The late 19th century saw the dawn of the music hall when Yvette Guilbert was a major star.
The era lasted through to the 1930s and saw the likes of Félix Mayol, Lucienne Boyer, Marie-Louise Damien, Marie Dubas, Fréhel, Georges Guibourg, Tino Rossi, Jean Sablon, Charles Trenet and Maurice Chevalier.
French popular music in the 20th century included[1] chanson music by the likes of Édith Piaf as well as Yves Montand, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, Jean Ferrat, Barbara or Serge Reggiani, and the more art-house musicians like Brigitte Fontaine.
The 1960s brought the wave of Ye-Ye with such legends as Johnny Hallyday, Eddy Mitchell, Sylvie Vartan, Dick Rivers, Richard Anthony, Claude François, Françoise Hardy, France Gall and Jacques Dutronc — with a special mention to legend Serge Gainsbourg who started out as a realist singer in the late 50s, and became a pop icon in the 60s writing songs for Ye-Ye idols, then for himself and for stars like Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Adjani.
The most widely recognized songs such as "Non, je ne regrette rien", "Les feuilles mortes" or Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas" have successors in diverse genres such as French electronic music, rock, pop or rap.