Francoise Hardy occupies a unique niche in French musical culture. She was raised in Paris by her single mother. At age 19, her 1962 song “Tous les Garcons et Les Filles” was serendipitously televised in October during a musical interlude on the night of a national referendum. An amateur astrologist, she must have thought the stars were in alignment when during the following weeks it shot to the top of the French charts. She remained there for many years with songs of evolving style, despite episodic retirements and returns. Although she had no formal music training and a limited voice, she wrote most of her own songs, unlike many of her generational peers.
She appeared on the cover of Paris Match and other fashionable magazines, represented Monaco in 1963 at the Eurovision song contest, and acted in several films including Godard’s “Masculin/Feminin” and John Frankenheimer’s “Grand Prix,” both in 1966. Personally reserved and never attracted to the performance side of a singer’s life, she abandoned public performance in 1968 and focused on recording and achieving balance in her life with modeling and film.
With the curation of her first husband, photographer Jean-Marie Perier, she became a refined exemplar of classical French style, an icon of aloof but elegant beauty and a muse for top designers like Paco Rabanne, Yves Saint Laurent and André Courrèges. Spending considerable time modeling, recording and performing in London beginning in 1964, she was admired by peers like Mick Jaggar, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and David Bowie.
1960
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1966
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1971
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2018
In 2004, Hardy learned she had lymphatic cancer, and by 2016 she fell into a coma with expectations of an early death. Not so fast--she recovered, and in 2018 issued her 28th album, “Personne d’Autre” at the age of 74 and an English language translation of her memoir, “The Despair of Monkeys and Other Trifles.” By 2021 her health had worsened and she announced she would sing no more. She passed away in June 2024.
The three songs in our selection occur with a 6-year gap between the first and the second and between the second and the third. This gives a nice sense of the progression of her career during this time.
Françoise Hardy Songs
Tous les Garçons et les Filles (All the Boys and Girls)
Comment Te Dire Adieu (How to Tell You Goodbye)
Message Personnel (Personal Message)