Françoise Hardy signed her first contract with the record label Vogue in November 1961. In April 1962, shortly after finishing school, her first album, "Oh oh Chéri", appeared, with the title song written by Johnny Hallyday's writing duo. The flip side of the record, "Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles" became a huge success, with 2 million copies sold. She had long hair and usually wore jeans with a leather jacket while accompanying her songs on the guitar.

She sang in English, Italian, Spanish, and German occasionally. In 1963, she represented Monaco in the Grand Prix d'Eurovision de la Chanson with "L'amour s'en va" and took fifth place. In 1968, she received the Grand Prix du Disque Académie Charles Cros.

In 1981, she married her long-time companion Jacques Dutronc, with whom she had already had a son (Thomas Dutronc) in 1973. In May 2000, she had a comeback with the album "Clair Obscur". Her son played the guitar, and her husband sang the duet "Puisque Vous Partez En Voyage". Iggy Pop and Etienne Daho participated, as well. She currently lives near Paris.

In 2006 she released a new duets album entitled "Parenthèses" including a song with her son Thomas.