Françoise Hardy, the French icon and singer known for evoking romantic existentialism in her music, has died at the age of 80.
Her son, Thomas Dutronc, confirmed her death in a Facebook post. Sharing a photo of her holding him as a baby, Dutronc simply wrote, “Maman est partie.”
According to Barron’s, the singer had struggled with cancer since 2004.
Hardy rose to prominence in the Sixties, becoming known for her songwriting and evocative lyrics. Her debut album, Tout les garçons et les filles, release in 1962 and delivered some of her first commercial success — catapulting her to the front of European yé-yé pop music. As she began to record music in London in 1964, she released Mon amie la rose, L’amitié, La maison où j’ai grandi and Ma jeunesse fout le camp, expanding the influence of her sound. Throughout the early Seventies, Hardy…
