the moving letter from Etienne Daho to Jane Birkin – Liberation

2023-07-17 14:20:01

After paying him a brief tribute on Instagram on Sunday, the singer released a poignant love letter to the late artist on Monday morning.

“My Jane. Thanks to your talent, your elegant free beauty, your piquant, macabre and British humor, you accompanied our gloomy adolescence. Just hours after the announcement of Jane Birkin’s disappearance on Sunday July 16, singer Étienne Daho, very close to the artist’s family, reacted on social networks by posting a black and white photo of the singer, and this message full of pain: “Unimaginable to live in a world without your light.” The day after the death at 76 of the one who was his friend, his idol and his collaborator, he broadcasts this Monday, July 17, a heartbreaking love letter addressed to the missing artist.

“We wanted to be you, or Serge, or Françoise (Hardy), or Jacques (Dutronc). Lights in the night. Life made us meet, love each other and I quickly became a friend of the family. I liked your unique voice, high pitched and so singular, your free, poetic and cheeky writing, your commitments. Always honest. Always light. Always too modest and generous, attributing your successes to others. Always”, writes Étienne Daho.

“Perhaps some people, who would prefer to cast you permanently in the role of a charming muse, will finally realize that you are a complete artist with an alert curiosity. Who could have directed your film Boxes or written your play Oh! Sorry, were you sleeping? Embody Johnny Jane in the film Je t’aime moi non plus or the next Fake directed by Chéreau? pursues the most secret of French singers.

“Warrior before the eternal, you have overcome your sufferings”

Etienne Daho finally looks back on his collaboration with the Franco-British singer, whose last album Oh! Sorry, you were sleeping, in 2020: “Three years ago, Jean-Louis Piérot, you and I formed a three-way army to produce your latest album. Amazed as we were by your texts, we accompanied this chapter of your life on record and on stage. Defying all the laws of medicine, a warrior before the eternal, you overcame your suffering, without a complaint and with a smile, to win triumphant victories every evening, in front of an audience moved to tears. A lesson.”

And to close this heartbreaking letter: “A few days ago, you told me you wanted to go back on stage and go back on the road. Redo this Olympia that you had to postpone. Confident in the future. You will find your parents, Kate, Serge, your friends and your dogs. And we will miss you terribly. Love. Your Daho.”