Françoise Hardy, French pop singer and fashion muse, dies

Singer and actor who wrote some of her country’s biggest pop hits had suffered with lymphatic cancer for many years

Françoise Hardy, whose elegance and beautifully lilting voice made her one of France’s most successful pop stars, has died aged 80.

Her death was reported by her son, the fellow musician Thomas Dutronc, who wrote “Maman est partie,” (or in English, “mum is gone”) on Instagram alongside a baby photo of himself and Hardy.