French singer Michel Delpech, whose songs reflected the mood of the 1960s and 1970s, died on Saturday aged 69, reports RFI.
Delpech had been in hospital in Puteaux, in Paris's western suburbs, battling throat cancer, his wife told AFP.
French President Francois Hollande paid a tribute to the music star by saying that Delpech died without ever having aged.
"His songs touched us because they spoke to us. To our emotions as well as our difficulties. He reflected the 70s better than anyone," Hollande said in a statement.
Pascal Nègre, the head of Universal Music France tweeted that Delpech was “a poet speaking about the lives of people, an unparalleled melodist and an endearing man”.
Born on January 26, 1946, in the town of Courbevoie, Delpech was rasied in a modest family with two sisters. His father had a small metal plating workshop and his mother was a housewife.
He released his first song aged just 18, and quickly broke out with his first hit, “Chez Laurette”, in 1965, achieving fame for chronicling France in the 1970s.