Françoise Madeleine Hardy, born 17 January 1944) is a French singer and actress. Hardy is a popular figure in music and fashion.[1][2] Hardy grew up in the 9th arrondissement of Paris with her younger sister Michèle. Her parents lived apart when she was young; her father contributed little financially to the family and had little to do with his daughters. He was, however, persuaded by the girls mother to buy Françoise a guitar for her birthday as a reward for passing her baccalauréat.[3] Her early musical influences were the French chanson stars Charles Trenet and Cora Vaucaire[4] as well as Anglophone singers Paul Anka, the Everly Brothers, Cliff Richard, Connie Francis and Marty Wilde whom she heard on the English-language radio station, Radio Luxembourg.[3] After a year at the Sorbonne she answered a newspaper advertisement looking for young singers. Hardy signed her first contract with the record label Vogue in November 1961. In April 1962, shortly after she left university, her first record Oh Oh Chéri appeared, written by Johnny Hallydays writing duo. Her own flip side of the record, Tous les garçons et les filles became a success, riding the wave of Yé-yé music in France. It sold over a million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[5] The track peaked at #36 in the UK Singles Chart in 1964.[6] She reportedly hated the song claiming it was recorded in three hours with the worst four musicians in Paris. She was dating photographer Jean-Marie Périer at this time and his shots featured on many of her record sleeves.[7] Hardy sings in French, English, Italian, Spanish and German, and has one interpretation in Portuguese. In 1963 she came fifth for Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest with Lamour sen va. In 1963, she was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque of the Académie Charles Cros.[citation needed] In 1981, she married her long-time companion Jacques Dutronc, who is the father of her son, Thomas Dutronc, born in 1973. Hardy lives in Paris and Dutronc in Monticello, Corsica, although they reportedly remain legally married.[citation needed] In 1994, she collaborated with the British pop group Blur for their La Comedie version of To The End. In 1995, she sang on Malcolm McLarens single Revenge Of The Flowers. The song appears on his concept album Paris. In May 2000, she made a comeback with the album Clair Obscur on which her son played guitar and her husband sang the duet Puisque Vous Partez En Voyage. Iggy Pop and Étienne Daho also took part. She has also recorded a duet with Perry Blake who wrote two songs for her award winning Tant de belles choses album.[citation needed] On shyness and fame[edit] Because of her difficult upbringing Hardy became painfully shy — a trait which is still part of her character today.[3] When asked about her shyness in an interview with John Andrew, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011 she said: I thought at first my parents were divorced — at that time it was not a good thing, it was a kind of shame. My father didnt help much financially my mother, and all the other girls, little girls, were dressed differently than I was — their parents had more money...I didn’t enjoy at all everything, the trappings, when all of a sudden you become very famous... [on being taken up by the fashion houses] it was work, things I had to do, a chore — I didnt enjoy it at all...It is quite impossible to stand — to be admired too much — it is not a normal situation...I dont like that at all...I am not comfortable with my professional life really, so the word icon — its as though you were talking about someone else, its not me really...I feel happy when Im on my bed, in my room with a good book.[3]
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 09:31:21 +0000
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