From Django Reinhardt and Édith Piaf to Françoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg, French pop has long fascinated the outside world. This book, the first in-depth history published outside France, travels from music halls, jazz cellars and cafés to discothèques and teenage parties to tell the tale of how the French transitioned from accordions to electric guitars, from Maurice Chevalier to Johnny Hallyday, from the existential angst of Left Bank chanson to the effervescent joy of yé-yé. Across dozens of performers from Sacha Distel to Sylvie Vartan, and hundreds of recordings, this is the story of how the French fused their native traditions with the best the world had to offer – tango, jazz, swing, exotica, rock'n'roll and folk – and emerged in the sixties with their own unique and much- loved spin on the pop music conquering the world.