On October 28, 1962, while France was awaiting the result of the referendum on the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage, a very shy young woman appeared on television. “All the boys and girls my age/Walk in the street two by two,” sings Françoise Hardy on the evening of General de Gaulle’s referendum success. A youth idol is launched. “A generation has found itself a mirror”, writes Bertrand Dicale in his Dictionary for lovers of French song.
Françoise Hardy, who died on June 11, 2024, had been battling cancer for twenty years. This activist for the right to euthanasia retained all her liveliness and outspokenness. “Given my poor state of health, if I have to pass to the other side in 2024, I would like, like everyone, for it to be quick and not too painful,” she confided to Parisian, on January 17, 2024, his 80th birthday. A host of artists, led by musician Sage, celebrated this anniversary with a concert shortly after to underline everything that French pop owes to him.
Françoise Hardy, born January 17, 1944 in Paris, embodies this post-war generation, which shone young and remained at the top of the bill for a long time. At 18, she sold more records than Callas. At 80, his voice still counted in the French debate, with his latest positions on the end of life. His death arouses great emotion.
Shy but determined, on edge but prosaic, Françoise Hardy was disconcerting with her frankness. Capable, during the same conversation, of strong annoyances and intimate confidences, speaking without taboo, retaliating tit for tat. “Icon, you say it!” I never think about it,” she said to the author of these lines during an interview for The cross in 2017. “I was a singing star but I always lived as if nothing had happened. If I had paid attention to such things, I would never have been able to live completely normally. »
The poems of Bob Dylan, the gold dress of Paco Rabanne
This shady simplicity adds to its radiance. Jean Gabin nicknames her “the discreet one”. In the eyes of Mick Jagger, sheEast ” the perfect woman “. Bob Dylan, during a very rowdy concert in 1966 in Paris, demanded that she come see him at intermission, otherwise he would not return on stage. Good little soldier, Françoise complies. “He was in very bad shape physically. But as I went to see him, he did his second part, that’s it. » In gratitude, Dylan writes him poems.
The photographs of Jean-Marie Périer, his first companion, model his image as a pop icon. Embodying French style, dressed by Courrèges or Saint Laurent, her glamor shines in a gold dress designed for her by Paco Rabanne, a fashion jewel that has become legendary.
“With each song, hear a romance in the music”
In song, she invents her own style, intimate, romantic and yet modern, in a pop spirit. Patrick Modiano, Serge Gainsbourg and Michel Berger write titles for him. She in turn writes for others. Hazed by Mireille at her beginnings in her Small conservatory, Françoise Hardy never found it easy to sing or perform in public, unlike Jacques Dutronc, the man of her life, to whom she remained linked by great tenderness. “I don’t think I invented anything. Jacques brings a different style. I, like all the singers of the yé-yé wave, am part of a tradition of French song and English pop,” she explained.
“All sentimental and introverted singers are inclined towards the same kind of music as me”, added Françoise Hardy who loved sad songs and Cora Vaucaire, thinking that it was necessary, “with each song, hear a romance in the music”. Among his most beautifulThe time of love (1962)My friend the Rose (1964), How to say goodbye to you (by Gainsbourg in 1968), Personal message (by Michel Berger in 1973), So many beautiful things (written for her son Thomas in 2004 when she thought she was dying). “We are attracted to these titles, because intellectually, we hear an inner emotional problem there,” she analyzed.
Invited by Bob Dylan to the legendary Isle of Wight Festival in 1969, Françoise Hardy was one of the rare French singers to enjoy great international success, especially as she sang very well in English and German: In the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Japan, she placed several songs at the top of the charts. Her impressive beauty and elegance earned her some small roles in the cinema, particularly in Grand Prix by John Frankenheimer.
From astrology to meditation and prayer groups
Raised in the Catholic tradition, Françoise Hardy said she was convinced of the existence “of a creative principle or of a God”. After a passion for astrology in the 1980s, she indulged in meditation every day at the end of her life, admiring “two great souls, Jesus and Buddha”. Admitting to having “a spirituality that seems very irrational”, she participated in prayer groups after having been helped by them when, very ill, she had plunged into a coma.
A great reader, with a preference for English romantic literature, she wrote several books of secrets, including her autobiography The Despair of the Apes… and other trifles. More than anything, passionate about music, Françoise Hardy guided many artists with her very sure taste – in particular her friend Étienne Daho – and inspired all the young guard of French-speaking pop, Keren Ann and Alex Beaupain, Olivia Ruiz and Julien Doré , La Grande Sophie and Mika, Élodie Frégé and Benjamin Biolay… It was also not uncommon to see, always discreet, this lover of the piano and chamber music in the classical rooms.
Thomas Dutronc, a “Frenchy” charm
Born in 1973 from her love affair with Jacques Dutronc, her son Thomas represented what she held most dear. She was inexhaustible about the guitarist and singer, her greatest Source of pride. “Thomas, on stage, it’s very diverse: there are talented instrumentals, gypsy jazz, he improvises sketches between songs. We never bother,” confided Françoise Hardy. Accepting for once, out of maternal pride, her status as a pop star, she added with conviction: “I’ve seen so many artists on stage in my life that I know Thomas’ music is good! »
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Some dates
January 17, 1944. Birth of Françoise Hardy in Paris.
October 28, 1962. Sung All the boys and girls (of my age) on television while awaiting the results of the referendum on the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage.
1962. The time of love.
1964. My friend the Rose.
1967. In a relationship with Jacques Dutronc.
1968. How to say goodbye to you, by Serge Gainsbourg and Surprise me, Benoît…!, by Patrick Modiano.
1969. Invited to the Isle of Wight Festival.
1971. Album The question.
1972. And if I leave before you, which she will sing in duet with Étienne Daho.
June 16, 1973. Birth of Thomas Dutronc.
1973. Personal message, by Michel Berger.
nineteen eighty one. Song Tamalou.
2004.So many beautiful things.
2008. Publishes his memoirs, The Despair of the Apes… and other trifles.
2010. Rain without an umbrella.
2012.Crazy Love.
2018.Nobody else28th and final album.
January 2024. Tribute concert for his 80th birthday.
June 11, 2024. Dies in Paris.
