2023-07-17 04:29:19
BBC
Posted on: Monday, July 17, 2023 – 7:29 am | Last update: Monday, July 17, 2023 – 7:29 AM
Singer and film actress Jane Birkin has died at the age of 76, according to French media.
Known for her personal and artistic relationship with songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, the Anglo-French star was considered a style icon in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Born in London, Birkin found fame singing in French, and moved to France in the 1970s.
And French media reported that she was found dead in her home in the capital, Paris.
Her personal and artistic relationship with Gainsbourg made her famous around the world following the spread of their international song “Go Team Moa Non Blue” (I Love You Too).
The duet was recorded in 1968, months following they met on the set of Slogan.
The song was banned from radio broadcasts in many countries and condemned by the Vatican for its sexually explicit lyrics, but it brought the two to a new global audience.
Birkin and Gainsbourg lived together for 12 years but remained friends following their separation, and Gainsbourg – who was 18 years her senior – continued to write songs for her years following their separation.
The couple had a daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, who became an award-winning actress and singer.
Their relationship was often described as “turbulent”, and Birkin wrote regarding the violence in their relationship in her memoirs published in 2020, as well as the challenges of Gainsbourg’s alcoholism.
But she frequently defended the man with whom she was closely associated—including defending him once morest accusations by Mughniyeh of being a “harasser” in an interview published in The Times in 2020—and continued to promote his work long following his death in 1991.
Asked by the same newspaper last year regarding their lifestyle, she said: “I don’t know how easy it is for children to have a mother who appears naked in magazines and a father who burns 500-franc notes. I hope one has done some things right.” .”
The duo broke up in 1981 and Birkin continued her career as an actress and singer, releasing albums including “Baby Alone in Babylon” (1983’s Alone Baby in Babylon) and “Amour de Fante” (1990’s “Fake Love”).
Before moving to France and meeting Gainsbourg, she was married to British composer John Barry until the late 1960s.
Their daughter, Kate Barry, was a fashion photographer who worked with Vogue magazine and died in 2013 at the age of 46.
Birkin has a third daughter – musician, model and actress Lou Doillon – from her relationship in the 1980s with French film director Jacques Doillon.
Birkin’s acting credits include films such as the 1966 classic Blow Up, Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil in the Sun (1982).
She released an album of her own words in 2002 called “Arabesque” and a group of live recordings in 2009 under the title “Jane in the Palace”.
She was also a model and widely regarded as a trendsetter, having been the inspiration for the Birkin handbag, a design introduced by Hermès in 1984.
The large leather handbag became a hit around the world and spawned many copycats – but in 2006 Birkin told the Guardian: “I love it (the bag), but I carry so much stuff in it that I think it’s one of the reasons I have tendinitis.”
Birkin has defended numerous cases during her lifetime – including asking Hermès to drop her name from her product in 2015 over animal welfare concerns.
The British ambassador to France, Mina Rawlings, called her on Twitter, describing her as “the most French of British artists”.
As for French President Emmanuel Macron, he described Birkin as a “French icon” and “an integrated artist” who “inherited us melodies and images that will never leave us.”
She was also mourned by French Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne, who said: “Through her music and her talent, she has transcended generations.”
Birkin was being treated for leukemia in the late 1990s and it was reported in September 2021 that she had suffered a stroke, forcing her to cancel a planned appearance at a US film festival.
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