Known For
Acting
Born
Apr 02, 1928
Died
Mar 02, 1991
Place of Birth
Paris, France
Credits
142 titles
Serge Gainsbourg
Biography
Serge Gainsbourg (born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative releases which caused uproar in France, dividing public opinion. His artistic output ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. Gainsbourg's varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorise, although his legacy has been firmly established and he is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians. Gainsbourg wrote over 550 songs, which have been covered more than 1,000 times by diverse artists. His lyrical works incorporated wordplay, with humorous, bizarre, provocative, sexual, satirical or subversive overtones. Since his death from a second heart attack in 1991, Gainsbourg's music has reached legendary stature in France. While controversial in his lifetime, he has become one of France's best-loved public figures. He has also gained a cult following across the world with chart success in the United Kingdom and Belgium with "Je t'aime... moi non plus" and "Bonnie and Clyde", respectively. Serge Gainsbourg was born in Paris on 2 April 1928, in the maternity ward of the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris on the Île de la Cité. He was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Joseph and Olga Ginsburg. Born Brucha Goda Besman (nicknamed Olia/Olga) in Feodosiya in 1894, Serge's mother was a mezzo-soprano singer. Serge's father Joseph was born in Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire of Ukrainian Jewish heritage in 1896. Originally interested in painting, he entered the Petrograd Conservatory and then the Moscow Conservatory to study music, becoming a classically trained pianist. He came to Crimea, where he met and married Olga in 1918. The couple fled Odessa for Paris via Georgia and then Istanbul in the years following the Russian Revolution. The couple arrived in Marseille in 1921, settling in Paris near Olga's brother, who worked for the Louis Dreyfus Bank. Joseph became a piano performer at bars, casinos, and cabarets, while Olga sang at the Conservatoire Rachmaninoff. Serge and his twin sister Liliane had an elder brother Marcel, born in 1922, who died at sixteen months of pneumonia. They also had an older sister Jacqueline, born in 1926. The family lived in the working-class districts of Paris, first at 35 Rue de la Chine in the 20th arrondissement, and then at 11 Rue Chaptal in the 9th arrondissement. They obtained French nationality in 1932. Joseph taught Serge and Liliane to play the piano. At age 12, Serge enrolled at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Gainsbourg's childhood was profoundly affected by the occupation of France by Germany during World War II. The identifying yellow star that Jews were required to wear haunted Gainsbourg; in later years he was able to transmute this memory into creative inspiration. Early in the summer of 1941, the family temporarily sought refuge in the commune of Courgenard in the Sarthe department, at a place called "La Bassetière," with Baptiste and Irma Dumur. ... Source: Article "Serge Gainsbourg" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Known For
Filmography
Choral Music, from Dutilleux to Poulenc Featuring Birds on a Wire and the Théâtre de Chaillot
Music
Bardot
archive footage
L'Âge d'or de la pub
Self (archive footage)
Brigitte Bardot confidentiel
Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
Self (archive footage)
Deneuve, la reine Catherine
Self (archive footage)
Jane by Charlotte
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
Self (archive footage)
Archives secrètes
Self (archive footage)
Serge Gainsbourg, les meilleures chansons
Self (archive footage)
Samedi Sébastien
Self - Guest
La Story de Serge Gainsbourg : Le Punchliner
Self (archive footage)
Gainsbourg, toute une vie
Pretend It's a City
Songs
Anna Karina, Remember
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
La semaine des 4 Julie
Self - Guest (archive footage)
L'affaire Matzneff
Self (archive footage)
Jane Birkin: Simply an Icon
Self - Singer (archive footage)
Oh Les Filles!
Alain Delon, l'ombre au tableau
Self (archive footage)
Serge Gainsbourg, entre les murs
Self (archive footage)
Gainsbourg, art(s) et essai(s)
Self (archive footage)
Jane Birkin - Alcaline le Concert
Self
Whitney: Can I Be Me
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Bardot Amoureuse
The Discreet Françoise Hardy
Self (archive footage)
The truth about Brigitte Bardot
Bardot, The Misunderstanding
Les Enfants de la Pop 80's
Self (archive footage)
Gainsbourg by Gainsbourg: An Intimate Self Portrait
Self (archive footage)
Souvenirs of Serge
Self (archive footage)
Public Speaking
Self (archive footage)
Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là
Self (archive footage)
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
Songs
Gainsbourg and His Girls
Self (archive footage)
Brigitte Bardot: The Icon of France
The World of Gaston Rébuffat
Self (archive footage)
The Beaches of Agnès
Self (archive footage)
Eletrodoméstica
Thanks
Serge Gainsbourg – D'autres nouvelles des étoiles
Self (archive footage)
Brigitte Bardot : Divine B.B.
self
Jane Birkin... Mother of All Babes
Self (archive footage)
De Serge Gainsbourg à Gainsbarre 1958-1991
Self (archive footage)
Vivement dimanche
Self (archive footage)
Anna
L'ami de Serge
Belle & Sebastian: The Black Sessions
Lyricist
Élisa
Original Music Composer
Tous les garçons...
Music
Stan the Flasher
Un ami de David (uncredited)
Gainsbourg... Le Zénith - Live
Self