British singer and actress Jane Birkin dies at 76

2023-07-16 14:49:43

British actress and singer Jane Birkin, 76, has been found dead at her Paris home, the newspaper Le Parisien and the BFM television network reported on Sunday. The artist had already canceled her last concerts for health reasons. “I remain very optimistic, as always. Having said that, I am aware that I need a few days to be able to be on stage again, with you, “she explained in a statement.

Birkin became known worldwide for her 1969 hit, ‘Je t’aime…moi non plus’. It is a sexually explicit song featuring her lover, the late French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. A dialogue based on moans that reproduces a sexual encounter and that ended up becoming the erotic hymn par excellence.

Gainsbourg and Birkin met on the set of ‘Slogan’ in 1967. At first he can’t stand her, but it will end up being his most constant love. The actress settled with her daughter Kate, the result of her relationship with the famous composer John Barry, in the house that Gainsbourg on Rue Verneil, decorated entirely in black, in imitation of Dalí’s home in Montmartre . They had a daughter, the also popular Charlotte, but Gainsbourg drank and smoked more and more and she could no longer stand her excesses. They separated in 1980.

A short time later, she began a relationship with Jacques Doillon, with whom she had, in 1982, her third daughter, Lou Doillon. A decade later they separated.

In 2013, Kate, Birkin’s daughter with Barry, who died in 2011, died as a result of a fall from the fourth floor of her apartment in Paris. According to a source close to the case, the 46-year-old photographer suffered the mishap when she was alone in her apartment in the French capital, which was locked from the inside and where antidepressant drugs were found.

History in music… and in fashion

Birkin was, in addition to being a singer and actress, a muse, becoming an inspiration for designers. Thanks to her and one of the baskets that she used to carry, the most exclusive bag that exists, the Birkin, was created. In 1984 she boarded a plane in Paris bound for London. Her seatmate was none other than the then president of the luxury firm Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas.

At one point during the flight, part of the content fell out of the artist’s straw basket – back then they did not have a zipper. While she was collecting her belongings, she explained to the businessman and designer that she could not find the ideal bag to travel with. A problem that the Frenchman offered to solve by creating one tailored to him.