The two eldest children of French rock singer Johnny Hallyday have won a legal bid to freeze his assets in France in a bitter family feud over an inheritance estimated at up to €100 million (£86m).

However, the court rejected their plea to be able to be able to have a say on his posthumous album, due for imminent release, to see whether it was worthy of the author of such Gallic greats as “Quelque chose de Tennessee”.

France was plunged into mourning when “Johnny” died in December at the age of 74 after a battle with lung cancer and a five-decade career that saw him sell 110 million records and release 1,160 songs. More than a million had gathered for the funeral of the crooner they called “the French Elvis” in Paris.

Amid the tears, the revered singer dropped a bombshell on his family by leaving his entire estate to his fourth wife Laeticia, 42, a former model, and their two adopted daughters, Jade and Joy, but nothing to his two eldest children from previous relationships.

Actress Laura Smet, 34, along with her half-brother David Hallyday, 51, challenged the will, with Ms Smet’s lawyer declaring she had been left nothing, “Not a guitar, not a motorbike, and not even the signed sleeve of the song 'Laura' which is dedicated to her".