Death of Jane Birkin: the singer's funeral, between tributes and emotion

“Death of Jane Birkin: the singer's funeral, between tributes and emotion”

JANE BIRKIN. The funeral of the singer Jane Birkin, who died last Sunday July 16, took place this Monday in Paris. Paris, in the privacy of family and friendly.

A moving funeral, for a last farewell to Jane Birkin. Monday July 24, in the Saint Roch church in Paris. Paris, many personalities, family and friends of the singer gathered, a week after her sudden disappearance, Sunday July 16, in Paris. 76 years old.

Catherine Deneuve, Benjamin Biolay, Etienne Daho, Matthieu Chedid, Vanessa Paradis, Brigitte Macron, Rima Abdul Malak, Sandrine Kiberlain… They all surrounded themselves with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, the two daughters of Jane Birkin, during this ceremony. Both, after having worn their mother's coffin to enter the church, paid her a moving tribute by reading a few words.

"I thank my father for loving me so much. my mother and I thank my mother for having loved him so much. Also. I find myself an orphan, I see all your souls in pain without her. I already see the void it leaves us. “She’s my mom, she’s our mom,” declared Charlotte Gainsbourg, very moved, when Lou Doillon, after having started the conversation, memories of his mother, concludes: "Mom, thank you for all these adventures. Thank you for not having been ordinary, reasonable or docile. This world of tomorrow, very peaceful and reasoned, already annoys me."

Olivier Rolin, Jane Birkin's last companion, has on his side greeted his "courage" facing grief and disease. "Along with courage, there is only one other cardinal value, kindness. “It was so unalterable in her that even people from afar felt it in her,” the writer concludes. Jane Birkin's body was destroyed cremated at the Père Lachaise cemetery, before these ashes were deposited at the Montparnasse cemetery, in Paris. Paris, not far from her ex-partner Serge Gainsbourg and his daughter, Kate Barry.

The singer Jane Birkin was found inanimate at home his Parisian home, revealed Sunday July 16 Le Parisien, without giving more information on the circumstances of his disappearance, nor on the causes of this brutal death. According to the artist's entourage, she died of natural causes. In recent months, the artist had to die of natural causes. cancel all its summer concerts; for health reasons. In a press release, Jane Birkin, however, gave meet at her fans "this fall", wanting to be reassuring: "I've always been happy. a great optimist, and realize that I still need a little time to be able to be on stage and with you again. I love being with you so much. I miss you." At the beginning of March 2023, Jane Birkin had already been born. canceled a concert in Brittany. "I'm not doing well at all, I broke down. “my shoulder blade and it hurts a lot,” she confided to the newspaper Le Tétégramme. In 2021, the 76-year-old singer had already lost weight. dû cancel your visit several events after being tested victim of a stroke.

Monday July 17, the day after the death of Jane Birkin, her two daughters, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, mentioned in a press release a "fiercely fought battle against disease" led by the singer for 16 years. To AFP, his entourage also revealed that the causes of the death of Jane Birkin, who would therefore have died of "natural causes."

Singer, actress, screenwriter, director, muse… Jane Birkin was among the artists who can boast of having spanned the ages in the French (and British) musical landscape. . She was born on December 14, 1946 in the Marylebone district of London. London, United Kingdom. Daughter of British actress Judy Campbell and David Birkin, a commander in the Royal Navy who helped the French Resistance during the Second World War, Jane Birkin is passionate about comedy and is destined to become a professional actor. a career as an actress.

She made her theater debut at just 17 years old. À 18 years old, in England, she played in The Knack… and how to get it, by Richard Lester. Her first role. After having played in Graham Greene and the musical Passion flower hote,  she continues with a very remarkable performance inBlow-upby Antonioni, sacred won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. In April of that year, Jane Birkin had a daughter, Kate, born from her marriage to the English composer John Barry.

The life and career of Jane Birkin is also closely linked to that of Serge Gainsbourg. In 1969, she headlined Slogan in 1969. his sides. Together, they will become a famous couple and the latter allows them to live together. the actress to begin a career as a singer in parallel. In 1975, she played the main role in the very controversial I love you neitherby Serge Gainsbourg. Three years later, she followed up with three films by Jacques Doillon including La Pirate which consolidated her status as a talented actress and allowed her to act under the direction of recognized directors. . For Rivette, she plays in L'Amour par terre as well as "La Belle Noiseuse" followed by Jane B. by Agnès V., Kung Fu Master by Varda and finally Daddy Nostalgie by Tavernier.

An accomplished, multifaceted artist, she is omnipresent in all fields, cinema, arthouse films, theater, music. However, it will start to change. to be rare from the 1990s, but nevertheless appears in We know the song in 1997, Married but not too much in 2003 but also If you die, I'll kill youin 2011.

Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

This is one of the most legendary couples in French song: Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. The two artists met on the set of the film Slogan, by Pierre Grimblat, while the young woman replaces actress Marisa Berenson. They appear during a dinner at Maxim's, in Paris. Paris: this is the beginning of their romance which will cause much ink to flow throughout the world. the end of the 1960s. For ten years, their romance fascinated the French. The most prominent couple in the capital lives next door. Paris, with Jane Birkin's first daughter, Kate. On July 12, 1971, a daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, was born in a London clinic. Quickly, the press scandal talks about marriage: it will not happen.

