French Bands That Sing In English
While the French are not known for their foreign language skills, there are a few French bands that sing in English and have gained international recognition.
Rather than covering all music genres and eras, we will focus on a selection of French artists, bands, singers and musicians from 1980 to 2024 whose music styles go from Post-Punk to Synth-Pop, Indie rock and French House.
AIR
A pioneer of the French Touch electronic music scene, they found international success with hits such as “Sexy Boy”.
DAFT PUNK
While technically those 2 robots don’t sing, their guests do which is why they are listed here, needing no introduction, especially when it comes to their massive English language dance music hit “Get Lucky”.
LA FEMME
Mixing psychedelic 60’s sounds with a post-punk influence, La Femme features a cool French vibe that made it a cult act in the US. Listen to the song “Cool Colorado”.
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG
Coming from French music scene royalty – her dad is Serge Gainsbourg and her mom Jane Birkin – Charlotte Gainsbourg is a successful actress and acclaimed musician since her first album produced by Air – check out “Dead Valentine”.
KAS PRODUCT
A French coldwave band which sounds made it to the United States – Listen to “Take Me Tonight”.
THE LIMINANAS
Based on the influential French indie record label Because Music along Charlotte Gainsbourg, this psychedelic indie rock band fronted by a husband and wife, the Liminanas embrace a wide variety of musical roots from The Velvet Underground, Ennio Morricone, Serge Gainsbourg and The Cramps to create a very unique universe and ferocious live performances. Check out “Calentita”.
LITTLE NEMO
Mixing the sounds of a basic drum machine, big bass line with guitar arpeggios, Parisian band Little Nemo was strongly influenced by early goth bands, singing with a French accent. “A Day Out Of Time” is their best known song.
MARQUIS DE SADE
One of the first major French Post-Punk bands, Marquis de Sade released 2 studio albums in the 80’s and are now back as Marquis with a new singer – Listen to “Back to Cruelty”.
MARTIN DUPONT
A French electro-pop band from Marseille, Martin Dupont is a French Cold Wave band which released 4 albums between 1984 and 1987 and gained recognition with popular song “Inside Out”. Martin Dupont is making a comeback with a new album and live shows in 2023.
.NOISEGUN
A French American artist born in Marseille and based in Los Angeles, best newcomer Noisegun crosses musical and cultural borders, from Synthpop to Dark Wave, Shoegaze, Post-Punk with both French and English lyrics.
NOUVELLE VAGUE
A group of French musicians making Bossa Nova versions 80’s New Wave songs might have sound like a weird idea but it turned out to be a recipe for success including collaborations with heroes such as Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore. Listen to their haunting take on Public Image Limited’s “This Is Not A Love Song” from their debut album.
VANESSA PARADIS
This famous actress and French pop singer released a decent album of English-language music produced by her then beau Lenny Kravitz.
PHOENIX
This Grammy award nominated French rock band from Versailles gained international recognition with famous songs such as “Listzomania”.
DOMINIC SONIC
This late singer released 6 albums between 1998 and 2015. His biggest hit was his first single “When my tears run cold”.
SERPENT
The new Funk Post-Punk band from French Post-Punk artist Lescop – listen to “Distant Call”.
STEREOLAB
Technically, only the singer Lætitia Sadier is French but she sings in English and we love them so listen to “French Disko”.
TRISOMIE 21
Another influential dark coldwave band known for its track “The Last Song”,
YAN WAGNER
French American Synth-Pop artist sings both in French and English – check out “Forty Eight Hours”
XENO & OAKLANDER
This Dark Wave duo sings in English and French, delivering dark electronic songs such as “Afar”.
Of course this list is non-exhaustive, other artists and bands having released a few songs in English here and there, usually covers. We could mention Françoise Hardy, rock music bands Noir Désir or Indochine but despite being some of the best-selling French bands, they are mostly known for their French classics.
