![]() ![]() Hardy's reputation as a singer spread across Europe and soon she was spending time with artists ranging from the Beatles and Mick Jagger to Bob Dylan (the latter once refused to play his second set at L'Olympia until she showed up). Released in February of 1966, her performance drew raves from critics and audiences alike. In 1965, she tried film again, this time Jean-Daniel Pollet's Une Balle Au Cœur. Her debut album was essentially an umbrella for her singles and sold exceptionally well, and the recording won the Prix de l'Académie Charles-Cros and Trophée de la Télévision Française awards. In 1963 she sang at the L'Olympia Theatre in Paris for the first time as an opening act for yé-yé singer Richard Anthony. French director Roger Vadim offered her a prime role in Château en Suède the experience only increased her national popularity, but her heart was in music not cinema. Because of her place in pop music, he was able to persuade top designers including Paco Rabanne, Chanel, and Yves Saint-Laurent to adopt her as a model. Their shoot established her as a fashion icon as well as a pop star, and Perier persuaded Hardy to model. He became not only her lover but also the greatest influence on her early career. It was while working on a photo shoot for a magazine that Hardy would meet photographer Jean-Marie Perier, who transformed her image from a shy schoolgirl into a cultural trend setter. Soon she was on the cover of virtually every top music magazine. In 1963, she took fifth place (for Monaco) in the Eurovision Song Contest with "L'amour s'en Va" and was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. The flipside was her own composition "Tous Les Garçons et les Filles." Riding the emergent French wave of yé-yé introduced to the country by songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, the recording was a smash, selling over two million copies. In April of the following year, she left university and released her first record, "Oh Oh Chéri," written by Johnny Hallyday's creative team. She auditioned a bit later for the French Vogue label and signed her first recording contract at the end of 1961. Hardy failed that first audition, but she was inspired to attend others. While attending the Sorbonne to study political science and Germanic languages, she answered a newspaper notice advertising for young singers. Thanks to the pervasive reach of Radio Luxembourg, she also found inspiration in the music of English-speaking singers such as Paul Anka, the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, and Connie Francis. As a teen she was influenced heavily by French chanson, especially the music of Charles Trenet and Cora Vaucaire. After graduating from high school, she was given a guitar by her absent father - he had to be convinced by her mother to purchase it. She and her sister were raised by a single mom who made a meager living as an accountant's assistant. In the '70s, she reinvented herself as an artist transcending teen-friendly pop to interpret songs by everyone from Leonard Cohen to Patrick Modiano and has remained a grande dame of French popular song ever since. Though she has recorded songs in several languages, it was her early French tunes - that ranged across pop, jazz, blues, and more - that helped to establish her as a legend. Outside music, Hardy also established herself as a fashion model, actress, astrologer, and author. ![]() Known for romantically nostalgic songs and melancholy lyrics, Hardy's first single, "Tous Les Garçons et les Filles," sold over two million copies and made her a European star overnight. She offered a startling contrast to the boy's club of French pop in the early '60s, paving the way for literally thousands of women all over the globe. ![]() She is one of only a few female vocalists who could or would write and perform her own material. With her signature breathy alto, she was one of the earliest and most definitive French participants in the yé-yé movement (a style of pop music that initially emerged from Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal before spreading to France in the early 1960s). Françoise Hardy is a pop and fashion icon celebrated as a French national treasure. ![]()
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