Yvette Horner (née Hornère; (1922-09-22)22 September 1922 – (2018-06-11)11 June 2018) was a French accordionist, pianist and composer known for performing with the Tour de France during the 1950s and 1960s.

[8] In 1938, Yvette Horner participated, with Freddy Balta and André Lips, in the first accordion world championships organized in Paris, at the Moulin de la Galette, by the Confédération internationale des accordéonistes.

[10] In 1950, she was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque de l'académie Charles-Cros for her album Le Jardin secret d'Yvette Horner, a recital of classical works performed on piano and accordion.

Wearing a sombrero and perched on the roof of a Citroën Traction Avant in the Suze brand colours,[4] she repeated this in the following years, accompanying the Tour de France a total of eleven times, from 1952 to 1963.

In the 1980s, she dyed her hair from brown to red and started wearing more extravagant stage outfits (such as the famous "Eiffel Tower Dress") created by fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, who made her one of his muses.

In 1987, she became the godmother of the Doudeville Accordion Club, the Cany-Accordeon-Club, directed by its founder, Annie Lacour, who worked at the Schola Cantorum de Paris for five years.

She asked sculptor Yves Lacoste in 1994 to create this piece as a tribute to her public, her parents, her husband and those who helped her achieve fame.

The sale was held for the benefit of the Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière (ICM) and an association for the fight against cancer.

[21] During her career, she has explored many musical styles, which led her to collaborate with classical pianist Samson François, jazz trumpeter Jac Berrocal,[22] American harmonica player Charlie McCoy, with whom she recorded a country-inspired album in Nashville,[23] and Culture Club lead singer Boy George, on a 1994 appearance on Taratata.

[28] In 2008, the musical show La Madone des dancings, les mille vies d'Yvette Horner, adapted by Eudes Labrusse and staged by Dominique Verrier, was presented at Avignon as part of the "off" festival.

[29] Yvette Horner received the commandeur de l'ordre national du Mérite necklet on April 17, 2002, given by the Minister of Culture and Communication Catherine Tasca.

[1] She was named commandeur de la Légion d'honneur on 22 April 2011 in the portfolio of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, decorated on 28 September 2011 by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.