Françoise Madeleine Hardy (17 January 1944 – 11 June 2024) was a French singer-songwriter who was known for singing melancholic, sentimental ballads. Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure in French yé-yé music and became a cultural icon in France and internationally. In addition to her native French, she also sang in English, Italian, and German. Her musical career spanned more than 50 years, with over 30 studio albums released. She also represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963.
Hardy was born in the middle of an air raid in Nazi-occupied Paris, and raised in the city, mostly by her mother. Her younger sister, Michèle, was born eighteen months later. At the insistence of their father, the girls went to a Catholic school called Institution La Bruyère, under the tutelage of Trinitarian nuns. Between 1952 and 1960, Hardy and her sister were sent every summer to Austria to learn German, encouraged by her mother's new lover, an Austrian baron. Her father played piano and Hardy was introduced to piano lessons as a very young child, which she dropped after experiencing stage fright when she was required to perform on stage at the Salle Gaveau.
Aged 16, she received her first guitar as a present and began writing her own songs, performing them live and auditioning for record labels. In 1961, she signed with Disques Vogue. Inspired by the French chanson style of crooned ballads as well as the emerging edgier styles of pop and rock’n’roll, Hardy became a key part of the yé-yé style that dominated mid-century French music. It was named after the predilection for English-language bands of the time to chant “yeah”, and Hardy had a hand in 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, and sold more than 2.5m 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 meant she began rerecording 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 In 1968, Comment te Dire Adieu, a version of It Hurts to Say Goodbye (originally made famous by Vera Lynn) with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, became one of her biggest hits.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 encompassed cleanly silhouetted tailoring alongside more casual looks, including knitwear and rock-leaning denim and leather – defined the seeming effortlessness of 20th-century French cool. She became a muse to designers including Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne, and was also a frequent subject for fashion photography, shot 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 an object of adoration to 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 courted 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 record with Brazilian musician Tuca on 1971’s highly acclaimed La Question, and continue her multi-lingual releases, but by the contract’s end her stardom had waned and it was not renewed.
She spent the mid-1970s chiefly focused on raising her son, Thomas, with her partner, musician and actor Jacques Dutronc. Releases restarted with 1977’s Star, and Hardy embraced, although 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, ending with Personne D’Autre in 2018.
Hardy had lymphatic cancer since 2004, and had undergone years of radiotherapy and other treatments for the illness. In 2015, she was briefly placed in an induced coma after her condition worsened, and had issues with speech, swallowing and respiration in the following years. Francoise Hardy died of laryngeal cancer in Paris, on 11 June 2024, at the age of 80. Prior to her death she had also experienced several falls and bone fractures.
(Edited from John Henley obit @ The Guardian & Wikipedia)
2 comments:
For “Françoise Hardy – The Vogue Years (2001 Camden Deluxe)” go here;
https://pixeldrain.com/u/8P3t8py2
1-01 Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles 3:05
1-02 J'suis D'accord 2:00
1-03 Le Temps De L'amour 2:25
1-04 Ton Meilleur Ami 2:09
1-05 La Fille Avec Toi 2:37
1-06 L'amour S'en Va 2:24
1-07 Je Pense À Lui 2:17
1-08 Qui Aime-t-il Vraiment 2:09
1-09 Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour 1:53
1-10 Va Pas Prendre Un Tambour 2:46
1-11 J'aurais Voulu 2:12
1-12 Le Sais-Tu? 1:41
1-13 L'amour Ne Dure Pas Toujours 2:25
1-14 Pourtant Tu M'aimes 2:27
1-15 On Se Quitte Toujours 2:20
1-16 Tout Me Ramène À Toi 2:33
1-17 Apprends-le Moi 1:50
1-18 C'est Le Passé 1:48
1-19 Je N'attends Plus Personne 3:07
