Serge Gainsbourg
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.
The Gardener of Argenteuil
(Patrick Gérard)
Mr. Freedom
(Mr. Drugstore)
Les Enfants de la Pop 80's
(Self (archive footage))
Serge Gainsbourg – D'autres nouvelles des étoiles
(Self (archive footage))
I Love You All
(Simon)
Anna
(L'ami de Serge)
Cannabis
(Serge Morgan)
Charlotte for Ever
(Stan)
Paris Does Not Exist
(Laurent)
Come Dance with Me!
(Léon)
Katmandu
(Ted)
Droit de Réponse
(Self)
Gainsbourg... Casino de Paris 1986
(Self)
Slogan
(Serge Fabergé)
The Rage of War
(Mornar)
Sweet Skin
(Le pianiste (uncredited))
Le Zenith de Gainsbourg
(Self)
Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes
(Police Inspector)
Stan the Flasher
(Un ami de David (uncredited))
Serge Gainsbourg, entre les murs
(Self (archive footage))
Romance of a Horsethief
(Sigmund)
Alain Delon, l'ombre au tableau
(Self (archive footage))
The Revolt of the Slaves
(Corvino)
The Fury of Hercules
(Menistus)
Jane Birkin... Mother of All Babes
(Self (archive footage))
Erotissimo
(l'individu dragueur au cinéma)
Serious as Pleasure
(L'inconnu du lac)
L'Âge d'or de la pub
(Self (archive footage))
The Big Pardon
(Self (uncredited))
Four Queens for an Ace
(Man Asking for a Lighter (uncredited))
Jane by Charlotte
(Self (archive footage) (uncredited))
The Looters
(Clyde)
The World of Gaston Rébuffat
(Self (archive footage))
Melody
(L'homme)
Gainsbourg, art(s) et essai(s)
(Self (archive footage))
Gainsbourg by Gainsbourg: An Intimate Self Portrait
(Self (archive footage))
Pasha
(Serge Gainsbourg (uncredited))
Public Speaking
(Self (archive footage))
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
(Self (archive footage))
The Day the Clown Cried
(Self)
Love in the Night
(Mathieu)
Jane B. by Agnès V.
(Self)
Seduction Squad
(Albert)
The Discreet Françoise Hardy
(Self (archive footage))
Reporters
(Self)
Samson
(Warkalla)
Gainsbourg... Le Zénith - Live
(Self)
De Serge Gainsbourg à Gainsbarre 1958-1991
(Self (archive footage))
The Beaches of Agnès
(Self (archive footage))
The Unknown Man of Shandigor
(le chef des Chauves)
L'inconnue de Hong Kong
(Jean le pianiste)
Whitney: Can I Be Me
(Self (archive footage) (uncredited))
Spécial Bardot
(Self)
The Marriage Came Tumbling Down
(Rémy)
Jane Birkin - Alcaline le Concert
(Self)
Egon Schiele: Excess and Punishment
(Self)
All Mad About Him
(Self)
L'affaire Matzneff
(Self (archive footage))
Jane Birkin: Simply an Icon
(Self - Singer (archive footage))
Anna Karina, Remember
(Self (archive footage) (uncredited))
Teuf-teuf
(Self)
La Story de Serge Gainsbourg : Le Punchliner
(Self (archive footage))
Souvenirs of Serge
(Self (archive footage))
Serge Gainsbourg, les meilleures chansons
(Self (archive footage))
Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là
(Self (archive footage))
Christmas at Vaugirard
(Joseph)
Gainsbourg and His Girls
(Self (archive footage))
Numéro un
(Self)
La semaine des 4 Julie
(Self - Guest (archive footage))
Les Dossiers de l'Agence O
(Dassonville)
Victoires de la musique
(Self)
Nulle part ailleurs
(Self)
Samedi Sébastien
(Self - Guest)
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
(Self)
À bout portant
(Self)
Archives secrètes
(Self (archive footage))
Spécial cinéma
(Self)
Le Grand Échiquier
(Self)
Cadet Rousselle
(Self)
Dim Dam Dom
(Joseph)
Dim Dam Dom
(Self)
Midi trente
