Hallyday, Euro pop icon, dies

JOHNNY HALLYDAY, a legendary French singer and actor, died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 74.

Hallyday, whose real name was Jean-Philippe Smet, was known as the “French Elvis,” but didn’t find as much success in non-French-speaking countries.

He sold more than 110 million records, beginning with Frenchlanguage covers of singers, including Eddie Cochrane and Elvis Presley.

In 1960, Hallyday (photo) released his first album. Six years later, the Jimi Hendrix Experience debuted as his opening act.

As an actor, he was best known as a boxing manager in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Detective” (1985) and a criminal in 2002’s “The Man on the Train.”

Throughout his life, Hallyday struggled with a cocaine addiction, a failed suicide attempt and a string of broken marriages. In 2009, he was temporarily put into a medically induced coma after a botched operation.

“Across generations, he carved himself into the lives of French people,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.Hallyday is survived by his wife, Laeticia, and their two children, along with two children from two previous relationships.