several of her songs, such as ‘Rendez-vous dans une autre vie’ and ‘Personne d’autre’.

A career marked by prestigious collaborations

She has recorded duets with Etienne Daho, Iggy Pop and Jacques Dutronc, and written for Jean-Pierre Mader, Julien Clerc and others. Her 2006 album of duets, Parenthèses, includes collaborations with Alain Bashung, Julio Iglesias, Alain Souchon, and Benjamin Biolay.

At the end of the 1960s, Françoise Hardy decided to stop performing. She concentrated on recording in the studio, bringing up her son, and her passion for astrology, writing several books on the subject. Her latest album, ‘Personne d’autre’, released in 2018, contains a song with a premonitory title, ‘Le Large’.

Françoise Hardy’s voice has fallen silent, but her songs continue to resonate, leaving a timeless legacy on the French musical landscape.