Fred Chichin, the guitarist who founded the popular French pop group duo Rita Mitsouko, has died aged 53 of cancer, record label Because and concert organiser Corida said in a joint statement Wednesday.

Chichin, who formed the group in 1979 with his partner, singer Catherine Ringer, died after falling ill only two months ago.

Ringer and Chichin, who in his teens was a fan of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, chose the name of the group on the grounds that "Rita" sounded South American and "Mitsouko" meant mystery in Japanese.

Their first hit, the 1984 tune "Marcia baila", was a latino-rock piece written to pay homage to Argentine dancer Marcia Moretto, who died of cancer. It sold more than a million copies.

Their 11 albums carried rock, funk, punk, ska and latino sounds, as well as a dose of humour.

They never really registered in the UK, but curiously they were probably closer to a UK style band than a French. Their early albums (produced by Tony Visconti) were totally nutty, with excellent (and equally nutty) clips by Mondino and others.

Yet they kept going, and were arguably a better live band now than when they first appeared. I interviewed them back in the day. Chichin was the musical groundbreaker. Pleasant, but not really into being a pop star (he left that to his more than feisty other half - now there's a real singer with real charisma).

"C'est comme