Françoise Hardy, Luminous French Singer, Actor & Fashion Icon, Dies at 80

Françoise Hardy, the French pop icon who led the yé-yé music movement and who was recently honored by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest singers of all time, died Tuesday after battling lymphatic and laryngeal cancer for decades.

She was 80.

Variety reports the singer's son announced simply on Instagram, "Mom is gone."

Hardy was born January 17, 1944, in Paris. While still a teen, she created a sensation with the classic "Tous les garçons et les filles" in 1962. The melancholy tune — which her label felt was a B-side at best — became popular thanks to an innovative, for its time, music video.

The single sold millions.

Hardy's unique musical career encompassed more than 30 studio albums from 1962-2018. Hit singles included "C'est à l'amour auquel je pense" (1962), "Ton meilleur ami" (1962), "L'amour s'en va" (1963), "Qui aime-t-il vraiment" (1963), "Le premiere bonheur du jour" (1963), "Pourtant tu m'aimes" (1964), "Je veus qu'il revienne" (1964), "La maison où j'ai grandi" (1966), "All Over the World" (1965), and "Comment te dire adieu" (1968).

She had fewer pop hits in the 1970s, but never slowed down, releasing music regularly until 2012, when she announced her retirement. It was a premature announcement, as she returned in 2018 with one final, farewell record.

Rolling Stone noted of her work that she “epitomized French cool and Gallic heat simultaneously, with a breathy, deadpan alto that wafted like Gauloises smoke. Her words enhanced her tone: Writing her own material, unusual in the early mid-Sixties, especially for women, she also recorded work by masters like Serge Gainsbourg, and her take on Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’ may be the most evocative ever recorded, his included.”

Along with her musical contributions, Hardy was a fashion plate, an astrologer, an author of both fiction and nonfiction, and acted in a number of films, including "Nutty, Naughty Chateau" (1963), "What's New Pussycat" (1965), "Masculine Feminine" (1966), "Grand Prix" (1966), and "Les Colombes" (1972).

Hardy wed her partner Jacques Dutronc in 1981, 14 years after they met. They parted ways in 1988, but remained close. She is survived by him and their son.