Francois was born in Rodez, France. His father worked at the ORTF, the French national radio and television broadcasting organisation, as a audio engineer. His mother was a dentist. They separated early in his life, so Francois stayed with his mother until he was thirteen, after which he went to live with his father.
In spite of these early disruptions, he managed to graduate from the Montgeron Lycee in 1972. He went on to attend college for a year at Lyon, where he planned to study for a biochemical engineering degree but got expelled for starting a general strike. He wasn't unduly bothered, however, because he had become so involved in music that he had already realised that biochemical engineering wasn't for him. His parents begged him to try again, so he studied pharmacy at Strasbourg, but it got worse - all he did was play the drums in various bands when he should have been studying.