French singer and actress Françoise Hardy, known for her melancholic voice and iconic style, has passed away at the age of 80. Hardy's career spanned over six decades and included numerous film roles, as well as a successful music career that began when she was just 16 years old.
Born in Nazi-occupied Paris, Hardy grew up listening to pop songs on the radio and received a guitar for her 16th birthday. She auditioned with Vogue Records at 18 and released her debut album, Tous les garçons et les filles, in 1962. The title track became a hit and launched Hardy's career as a French pop icon.
Hardy declined an invitation from Serge Gainsbourg to record a full album with him and instead charted her own course into the French singer-songwriter canon. She dabbled in film but preferred to focus on music, resisting industry intervention and collaboration for its own sake.
In the 1990s, Hardy forayed into astrology literature and continued to expand the borders of her adult-contemporary pop with albums like Le Danger. She received a lymphoma diagnosis in 2004 and defied doctors by surviving a life-threatening coma in 2012. In her final years, she advocated for euthanasia.
Hardy's music was characterized by its introspective and lustful tone, which resonated with fans across the globe. She had success in Europe, the UK, and even reached mid-30s on the US charts with some of her singles. Her albums were reissued in 2015 by Light in the Attic.
Hardy's film career included roles in Chateau en Suède (1963), What's New Pussycat? (1965), and Grand Prix (1966), which won three Oscars for Sound, Sound Effects, and Editing. She also authored several fiction and nonfiction books.
Hardy was married to French singer-songwriter Jacques Dutronc in the 1980s, and they had one child, Thomas. Her final album, Personne d'autre, featured a song called Special Train. At her age, she could only sing about the one very special train that would take her out of this world.
France mourns the loss of this iconic figure in its cultural history.
