Jane Birkin
Biography Jane Birkin
Jane Birkin
At twenty years old, after being noticed in “Blow-up” by Michelangelo Antonioni, Jane Birkin arrived in France on the filming of “Slogan”. Pierre Grimblat was looking for an English woman to play opposite Serge Gainsbourg. Thus began their mythical love story in 1969 Paris. They never left each other and created the legend in the “underground” bars where the libertarian post sixty-eight wind blew. They recorded “Je t’aime moi non plus”. Censorship maddened, the record sold a million copies in a few months. Their daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg was born in 1971. In 1973 “Di Doo Dah” was released, Jane’s first solo album. In 1975, the terrific lovers returned with “Je t’aime moi non plus”, the film. The public was seduced by Jane’s acidulous accent, her half high-pitched half whispered voice, and the soft atmosphere she breathed into Serge’s tortured texts. In 1981, Jane left Serge. Gainsbourg suffered from the separation and admitted it, discreetly, by delivering “Baby alone in Babylone”. After the release of “Lost Song” in 1987, Jane took to the stage, at the Bataclan “to amaze Serge”. In 1990, Gainsbourg gave her a declaration album: “Amours des feintes”. It would be the last. He passed away on 2 March 1991. Her fans who urged her to continue “singing Serge”, would have their wishes granted in 1996, the year of “Versions Jane”, where different artists such as Goran Bregovic or the Senegalese percussionist Dudu N’Diaye Rose re-orchestrated 15 works of the young Gainsbourg’s repertoire. In 2002, Jane wanted to do her own interpretation of Elisa, Les Dessous Chics, her favourite song, or Amours des feintes. Accompanied by eastern musicians, she brought the songs by Serge, to “Algerian, Andalusia, Jewish and gypsy” audiences all at once. This new show was named Arabesque. Following the earthquake and the nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima, Jane went to Japan to participate in a fund-raising concert for the victims. It was here that she met Nobuyuki Nakajima who would then arrange Gainsbourg’s songs in a jazzy style for a tour commemorating the 20 years since his death, Serge and Jane “VIA JAPAN”. In 2013, Jane Birkin, Michel Piccoli and Hervé Pierre created a reading inspired by sixty texts chosen from the entirety of Serge Gainsbourg’s work: “Gainsbourg, prominent poet”. On 11 May 2017, at the Opéra Garnier Monte-Carlo, we will welcome her back for a new tribute to Serge Gainsbourg where she will be accompanied by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra.
