The French answer to Elvis Presley, Johnny Hallyday who kept audiences enthralled for nearly 60 years, has died of cancer.

Hallyday, who’se birth name was Jean-Phillipe Smet, sold more than 100 million records, acted in more than 30 films and appeared on the cover of Paris Match dozens of times.  His outdoor concert at the Eiffel Tower in 2000 drew more than half a million fans and another 9.5 million watched it on television, about one-sixth of the population of France.

Johnny Hallyday was 74.