Jane Mallory Birkin OBE (14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023) was a British-French[a] singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She also had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema.
A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, appearing in minor roles in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup (1966), and Kaleidoscope (1966). In 1968, she met Serge Gainsbourg while co-starring with him in Slogan, which marked the beginning of a years-long working and personal relationship. The duo released their debut album Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg (1969), and Birkin also appeared in the controversial film Je t’aime moi non plus (1976) under Gainsbourg’s direction. Though she mostly worked in France where she had become a major star, Birkin occasionally appeared in English-language films such as the Agatha Christie adaptations Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil Under the Sun (1982).
After separating from Gainsbourg in 1980, Birkin continued to work as both an actress and a singer, appearing in various independent films and recording numerous solo albums. In 1991, she appeared in the miniseries Red Fox and in the American drama film A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, in 1998. In 2016, she starred in the Academy Award-nominated short film La femme et le TGV, which she said would be her final film role.
Birkin lived mainly in France from the late 1960s onwards. She was the mother of photographer Kate Barry, with her first husband John Barry; actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, with Serge Gainsbourg; and musician Lou Doillon, with Jacques Doillon. In addition to her acting and musical credits, she lent her name to the Hermès Birkin handbag.
Birkin’s humanitarian interests led her to work with Amnesty International on immigrant welfare and the AIDS epidemic. Countries she visited included Bosnia, Rwanda, Israel, and Palestine.
As a child, Birkin demonstrated in the streets of London against capital punishment. In the 1970s, she campaigned for the right to abortion. She appeared at the Bobigny trial , in support of four women accused of having helped the high school student Marie-Claire Chevalier to have an abortion following a rape.
Birkin campaigned against the far-right in France, participating in a protest denouncing the qualification of Jean-Marie Le Pen in the second round of the 2002 presidential election. In 2017, she performed at a free concert at the Place de la République organised in opposition to Marine Le Pen in the 2017 presidential election.
Birkin also demonstrated support for immigrants, denouncing the French government’s policy towards undocumented migrants in 2010. The same year, she protested outside the residence of the Minister of Immigration, Éric Besson. She also announced that she was sponsoring a young Congolese who had requested political asylum. In 2015, she marched in support of refugees in Paris.
In September 2018, following the resignation of French environment minister Nicolas Hulot, Birkin was one of the 200 artists and scientists who signed an open letter published on the front page of the daily Le Monde titled “The Greatest Challenge in the History of Mankind”, which urged politicians to act “firmly and immediately” in fighting climate change and the “collapse of biodiversity”
On 6 September 2021, it was reported that Birkin was doing well after having suffered a stroke
On 16 July 2023, Birkin was found dead at her home in Paris. She was 76 years old. (wikipedia)
Rendez-vous is a Jane Birkin album released in 2004.
After the new songs offered by several French artists on À la légère and the Arabesque recital, Jane Birkin resumes a large number of collaborations, this time with artists from all over the world, and in the form of duets.
The cover and booklet feature photos of the singer taken by her photographer daughter, Kate Barry. The rest of the booklet is decorated with scribbled excerpts from her appointment book.
Like its predecessor, the album was a success, and was certified gold by the SNEP in just 4 months, selling over 100,000 copies in France.
The first single from the album is the duet with Mickey 3D “Je m’appelle Jane”, which was performed at the Victoires de la musique 2005. (wikipedia)
Jane Birkin’s first album after the death of lover and workmate Serge Gainsbourg reimagined his music in North African idioms. This, the second, though infused with Gainsbourg’s smoky, laconic charms, proves that Birkin remains an iconic presence in her own right. An album of (largely) subtly contrived duet and collaborations, its indisputable centrepiece is an electronically enhanced version of Roxy Music’s In Every Dreamhome a Heartache. Bryan Ferry sings the way faded velvet looks, and to hear Birkin sing “deluxe and delightful” (she’s describing an inflatable sex doll) is to be utterly devastated.
Portishead’s Beth Gibbons contributes the haunted ripple that is Strange Melody, and almost everyone else (Caetano Veloso, Paulo Conte, various continental luminaries) realises that their job is to show Birkin in the best possible light, which isn’t exactly hard. Only Placebo’s bleating Brian Molko lets her down, his drama-queen histrionic Smile appallingly hammy. “Did she love the fragility of flowers and of birds?” Birkin enquires, rhetorically, at one point. In the distance, violins quiver. You realise, unworthily, that you’re in the presence of an entirely un-English sophistication. (theguardian.com)
Personnel:
Jane Birkin (vocals)
Gonzales (piano, drums, bass, guitar)
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Manu Chao (guitar on 10.)
Feist (background vocals on 01.)
Beth Gibbons (background vocals on 06.)
Stefan Rodesco (strings on 09. + 11.)
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unknown orchestrta conduicted by Michel Boutillier & Christophe Guiot
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horns on 05., 12. – 14. + 16.:
Frédéric Couderc – Julien Chirol – Michel Feugere – Rémi Sciuto
Tracklist:
01. Avec Mickey (3D): Je M’Appelle Jane (Furnon) 3.29
02. Avec Alain Chamfort: T’As Pas Le Droit D’Avoir Moins Mal Que Moi (Chaléat/Duvall) 4.12
03. Avec Bryan Ferry: In Every Dream Home A Heartache (Ferry) 6.35
04. Avec Alain Souchon: Palais Royal (AlanskiChamfort/Chaléat) 3.43
05. Avec Etienne Daho: La Grippe (Fontaine/Higelin) 2.42
06. Avec Beth Gibbons: Strange Melody (Gibbons) 3.53
07. Avec Caetano Veloso: O Leaozinho (Veloso) 3.19
08. Avec Miossec: Pour Un Flirt Avec Toi (Delpech/Vincent) 3.12
09. Avec Feist: The Simple Story (Feist/Gonzales) 3.56
10. Avec Manu Chao: Te Souviens-Tu ? (Chao) 2.36
11. Avec Brian Molko: Smile (Molko/Corkett) 3.39
12. Avec Françoise Hardy: Surannée (Biolay/Zeidel) 2.33
13. Avec Yosui Inoue: Canary Canary (Inoue) 4.46
14. Avec Paolo Conte: Chiamami Adesso (Conte) 2.51
15. Avec Alain Souchon: Port-Bail (Souchon) 2.26
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16. Avec Yosui Inoue– Canary Canary (Version Tokyo) (Inoue) 4.55
ManyFantasticColors 