Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (French:[ʃaʁlɔtɡɛ̃zbuʁ]ⓘ; born 21 July 1971) is a British-French actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress and singer Jane Birkin and French singer Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the song "Lemon Incest" at the age of 12,[2][3] she released an album with her father at the age of 15. More than 20 years passed before Gainsbourg released albums as an adult (5:55, IRM, Stage Whisper and Rest) to commercial and critical success. She has acted in many films, including collaborations with Lars von Trier, and received two César Awards and Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress Award 2009 for the movie Antichrist,[4] among many nominations.
Background
Gainsbourg with her mother Jane Birkin in 2010
Gainsbourg was born on 21 July 1971[5] in the Marylebone area of Central London to English actress and singer Jane Birkin and French musician Serge Gainsbourg.[6] Gainsbourg was born at the height of her parents' fame; they had made headlines three years earlier with the sexually explicit song "Je t'aime... moi non plus" and by that point had become notorious for their turbulent relationship and multiple artistic collaborations.[7][8] As a result, her childhood was well publicised.[9]
At birth, she received the surname of Gainsbourg, her father's stage name, but at the age of 18 she changed her surname to Ginsburg, her father's legal surname.[10] She has continued to use the Gainsbourg name professionally.
Gainsbourg was raised in Paris alongside her half-sister, Kate Barry, from her mother's marriage to composer John Barry. Kate Barry died in 2013 after falling out of a window. According to Birkin, both parents were somewhat neglectful,[17] often spending their nights going out to parties and drinking.[18] She has a young brother, Lucien "Lulu" Gainsbourg, born in 1986 from her father's relationship with Bambou. On her father's side she also had two older siblings born from his second marriage to Françoise-Antoinette "Béatrice" Pancrazzi.
By 1980, her parents' relationship had dissolved and her mother left her father for the director Jacques Doillon. Her half-sister Lou Doillon was born in 1982 as a result of the union. Gainsbourg would go on to work with her stepfather in the film The Temptation of Isabelle in 1985 and later in Amoureuse in 1992, which also starred her future partner Yvan Attal.
In 1987, she was the target of a bungled kidnapping.[19]
After her parents separated, Gainsbourg's father descended into alcoholism, eventually dying of a heart attack in 1991. Gainsbourg remained devoted to preserving his legacy and preserved his home, saying she hoped to eventually turn it into a museum. Maison Gainsbourg opened in 2023. [20][21]
Gainsbourg grew up on film sets, as both of her parents were involved in the film industry. She stated that her mother had pushed her into acting, believing that she wanted to be an actress and encouraging her to make her motion picture debut playing Catherine Deneuve's daughter in the film Paroles et Musique (1984).[22]
In 1986, Gainsbourg won a César Award for "Most Promising Actress" for An Impudent Girl. That same year Gainsbourg appeared in the film Charlotte for Ever about a man who develops incestuous desires for his teenage daughter after his wife dies. Written and directed by Gainsbourg's father Serge Gainsbourg, who also took the role of Gainsbourg's father on screen, the film heightened the controversy that had resulted from Gainsbourg's debut single Lemon Incest, which had similar themes and also was created and sung with her father Serge, causing press speculation that the material was autobiographical.[23][2]
Gainsbourg worked with von Trier once again on his 2013 film Nymphomaniac, in which she played the title role. The 5½-hour film depicts the life of a sex addict from youth to middle age. Regarding her reservations about the part, Gainsbourg commented, "The sex scenes weren't so hard. For me, it was all the masochistic scenes. Those were embarrassing and, yes, a little humiliating."[28]
Gainsbourg at Webster Hall, New York City, April 2010
Gainsbourg made her musical debut on the controversial song "Lemon Incest" in 1984.[29][2] Sung by Gainsbourg and her father Serge, the lyrics implied a pedophiliac relationship between a father and daughter and led people to believe that the material was autobiographical.[30] Gainsbourg, who was 13 at the time of the song's release, later stated that she had just begun boarding school and was therefore unaware of the controversy regarding the song until she was much older.
In 1986, she released her debut album Charlotte for Ever, which was produced by her father. In 2000, Gainsbourg was featured on the Madonna album Music on the track "What It Feels Like for a Girl". The lengthy spoken introduction by Gainsbourg is taken from the film The Cement Garden, which inspired the title of the song. The track was further remixed for a single version in 2001, with Gainsbourg's The Cement Garden speech repeated during the song.
