When Serge Gainsbourg died in 1991, France went into mourning: François Mitterand himself proclaimed him “our Baudelaire, our Apollinaire.” Gainsbourg redefined French pop, from his beginnings as cynical chansonnier and mambo-influenced jazz artist to the ironic “yé-yé” beat and lush orchestration of his 1960s work to his launching of French reggae in the 1970s to the electric funk and disco of his last albums. But mourned as much as his music was Gainsbourg the man: the self-proclaimed ugly lover of such beauties as Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, the iconic provocateur whose heavy-breathing “Je t’aime moi non plus” was banned from airwaves throughout Europe and whose reggae version of the “Marseillais” earned him death threats from the right, and the dirty-old-boy wordsmith who could slip double-entendres about oral sex into the lyrics of a teenybopper ditty and make a crude sexual proposition to Whitney Houston on live television. Gilles Verlant’s biography of Gainsbourg is the best and most authoritative in any language. Drawing from numerous interviews and their own friendship, Verlant provides a fascinating look at the inner workings of 1950s–1990s French pop culture and the conflicted and driven songwriter, actor, director and author that emerged from it: the young boy wearing a yellow star during the German Occupation; the young art student trying to woo Tolstoy’s granddaughter; the musical collaborator of Petula Clark, Juliette Greco and Sly and Robbie; the seasoned composer of the Lolita of pop albums, Histoire de Melody Nelson; the cultural icon who transformed scandal and song into a new form of delirium.

Gainsbourg: The Biography

Verlant, Gilles

Humor & Entertainment

TamTam Books

Ma vie-en-vrac

Children's Books

Gotlib Marcel

Literature & Fiction

Flammarion

David Bowie: Portrait de l'artiste en rock-star

ALBIN MICHEL

Découvrant cette définition du Larousse, Serge avait confié : "Pas mal, mais il manque une date."  Si cette biographie est définitive, c'est parce que l'histoire a un début et, malheureusement, une fin. L'histoire du petit Lucien, de Serge et de Gainsbarre. L'itinéraire impeccable du "garçon sauvage".  Si cette biographie est définitive - Gainsbourg aurait dit "la totale" -, c'est parce qu'elle est ultra-documentée, truffée d'anecdotes, de scoops, de chansons inédites, de témoignages exclusifs : Jane Birkin et ses filles, Kate Barry et Charlotte Gainsbourg , Bambou, les soeurs de Serge, et une centaine de témoins privilégiés parmi lesquels Isabelle Adjani, Brigitte Bardot, Alain Bashung, Claude Berri, Bertrand Blier, Alain Chamfort, Julien Clerc, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Drucker, France Gall, Juliette Gréco, Françoise Hardy, Michel Piccoli et Vanessa Paradis.  Si cette biographie est définitive, c'est parce que Serge faisait confiance à Gilles Verlant, son biographe préféré, le seul qui ne l'ait jamais trahi, qui l'ait interviewé dès 1980 et jusqu'en octobre 1990, quelques mois avant sa mort. Jamais Gainsbourg n'est allé aussi loin dans ses souvenirs...  Un mot encore : Gainsbourg incarnait la liberté extrême. C'est pour ça qu'on l'aime. Pour toujours et à jamais.

Gainsbourg (French Edition)

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Francoise Hardy, Ma Vie Interieure (Musique - Spectacle) (French Edition)

Arts & Photography

Music

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