Hardy was born in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944 and raised by his mother.
Like many girls at the time, she grew up listening to Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard and other American and British stars on Radio Luxembourg, and signed her first record deal at just 17 years old.
She shot to stardom as a musician in 1962 with the simple, plaintive song Tous les garçons et les filles. “I walk the streets alone, my heart breaks,” she sang, singing of all the boys and girls walking by holding her hand. It was an instant hit in France and even broke through the UK charts.
Her style captivated fashion designers and models such as Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne, who designed minidresses for her out of gold plate.
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger once called her “the ideal woman,” and fellow singer-songwriter Bob Dylan wrote her several love letters.
He addressed her in a poem that appeared on the back of his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan.
Among her most iconic performances was Comment te dire adieu, Serge Gainsbourg's 1968 French adaptation of a song originally in English. But Gainsbourg's song has been covered many times as a painful farewell to the man with the “heart of Pyrex.”
Hardy was once married to singer Jacques Dutronc, with whom she had a son, Thomas. Although they separated in the late 1980s, she often referred to her ex-husband as the love of her life.
She said she had been ill for some time before her death and was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2004.
In 2015 she was left in a coma for several weeks after a fall, and in 2021 she developed cancer in one of her ears and said she felt her life was 'near the end'.
Hardy's career spanned over 50 years, during which time he released nearly 30 albums.
Rolling Stone ranked her 162nd on its 2023 list of the 200 greatest singers of all time.
Upon hearing the news of Hardy's death, French Culture Minister Rachida Dati wrote on social media: “How can we say goodbye to her? The eternal Françoise Hardy, a legend of French song, was remembered for her sensitivity and her “Melody to the heart of the nation.”