(Self)
Midi Première
(Self)
Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
(Self (archive footage))
Champs-Elysées
(Self)
Apostrophes
(Self)
Please Turn the Page
(Self)
Die Drehscheibe
(Self)
Discorama
(Self)
40° à l'ombre
(Self)
Vivement dimanche
(Self (archive footage))
30 millions d'amis
(Self)
Samedi soir
(Self)
Sacrée Soirée
(Self)
Vidocq
(Un fou)
Sacrée Soirée
(Self (archive footage))
Film '72
(Self)
Fréquenstar
(Self)
The Defector
(Original Music Composer)
I Love You, I Don't
(Author)
I Love You, I Don't
(Director)
French Fried Vacation
(Original Music Composer)
I Love You, I Don't
(Original Music Composer)
The Gardener of Argenteuil
(Original Music Composer)
The Wolves in the Sheepfold
(Original Music Composer)
Ménage
(Original Music Composer)
Mr. Freedom
(Original Music Composer)
Elisa
(Original Music Composer)
Charlotte for Ever
(Director)
Stan the Flasher
(Director)
Pasha
(Original Music Composer)
Belle & Sebastian: The Black Sessions
(Music)
Belle & Sebastian: The Black Sessions
(Lyricist)
Le Zenith de Gainsbourg
(Director)
Anna
(Writer)
Sex Shop
(Original Music Composer)
I Love You All
(Original Music Composer)
Equator
(Director)
The Unknown Man of Shandigor
(Music Editor)
The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers
(Theme Song Performance)
The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers
(Main Title Theme Composer)
The Other One
(Original Music Composer)
Emmanuelle 3
(Original Music Composer)
The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers
(Original Music Composer)
The Discreet Françoise Hardy
(Songs)
Charlotte for Ever
(Writer)
Charlotte for Ever
(Original Music Composer)
Slogan
(Original Music Composer)
The Rage of War
(Original Music Composer)
Seduction Squad
(Original Music Composer)
Melancoly Baby
(Original Music Composer)
Melody
(Writer)
Melody
(Original Music Composer)
Stan the Flasher
(Writer)
Stan the Flasher
(Original Music Composer)
Equator
(Writer)
Equator
(Original Music Composer)
The Marriage Came Tumbling Down
(Original Music Composer)
All Mad About Him
(Original Music Composer)
Paris Does Not Exist
(Original Music Composer)
Anna
(Original Music Composer)
Dans le vent
(Original Music Composer)
The Horse
(Original Music Composer)
Private Screening
(Original Music Composer)
Cannabis
(Original Music Composer)
Pasha
(Songs)
Renaud - Morgane de toi
(Director)
Le Zenith de Gainsbourg
(Music)
A Game for Six Lovers
(Original Music Composer)
Sweet Skin
(Original Music Composer)
How Do You Like My Sister?
(Original Music Composer)
Four Queens for an Ace
(Original Music Composer)
Horizon
(Original Music Composer)
If I Were a Spy
(Original Music Composer)
Manon 70
(Original Music Composer)
Katmandu
(Original Music Composer)
Madame Claude
(Original Music Composer)
Mode in France
(Original Music Composer)
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
(Songs)
A Boy Named Charlie Brown
(Songs)
The Unknown Man of Shandigor
(Songs)
The Unknown Man of Shandigor
(Music)
I Love You, I Don't
(Writer)
Aurais dû faire gaffe... le choc est terrible
(Original Music Composer)
Gainsbourg... Casino de Paris 1986
(Music)
The River of Diamonds
(Music)
Nocturnal Uproar
(Original Music Composer)
Naked Hearts
(Original Music Composer)
Je t'aime moi non plus
(Music)
Pretend It's a City
(Songs)
Vidocq
(Original Music Composer)