A Brief History of the Yé-Yé Movement

Starting in Western-Southern Europe in the early 1960s, Yé-Yé was a style of pop music.

The Yé-Yé movement made its debut on th radio program 'Salut les copains' ('Hello mates' or 'hello pals'). The show was created by Jean Freedman and hosted by Daniel Filipacchi and Frank Ténot, airing in December 1959. The radio show was an instant success and became a launchpad for future Yé-Yé musicians.

Style origins include R&B, rock and roll, beat, chanson, jazz and traditional pop. The name seemed to have been derived from British beat bands like the Beatles: "She Loves You...Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!) however, Françoise Hardy performed on Mireille Hartuch's Petit Conservatoire television show in 1962 (a year before The Beatles recorded "She Loves You"). She sang "La fille avec toi", a song which began with the lyrics: "Yeah yeah yeah yeah". Hartuch remarked on the "yé yé" lyrics and the term was popularized by Edgar Morin in a Le Monde article the following year. Popularized by French music icons Serge Gainsbourg, Sylvie Vartan, France Gall (who won the Eurovision Song Contest at only seventeen) and Hardy, the Yé-Yé style then expanded worldwide.