Françoise Hardy

Françoise Madeleine Hardy (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swaz madlɛn aʁdi]; born 17 January 1944) is a retired French singer-songwriter. Mainly known for singing melancholic sentimental ballads, Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure of the yé-yé wave. In addition to her native French, she also sang in English, Italian and German. Her career spanned more than fifty years with over thirty studio albums released.
Long after the height of her career in the 1960s, Hardy remains one of the best-selling singers in French history, and continues to be regarded as an iconic and influential figure in both French pop and fashion. In 2006, she was awarded the Grande médaille de la chanson française honorary award given by the Académie française, in recognition of her career in music. Her work has appeared on several critics' lists.
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== Links to Peel ==
Peel played a track by Francoise Hardy on his 14 August 1968 show - her cover version of the Perfumed Garden favourite by Nirvana(2), "Tiny Goddess". Apart from that, he seemed to ignore her during the 1960s, when she was at the height of her fame. Indeed French pop, or yé-yé, never featured in his playlists of the time, whether for KMEN or Radio London. She often recorded in London but when she made live appearances they were usually in showbiz venues. However, by 1968 she was starting to show an interest in more modern material (including, reportedly, the songs of Nick Drake) and the track Peel played was from an album, En Anglais, produced by Simon Napier-Bell.
Peel showed more interest in Gallic stars of the '60s in the 1970s and '80s, and played a 1960s track by her - not one of her most famous songs - on his 24 November 1983 show. It is not known whether he has played any of her other songs on his shows of that era, but in addition to Hardy, records by singers such as Sylvie Vartan and Jacques Dutronc were occasionally played, although he tended to treat their work as pop novelties and seldom took them seriously. 
There don't seem to be any available links from the above show which explain why Peel included a Francoise Hardy track, but it might have been because France in the early 1980s became fashionable with young people, thanks to politics (for a time, President Mitterrand's Socialist government was seen as an alternative to the Tory Britain of Mrs. Thatcher) and culture (cinema and fashion rather than pop) - or possibly his wife Sheila bought Hardy records in the 1960s when she was doing French "O" Level at school, and it was part of her collection. A more complete recording of the 24 November 1983 show could shed some light on why Hardy made what seems to be a rare appearance in Peel's playlists. 
In 1995 Hardy was persuaded to record with Blur, and a single featuring vocals by her, "To The End (La Comédie)" was issued. However Peel, who showed little interest in the band's work at that time, doesn't seem to have played it. 
==Shows Played==
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*14 August 1968: Tiny Goddess
*24 November 1983: Je Veux Qu'il Revienne
==External Links==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
Category:Artists