A Son of the Rock

The first copy of the Guardian I opened after returning from the Netherlands contained the obituary of French songstress Françoise Hardy.

In the 60s French artists didn’t usually reach the British charts. The yé-yé generation was kind of looked down on as I recall.

Françoise Hardy was an exception. (So too was The Singing Nun, but she was Belgian and really a novelty act.)

Hardy actually managed a minor hit in the UK in 1962, with her first recording, Tous les garçons et les filles. It reached no 36. The reason it sticks in my mind is because it was occasionally played during French lessons when I was in Secondary School.

Hardy, who had a sweet vocie, had three other ‘hits’ in the UK.  Et même reached no 31 in 1964,  All Over the World no 16 in 1965 and Autumn Rendezvous no 51 in 1966.

Françoise Hardy: Tous les garçons et les filles

Françoise Hardy: All Over the World

Françoise Madeleine Hardy: 17/1/1944 – 11/6/2024. So it goes.