Francoise Hardy is one of the most admired singers in the history of French popular music. Her early singles from the 1960s mixed the French chanteuse tradition with the pastoral folk of the era. After a modeling and acting career that kept her in th…

The archetypal sex kitten Brigitte Bardot was the first foreign-language star ever to attain a level of international success comparable to Americas most popular homegrown talents While the vast majority of her motion pictures failed to rank even rem…

b. Yolanda Gigliotti, 17 January 1933, Cairo, Egypt of Italian parents. On winning a Miss Egypt beauty contest, Gigiotti moved to Paris where she spent several fruitless months seeking work as a film actress. Driven to sing as an intermission act in …

April March is actually one Elinore Blake b April 20 1965 and contrary to all appearances she is not a French pixie but a Californian one The first album she bought was Englands Newest Hitmakers by the Rolling Stones but you wouldnt know that from li…

This Europop outfit features the core duo of French singer Françoise Cactus (vocals, guitar, drums) and Brezel Göring (b. Germany; vocals, guitar, keyboards). Formed during the mid-90s, Cactus and Göring first met as part of Berlin's Genius Dilettant…

France's "Little Sparrow" was the stuff of legend. Edith Piaf remains one of the most influential singers of the 20th century. Her dramatic singing style and her anguished voice appealed to French audiences and by the outbreak of World War II she had…

b. 15 November 1932, Epsom, Surrey, England. Her Welsh mother, a soprano, taught Petula to sing, which enabled her to commence a stage career at the age of seven and a broadcasting career two years later. Her youthful image and crystal-clear enunciat…

Although actorpop singer Sylvie Vartan is Bulgarian she would eventually receive recognition from the French usually singing entirely in the language of her adopted homeland Born August 15 1944 in Iskretz Bulgaria Vartan showed great talent for both …

Widely considered the godfather of contempory French pop singersongwriter Alain Souchon captured the precarious masculinity of postmodern man with uncommon tenderness and whimsy--often working in partnership with composer Laurent Voulzy his music exp…

b. 7 February 1927, Montpelier, France. An actress and inimitable singer of the chanson, Gréco was born the daughter of a police chief and a mother who became a Resistance worker in 1939. After spending some time in prison during the Occupation when …

b. 28 April 1943, Paris, France. Dutronc learnt to play piano and violin during his childhood, but by the late 50s had immersed himself in the local rock 'n' roll culture. In 1959 he left Lycée Condorcet to become the guitarist in Les Tritons, who qu…

b. 1 November 1943, Cosimo, Italy. Salvadore Adamo's family emigrated to Belgium where he balanced bookish excellence and artistic leanings while at school in Jemmapes. An able guitarist and singer, he had already been heard on local radio when, foll…

Artistically active from the 1950s through the '70s, Belgian-born singer-songwriter Jacques Brel is best known in France, but he has also achieved a vast cult fan base in the United States for his poetic cynicism and lyrics, which vary from nihilisti…

The rakish Serge Gainsbourg, France's international ambassador of decadence, experimented with jazz, Caribbean rhythms, and eventually reggae, but ultimately was most at home with twisted lounge music. His breathy, salacious collaborations with Brigi…

The British-born singer-actress embodies an androgynous, ageless sexiness that prevailed in the 1960s. In swinging London, the 19-year-old Jane Birkin appeared in her first musical and went on to do some acclaimed film roles. She then moved to Franc…

b. 4 February 1942, Suez, Egypt, d. 11 March 1978. François inherited musical skills from his parents who, with worsening political antagonism in the East, returned him to France where, on leaving school, he drummed in a Monte Carlo jazz combo before…

A crucial inspiration to several generations of bands, the Fall virtually defined the late-1970s UK post-punk sound. Fall vocalist Mark E. Smith's sung/spoken rants may owe more to beat poetry than rock & roll, but his sociopolitical iconoclasm and t…

The definitive British folk-rock band, Fairport Convention took the traditional music of England and injected it with electricity and rock energy, sparking a whole musical movement in the U.K. in the late 1960s and early '70s. The late-'60s incarnati…

Admired for both their infectious surfer music and their sophisticated, multi-tracked pop productions, the Beach Boys created a lasting impression on popular music through their complex harmonies and Brian Wilson's genius for composition and arrangem…