1-20 Pas Gentille 2:18
1-21 Et Même 2:15
1-22 Je Veux Qu'il Revienne 2:45
1-23 Mon Amie La Rose 2:17
1-24 La Nuit Est Sur La Ville 2:13
1-25 Nous Étions Amies 2:35
2-01 Dans Le Monde Entier 2:26
2-02 Dis-lui Non 2:35
2-03 Le Temps Des Souvenirs 2:30
2-04 J'ai Bien Du Chagrin 3:00
2-05 Bout De Lune 1:45
2-06 L'amitié 2:21
2-07 Ce Petit Coeur 2:07
2-08 Non Ce N'est Pas Un Rêve 2:58
2-09 Tout Ce Qu'on Dit 2:10
2-10 Il Se Fait Tard 1:40
2-11 Tu Peux Bien 1:50
2-12 Je T'aime 2:00
2-13 Quel Mal Y A-t-il À Ça? 2:35
2-14 La Maison Où J'ai Grandi 3:36
2-15 Rendez-Vous D'automne 2:38
2-16 Comme 1:55
2-17 Je Changerais D'avis 2:50
2-18 Peut-être Que Je T'aime 2:15
2-19 Si C'est Ça 2:05
2-20 Je Serai Là Pour Toi 2:20
2-21 Qu'ils Sont Heureux 2:20
2-22 Tu Es Un Peu À Moi 2:14
2-23 Voilà 3:18
2-24 Les Petits Garçons 2:51
2-25 Qui Peut Dire? 2:03
℗1962 Disc 1 Tracks 1 to 5
℗1963 Disc 1 Tracks 6 to 9, 11 to 13
℗1964 Disc 1 Tracks 10, 14 to 25
℗1965 Disc 2 Tracks 3 to 13
℗1966 Disc 2 Tracks 1, 2, 14 to 22
℗1967 Disc 2 Tracks 23 to 25
For “Françoise Hardy – Midnight Blues - Paris • London • 1968-72 (2013 Ace)” go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/Cay57uat
1 Song Of Winter 3:00
2 Magic Horse 3:05
3 Strange Shadows 2:08
4 All Because Of You 2:28
5 Suzanne 3:15
6 Sunshine 3:42
7 I Just Want To Be Alone 2:01
8 Times Passing By 2:04
9 Midnight Blues 1:49
10 In The Sky 2:08
11 Why Even Try 3:30
12 If You Listen 3:37
13 Ocean 3:50
14 Until It's Time For You To Go 3:00
15 The Garden Of Jane Delawney 3:36
16 Sometimes 3:11
17 Let My Name Be Sorrow 3:06
18 Brulure 2:59
19 Can't Get The One I Want 2:51
20 I Think It's Gonna Rain Today 2:42
21 Take My Hand For A While 3:02
22 Bown Bown Bown 3:53
23 Till The Morning Comes 1:31
24 Loving You 2:10
Tracks 1 to 11 are taken from the album English 3, 1969.
12 to 23 are taken from the album 4th English Album, 1972.
24 is taken from the album En Anglais, 1968.
A big thank you goes to Denis for suggesting today’s birthday singer and for the mp3’s below.
For “Francoise Hardy – The Second English Album (1968 World Record Co)” go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/xojLP23n
1. Loving You 2:05
2. Hang On To A Dream 2:10
3. Will You Love Me Tomorrow 2:35
4. Lonesome Town 2:05
5. Who Will Be The Next In Line? 2:10
6. Never Learn To Cry 2:40
7. There But For Fortune 3:10
8. That'll Be The Day 2:15
9. The Way Of Love 2:30
10. Tiny Goddess 3:00
11. Let It Be Me 2:40
12. Empty Sunday 2:25
This playlist was taken from the mp3 album “Best Of In English” (currently found on the streamers) which also used tracks from the Ace Records Midnight Blues CD. I have extracted the above mp3’s from the digital album and kept them in original LP sequence as these tracks are not included on the CD.
For “Françoise Hardy – Best Of 3CD (2009 EMI)” go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/wNb5bTCK
1-1 Amours Toujours, Tendresse, Caresses (with Jacques Dutronc)
1-2 La Rue Du Babouin (with Maurane)
1-3 Des Lendemains Qui Chantent (with Benjamin Biolay)
1-4 Soleil (with Alain Souchon)
1-5 Le Fou De La Reine (with Henri Salvador)
1-6 Modern Style (with Alain Delon)
1-7 Tant De Belles Choses
1-8 Jardinier Bénévole
1-9 La Folie Ordinaire
1-10 Tous Mes Souvenirs
1-11 Clair-Obscur
1-12 Celui Que Tu Veux (with Oi)
1-13 Contre Vents Et Marées
1-14 Puisque Vous Partez En Voyage (with Jacques Dutronc)
1-15 So Sad (with Etienne Daho)
1-16 I'll Be Seeing You (with Iggy Pop)
1-17 Jeanne
1-18 Contre-Jour
1-19 Le Danger
2-1 Mode D'emploi ?
2-2 Les Madeleines
2-3 To The End
2-4 Branche Cassée
2-5 Si C'est Vraiment Vrai
2-6 Occupé
2-7 Hallucinogène
2-8 Chanson Sur Toi Et Nous
2-9 Fatiguée
2-10 Flashbacks
2-11 L'impasse
2-12 Que Tu M'enterres
2-13 Cafard
2-14 Et Si Je M'en Vais Avant Toi
2-15 Prisons
2-16 Until It's Time For You To Go
2-17 Où Est-il ?
2-18 Chanson D'O
2-19 La Maison
3-1 La Question
3-2 Doigts
3-3 Rêve
3-4 T'es Pas Poli (with Patrick Dewaere)
3-5 Let My Name Be Sorrow
3-6 Le Martien
3-7 Tu Ressembles À Tous Ceux Qui Ont Eu Du Chagrin
3-8 Point
3-9 Soleil
3-10 Un Petit Sourire Un Petit Mot
3-11 J'ai Coupé Le Téléphone
3-12 L'heure Bleue
3-13 A Quoi Ça Sert
3-14 Comment Te Dire Adieu
3-15 Mon Amour Adieu
3-16 J'ai Fait De Lui Un Rêve
3-17 L'anamour
3-18 Où Va La Chance
3-19 Des Ronds Dans L'eau
3-20 Ma Jeunesse Fout L'camp
3-21 Il N'y A Pas D'amour Heureux
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