Neve Dawson
French pop singer and actress, Françoise Hardy, has died aged 80 after a prolonged battle with lymphatic cancer.
Her son, musician Thomas Dutronc, announced her death to the public via Instagram this month. His post displayed a photo of him as an infant with his mother. The caption read ‘Maman est partie’ (‘mum is gone’).
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Following years of radiotherapy and other treatments, Hardy was placed in an induced coma due to her worsening condition in 2015.
The treatment left Hardy with speech and respiratory issues. This lead Hardy to campaign for the legalisation of euthanasia in France. She accused the country’s legislation of being “inhuman” for not allowing the procedure.
MUSIC
Born in Nazi-occupied France in 1944, Hardy was raised in Paris by her mother. Surrounded by the likes of Elvis Presley and other Radio Luxembourg artists, Hardy’s luminaries shone through from a young age.
Aged 16 she received her first guitar as a gift and began performing live music. She went on to sign with Disques Vogue in 1961. Her crooning ballads became a key part of the yé-yé music style which dominated the contemporary French music scene.
Her breakthrough came in 1962 with self-authored, sultry track ‘Tous les garçons et les filles’, which made its way into the UK charts despite being described by contemporary critics as a plaintive song.
Hardy’s effortless chic and timeless elegance made her one of France’s biggest pop stars and fashion muses. A prominent figure throughout the swinging sixties, Hardy later modelled for the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne. Iconically, Pace Rabanne designed her a mini dress produced out of gold plates sewn together.
Françoise Hardy wearing Paco Rabbane in 1969. The dress itself weighed 20 pounds, contained 1000 gold plaques, and 300 carats of diamonds. It was said to be the most expensive dress in the world at the time. pic.twitter.com/K5BI4yJIwC
— Gia (@virgoessence) February 3, 2023
Recognised for her androgynous style, which rejected all contemporary expectations as to feminine fashion, Hardy inspired many women to step out of their comfort zones and into a changing world filled with individuality and growing liberation.
Hardy was in her own right an ‘it’ girl. She embodied Parisian chic and a love for natural beauty, enhanced only by carefully trimmed bangs and meticulously winged eyeliner.
However, it was not just fans that fell head over heels in love with Hardy. Mick Jagger once described Hardy as his “ideal woman.” David Bowie recalled decades later that he was “passionately in love with her.” Similarly, Bob Dylan famously wrote Hardy numerous different love letters and a poem in the liner notes of his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan.
FILM
In addition to her music, Hardy landed roles in different films as a supporting actress, most notably the American production Grand Prix (1966).
Later on in her career, Hardy collaborated with a number of artists including Britpop Icons, Blur, with whom Hardy re-recorded ‘To The End’ from the band’s third studio album Parklife (1994).
Frontman Damon Albarn addressed Hardy via the band’s social media account on Wednesday.
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Elsewhere, saying goodbye to Hardy has devastated many, whether that be in the music, fashion or film industry. Tim Burgess, from The Charlatans, took to X to share a video of Hardy. Actor Elijah Wood, known for his role in The Lord of the Rings franchise, shared a black-and-white image of the singer with a caption reading ‘au revoir, Françoise Hardy.’
au revoir, Françoise Hardy pic.twitter.com/zlwps0zZSW
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) June 12, 2024
Hardy and Me
A Hardy fanatic myself, I was first introduced to the pop star through the soundtrack to Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ (2012). Her music sprung out to me as something blushing, yet shy with its melancholic detachment from the world. Soon enough I too started winging my eyeliner, daring to cut bangs again after many painful months of growing out the ones I cut out of boredom at the start of the pandemic.
Today, I sit at my desk scrolling through the endless masses of tributes made to the artist on social media sites and culture sections of papers. Her cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’, first released on her 1968 album Comment te dire adieu, reverberates through my headphones as a delicate whisper with the capacity to be truly devastating. No wonder Hardy was a poster girl for the emotionally troubled youth.
I came across an interview made between Hardy and The Observer in 2018, within which Hardy stated: “What a person sings is an expression of what they are. Luckily for me, the most beautiful songs are not happy songs. The songs we remember are the sad, romantic songs.”
Hardy appeared as a woman wise beyond her years, a romantic figure – one who was not afraid of solitude or pain. In fact, she appeared as the kind of woman who swayed through cobbled streets clutching at her heart, all the while humming to herself.
She appeared to accept her grief and tumultuous upbringing with open, accepting arms. To Hardy, sad expressions of the self through artistic means are not only the most beautiful, but the most memorable. Perhaps that is why her music continues to inspire so many. It is visceral and it is true to herself. When all is said and done, who can argue with that?
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Featured image courtesy of Antonio Marin Segovia on Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Neve Dawson
MA Newspaper Journalism Student at City, University of London| News, Culture and Arts Journalist for DIY Magazine, Empoword Journalism, So Young Magazine and The Rodeo Magazine.