Iconic French singer songwriter Françoise Hardy has died at the age of 80, her family announced on Wednesday.
Hardy, who rose to fame with her "Tous les garçons et les filles" (All the Girls and Boys) in 1962, died in a Paris hospital late on Tuesday evening.
With her tender and fragile voice and her sentimental songs, Hardy spoke to the romantic side of successive generations, making a name for herself well beyond her native France.
"Tous les garçons et les filles" sold more than 4 million copies in a few days, turning her into a star at the age of 18 – much like the age of the audience she appealed to.
Sad songs and melancholy were her trademark, along with a svelte appearance and dark hair falling to her shoulders. Loneliness, love, desire and loss were recurring themes of her music.
"In music, I love first of all sad songs that strike home where it hurts," she once told radio broadcaster France Culture. Melancholy was part of her being, she said.
A style icon of the 1960s, Hardy wore creations from top designers, including a minidress made of gold, and counted Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan among her admirers.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati described her as a legend of the chanson, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that she would remain anchored in the lives of the French people, and the Élysée Palace praised her "velvet voice."
President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte describe Hardy as an idol of the youth who had become an icon of the French chanson.