In 1975, it is in Serge Gainsbourg's first film, Je t'aime moi neither, that she reappears. A feature film which earned her the César for best actress. Serge Gainsbourg will offer Jane Birkin many of her most beautiful songs, notably thanks to the soundtrack of Je t'aime, moi non plus. But in 1980, Jane Birkin left the sulphurous singer. The cause? alcohol, even the violence of Serge Gainsbourg. The Briton found love again in the arms of director Jacques Doillon, with whom she had another daughter, Lou, in September 1982.

Jane Birkin in some cult songs

If she came to France to perform in comedy, Jane Birkin has become one of the cult singers of French musical heritage. this to several titles, entered into the pantheon of cult songs. We could cite, obviously, we already have some spoken, Je t'aime, moi non plus, with Serge Gainsbourg, as well as Ballade de Melody Nelson in 1971,  Ballad of Johnny Jane in 1976, Running from happiness lest it run away in 1983, but also Do you remember and Je m'appelle Jane in 2004, two tracks taken from his album Rendez-vous.

Jane Birkin facing off; disease

After having released several albums and followed by several albums. After the tour, Jane Birkin, in 2012, was forced to cancel a series of concerts in France. followed by multiple recurrences”, which forced her to “complete rest”, it was announced. by his manager Olivier Gluzman in June that year. Acute pericarditis is an inflammation of the pericardium, a membrane that surrounds the heart muscle. An illness that had transformed into leukemia. "We enter hospital for pericarditis, then for the water around the lungs, we remove a liter and a half, but afterward, it is the blood cells which begin to deteriorate. play pranks on you,” explained the artist in Gala in 2013, describing “an autoimmune disease, in a rather poetic genre.”

For several months, the disease grew. Jane Birkin has withdrawn from the media scene to treat her leukemia. the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny. A few years later, at On the occasion of the release of "Birkin / Gainsbourg : The symphonic", she explained how that she was “doing well”, while making a sad observation: “I understood that, like it or not, I no longer had ten years left in me.” p>

Jane Birkin and the death of her daughter Kate

Kate Barry is the first daughter of Jane Birkin, born in London. London on April 8, 1967 of her marriage to film composer John Barry. Portrait photographer, she spends her life Paris. À Following the separation of her parents, from her first months, Kate Barry was raised by Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin's new husband, then, at the age of 18, his adolescence, by Jacques Doillon, in a relationship with the singer from 1980 à 1992. In 1984, Kate Birkin graduated from the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture in Paris. Discreet and reserved, the young woman fell into alcohol and drug addiction. In 1993, she was at the origin of the creation of Apte (Help and prevention of drug addictions through mutual aid), on a London model.

But on Wednesday, December 11, 2013, everything changed. Kate Barry was found dead after falling from the 4th floor of the building where she fell. she lived at Paris. She was 46 years old. According to the investigators, who quickly favored the thesis of the defenestration, the photographer was alone in the apartment, closed to the outside. from the inside, and antidepressants have been used. found on the scene. A terrible tragedy for Jane Birkin, who confided very little about it. à this about. However, in 2018, she said a few words about the death of her eldest daughter at the microphone of France Inter. "When my daughter died, I lost that confidence. (on her abilities as a mother, editor’s note). I did not know what to do. I had left life, finally I was living a sort of parallel life, confided the singer.

Jane Birkin victim of a "mild stroke" ;

In 2021, Jane Birkin had toû cancel his visit to the Deauville American film festival, after having been canceled. victim of a "mild form of stroke" (stroke), his relatives said in a press release. published by AFP in early September 2021. Jane Birkin “is doing well,” added the document, which details that this stroke occurred “a few days ago.” She is doing well, so her loved ones want us to respect the tranquility of her life. necessary to his convalescence. Jane can't wait to meet her audience again,” we can read in the press release. transmitted to the same source through its agent.

Jane Birkin was therefore unable to go to the Deauville American film festival, but also had to attend. cancel your trip to the Ciné Meetings in Cotentin, where she was expected for the documentary filmJane by Charlotte, directed by by his daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg and presented out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

A week after the announcement of the "mild stroke" of which was victim Jane Birkin, her daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, had given to her his turn at the news."I have a message from my mother. I had it all at once. time and I know people are worried about her. She is fine (…) I asked her if she wanted me to say something. She told me 'that everything is fine and that the Nantes University Hospital is great', explained the actress and singer during the Deauville American film festival , according to AFP.

Twice in 2023, Jane Birkin had toû give up the scene. In a press release relayed press by her label, the singer announced last May the cancellation of all her upcoming concerts, until then. autumn. "Through her words Jane Birkin informs her audience that her Parisian dates next month (Olympia and Cigale) are canceled, just like her presence at the next summer festivals," – we read in the press release. Jane Birkin explained in the same document: "I have always been passionate about this. a great optimist, and realize that I still need a little time to be able to be on stage and with you again. I love being with you so much. I miss you." The singer also made an appointment at her fans "this this fall."

In March 2023, Jane Bikin had already announced the cancellation of his concerts, until this famous date the Olympia, which was to mark his return to the stage. She then had to sing at La Cigale on June 22, then on tour of festivals until next fall. At the beginning of March 2023, Jane Birkin had already canceled a concert in Brittany. "I'm not doing well at all, I broke down. my shoulder blade and it hurts a lot,” she confided to the newspaper Le Tétélégramme.