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.
| 2023 | L'Âge d'or de la pub as Self (archive footage) |
| 2022 | Brigitte Bardot confidentiel |
| 2022 | Deneuve, la reine Catherine as Self (archive footage) |
| 2022 | Jane par Charlotte as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 2022 | La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président as Self (archive footage) |
| 2021 | Serge Gainsbourg, les meilleures chansons as Self (archive footage) |
| 2021 | La Story de Serge Gainsbourg : Le Punchliner as Self (archive footage) |
| 2021 | Gainsbourg, toute une vie |
| 2020 | Anna Karina, souviens-toi as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 2020 | L'affaire Matzneff as Self (archive footage) |
| 2019 | Jane Birkin, simple icône as Self - Singer (archive footage) |
| 2019 | Haut les filles |
| 2019 | Alain Delon, l'ombre au tableau as Self (archive footage) |
| 2018 | Serge Gainsbourg, entre les murs as Self (archive footage) |
| 2018 | Gainsbourg, art(s) et essai(s) as Self (archive footage) |
| 2017 | Jane Birkin - Alcaline le Concert as Self |
| 2017 | Whitney: Ben Olabilir miyim as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 2016 | Françoise Hardy - La discrète as Self (archive footage) |
| 2014 | Brigitte Bardot, la vérité de B.B. |
| 2013 | Bardot, la méprise |
| 2012 | Les Enfants de la Pop 80's as Self (archive footage) |
| 2012 | Je suis venu vous dire... as Self (archive footage) |
| 2011 | Mes images privées de Serge as Self (archive footage) |
| 2011 | Public Speaking as Self (archive footage) |
| 2010 | Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là as Self (archive footage) |
| 2010 | Gainsbourg, l'homme qui aimait les femmes as Self (archive footage) |
| 2009 | Brigitte Bardot: The Icon of France |
| 2009 | Le Monde de Gaston Rébuffat as Self (archive footage) |
| 2008 | Agnes'in Plajları as Self (archive footage) |
| 2005 | Serge Gainsbourg – D'autres nouvelles des étoiles as Self (archive footage) |
| 2004 | Brigitte Bardot : Divine B.B. as self |
| 2003 | Jane Birkin... Mother of All Babes as Self (archive footage) |
| 2000 | De Serge Gainsbourg à Gainsbarre 1958-1991 as Self (archive footage) |
| 1998 | Anna as L'ami de Serge |
| 1990 | Stan the Flasher as Un ami de David (uncredited) |
| 1990 | Gainsbourg... Le Zénith - Live as Self |
| 1989 | Le Zenith de Gainsbourg as Self |
| 1988 | Jane B. par Agnès V. as Self |
| 1986 | Charlotte for Ever as Stan |
| 1986 | Gainsbourg... Casino de Paris 1986 as Self |
| 1982 | Le Grand Pardon as Self (uncredited) |
| 1981 | Droit de Réponse as Self |
| 1981 | Reporters as Self |
| 1980 | Je vous aime as Simon |
| 1980 | Egon Schiele - Exzesse as Self |
| 1975 | Sérieux comme le plaisir as L'inconnu du lac |
| 1973 | Şeytan'ın Cinayetleri as Police Inspector |
| 1972 | Trop jolies pour être honnêtes as Albert |
| 1971 | Melody as L'homme |
| 1971 | Le Roman d'un voleur de chevaux as Sigmund |
| 1971 | Devetnaest djevojaka i jedan mornar as Mornar |
| 1970 | Cannabis as Serge Morgan |
| 1969 | Paris n'existe pas as Laurent |
| 1969 | Les Chemins de Katmandou as Ted |
| 1969 | Slogan as Serge Fabergé |
| 1969 | Erotissimo as l'individu dragueur au cinéma |
| 1969 | Mr. Freedom as Mr. Drugstore |
| 1968 | Vivre la nuit as Mathieu |
| 1968 | Spécial Bardot as Self |
| 1968 | Ce sacré grand-père as Rémy |
| 1968 | Le pacha as Serge Gainsbourg (uncredited) |
| 1967 | Estouffade à la Caraïbe as Clyde |
| 1967 | Toutes folles de lui as Self |
| 1967 | L'inconnu de Shandigor as le chef des Chauves |
| 1966 | Noël à Vaugirard as Joseph |
| 1966 | Le Jardinier d'Argenteuil as Patrick Gérard |
| 1966 | Carré de dames pour un as as Man Asking for a Lighter (uncredited) |
| 1963 | Teuf-teuf as Self |
| 1963 | L'inconnue de Hong Kong as Jean le pianiste |
| 1963 | Strip-Tease as Le pianiste (uncredited) |
| 1962 | La furia di Ercole as Menistus |
| 1961 | Sansone as Warkalla |
| 1960 | La rivolta degli schiavi as Corvino |
| 1959 | Voulez-vous danser avec moi ? as Léon |
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