In 2004, she sang a duet with French pop star Étienne Daho on his single "If". In 2006, Gainsbourg released her second album 5:55 to critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the top spot on the French charts and achieving platinum status in that country. In the UK, the album was moderately successful, reaching No. 78. (The single "The Songs That We Sing" only achieved No. 129.) Gainsbourg attributed the twenty-year break between her debut album and 5:55 to her father's death and her reluctance to explore a musical career without him.[32]
In late 2009, Gainsbourg released her third studio album, IRM,[33] which was produced by Beck.[34][35] One of the influential factors in the album's creative process was her time spent filming Antichrist.[36] Gainsbourg's head injury in 2007 influenced the title of the album "IRM", an abbreviation for the French translation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). During her brain scan, she began to think about music. "When I was inside that machine," she said, "it was an escape to think about music. It's rhythm. It was very chaotic."[37]
Her song "Heaven Can Wait" was chosen as the StarbucksiTunes Pick of the Week on 2 March 2010.[38] Her song "Trick Pony" appeared at the beginning of the Grey's Anatomy episode "Perfect Little Accident" (Season 6, Episode 16/airdate: 25 February 2010), is featured on the FIFA 11 soundtrack,[39] was used in the 2012 Teleflora Super Bowl advertisement featuring supermodelAdriana Lima[40] and can be heard in episode 2 ("Wild Thing") of the Amazon Prime Video television series My Lady Jane (2024).[41]
In 2011, Gainsbourg released the double album Stage Whisper, a collection of unreleased songs from IRM and live tracks.[42] In 2013, Gainsbourg released a cover version of the song "Hey Joe", recorded with Beck, for the soundtrack of the film Nymphomaniac, in which she was the lead actress. Her music influenced artists such as Tove Lo, who cited the simplicity and quirky lyrical content of Charlotte's IRM as the main inspiration behind her career in music and said that it "opened a new world" for her as regards sound,[43] and she performed a bilingual cover of "The Maiden's Prayer" in French and English as the opening tune for the Anglo-French crime thriller television serial The Tunnel.
Since 2014, Gainsbourg has been supporting the Hear the World Foundation as ambassador. In her role she advocates for equal opportunities and a better quality of life for people with hearing loss. She was featured in the Hear the World Calendar 2014, the proceeds of which were to benefit the foundation's projects.[44]
Gainsbourg worked for four years, mainly in New York,[45] with producer Sebastian Akchoté (known as SebastiAn) on her fifth studio album, titled Rest. Rest is a portrayal of her feelings after the deaths of her father Serge Gainsbourg and her half-sister Kate Barry, with the theme of alcohol addiction. About the album, she said, "The album took a different direction. I wanted to express [my grief] not only with sadness but with anger."[46] The lyrics are in English and French.[45] In September 2017, music videos for the singles "Rest" and "Deadly Valentine" were released, both are directed by Gainsbourg herself.[47] The music videos feature her children.[45] The album was released on 17 November 2017.[48] A companion EP for Rest was released the following year, titled Take 2.[49] Gainsbourg additionally featured on Akchoté's second studio album Thirst in November 2019.[50]
Throughout late November 2020, Gainsbourg posted images to social media of her in the recording studio with Irish-Scottish music producer Salvador Navarrete, known better by his stage name Sega Bodega. Navarrete described the sessions as "sounding beautiful".[51] It was unveiled in September 2021 that Gainsbourg would appear on Navarrete's second studio album, Romeo, which was released on 12 November 2021.[52] It is expected that more music between the two will be released.
Personal life
Gainsbourg's longtime partner is French-Israeli actor/director Yvan Attal whom she met on the set of the 1991 film Aux yeux du monde.[53] Gainsbourg and Attal are not married, and Gainsbourg has attributed her reluctance to her parents never marrying. Attal publicly proposed to Gainsbourg on 19 June 2013, during an awards ceremony when he received the French National Order of Merit.[54] In April 2014, Attal confirmed that they were still unmarried, with no plans to marry.[55] Together they have three children, born in 1996, 2002, and 2011.[56][57] Gainsbourg identifies as Jewish and celebrates Jewish holidays with her partner's family.[15]
Gainsbourg was born in London, but she spent most of her life in Paris until the death of her sister Kate Barry. In 2013, she and her family relocated to New York City.[58] They returned to Paris in 2020.[59] She is proud of both her nationalities.[1]
On 5 September 2007, Gainsbourg underwent surgery for a cerebral hemorrhage. She had been experiencing headaches since a waterskiing accident in the United States several weeks earlier.[60]
^ abMahdawi, Arwa (26 October 2019). "Charlotte Gainsbourg: 'Everything now is so politically correct. So boring'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021. I am very proud of my British passport. It is so stupid. It's a little booklet, but I cherish it. Maybe it's my mother, who transmitted something, some pride in that nationality.
^Spencer, Neil (22 May 2005). "The 10 most x-rated records". Observer Music Monthly. London: Guardian Newspapers. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
^Dallach, Christoph (30 October 2006). "Melodien für Millionen" [Melodies for Millions]. Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
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