Jane Birkin
Singer and style icon passed away at the age of 76
Jane Birkin at the height of her career in the mid-1980s.
© imago/ABACAPRESS
Jane Birkin is dead. The British-French singer, actress and style icon has died in Paris at the age of 76.
English-French singer, actress and style icon Jane Birkin has died at the age of 76. The French media reported unanimously. Among other things, the daily newspaper “Le Parisien” writes that Birkin was found lifeless in her house in Paris on Sunday. Health problems became known in March after Birkin had to cancel a number of concerts, including several performances in Germany. The TV station BFMTV said at the time that the artist had suffered a stroke.
In her 2018 biography, she announced that she was battling leukemia. Birkin was born in London in 1946, but has lived mainly in Paris and Brittany since the 1960s. First she was married to the composer John Berry (1933-2011) from 1965 to 1968 and was already able to celebrate her first successes during this phase – both as an actress and as a singer.
Jane Birkin and her breathy “Je t’aime”…
Birkin then became internationally known thanks to her scandal hit “Je t’aime … moi non plus”, which she recorded with her partner at the time, Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991). The two met and fell in love while filming together in the late 1960s. The two separated in 1980. She was then in a relationship with director Jacques Doillon (79) until the 1990s. Birkin had three children from these three relationships: the late photographer Kate Barry (1967-2013), actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg (51) and Lou Doillon (40), also an actress and musician.
Birkin is the namesake of a Hermès handbag originally designed for her in 1984. Since then, the so-called Birkin Bag has been designed by hand and has been imitated and copied numerous times. According to Birkin, the idea came about on a flight from Paris and London when the then Hermès boss Jean-Louis Dumas asked her about her handbag, from which her belongings fell to the ground. He said: “You need one with an inside pocket.” Birkin replied, “The day Hermès makes one, I’ll get it.”