53 Facts About Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker.

Serge Gainsbourg wrote over 550 songs, which have been covered more than 1,000 times by diverse artists.

Serge Gainsbourg has gained a cult following all over the world with chart success in the United Kingdom and Belgium with "" and "Bonnie and Clyde", respectively.

Serge Gainsbourg was the son of Jewish Russian migrants, Joseph and Olga Ginsburg, who fled to Paris via Istanbul after the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Serge Gainsbourg's childhood was profoundly affected by the occupation of France by Germany during World War II.

In 1945, Serge Gainsbourg's father enrolled him into Beaux-Arts de Paris, a prestigious art school, before he switched to the Academie de Montmartre, where his professors included the likes of Andre Lhote and Fernand Leger.

Serge Gainsbourg never saw action and spent the time playing dirty songs on his guitar, visiting prostitutes and drinking, later admitting that the service made him an alcoholic.

Serge Gainsbourg obtained work teaching music and drawing in a school outside of Paris, in Le Mesnil-le-Roi.

Serge Gainsbourg was disillusioned as a painter, as he lacked talent.

Serge Gainsbourg was able to earn a living working odd jobs and as a piano player in bars, usually as a stand-in for his father.

Serge Gainsbourg soon became the venue pianist at the drag cabaret club Madame Arthur.

Whilst filling in a form to join the songwriting society SACEM, Gainsbourg decided to change his first name to Serge, feeling that this was representative of his Jewish background and because, as his future partner Jane Birkin relates: "Lucien reminded him of a hairdresser's assistant".

Serge Gainsbourg chose Gainsbourg as his last name, in homage to the English painter Thomas Gainsborough, whom he admired.

Serge Gainsbourg had a revelation when he saw Boris Vian at the Milord l'Arsouille club, whose provocative and humorous songs would influence his own compositions.

At the Milord l'Arsouille, Serge Gainsbourg accompanied singer and club star Michele Arnaud on the guitar.

In 1957, Arnaud and the club's director Francis Claude discovered, with amazement, the compositions of Serge Gainsbourg while visiting his house to see his paintings.

Serge Gainsbourg describes this chore as so monotonous, that the man eventually thinks of putting a hole into his own head and being buried in another hole.

Serge Gainsbourg was given his own show by Claude and was eventually spotted by Jacques Canetti, who helped propel his career with a spot at the Theatre des Trois Baudets and on his tours.

Serge Gainsbourg made his film debut in 1959 with a supporting role in the French-Italian co-production Come Dance with Me, starring his future lover Brigitte Bardot.

Serge Gainsbourg would continue playing "nasty characters" in similar productions, including Samson and The Fury of Hercules.

Gall later expressed displeasure at Serge Gainsbourg's antics, stating she felt "betrayed by the adults around me" in 2001.

Olatunji later sued Serge Gainsbourg for lifting three tracks from his 1960 album Drums of Passion.

Between 1965 and 1966, Serge Gainsbourg composed the music and sung the words of science fiction writer Andre Ruellan for several songs made for a series of animated Marie-Mathematics shorts created by Jean-Claude Forest.

Serge Gainsbourg would reunite with Michele Arnaud for the duet "Les Papillons noirs" from her 1966 comeback record.

In 1967, Serge Gainsbourg wrote the script and provided the soundtrack for the musical comedy television film Anna starring Anna Karina in the titular role.

In that year, Serge Gainsbourg would have a brief but ardent love affair with Brigitte Bardot.

Bardot's LP Brigitte Bardot Show 67 contained four songs penned by Serge Gainsbourg, including duets such as the playful "Comic Strip" and the string-laden "Bonnie and Clyde", which tells the story of the American criminal couple and was based on a poem written by Bonnie Parker herself.

Serge Gainsbourg borrowed heavily from Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony for the title track, named after and dedicated to Bardot.

Shortly after being left by Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg was asked by Francoise Hardy to write a French version of the song "It Hurts to Say Goodbye".

In mid-1968 Serge Gainsbourg fell in love with the younger English singer and actress Jane Birkin, whom he met during the shooting of the film Slogan.

Serge Gainsbourg provided the soundtrack and dueted with Birkin on the title theme "La Chanson de Slogan".

Serge Gainsbourg's vocals were an octave higher than Bardot's, contained suggestive heavy breathing and culminated in simulated orgasm sounds.

Serge Gainsbourg suffered a heart attack in May 1973, but refused to cut back on his smoking and drinking.

In that year, Serge Gainsbourg wrote all of the tracks on Birkin's debut solo album Di doo dah and he would continue to write for her until his death.

In 1975, Serge Gainsbourg released the darkly comic album Rock Around the Bunker, performed in an upbeat 1950s rock and roll style and written on the subject of Nazi Germany and the Second World War, drawing from his experiences as a Jewish child in occupied France.

In 1976, Serge Gainsbourg made his directorial debut with Je t'aime moi non plus, an offbeat drama named after his song of the same name.

In 1978, Serge Gainsbourg dropped plans to record another concept album and contacted several Jamaican musicians including rhythm section players Sly and Robbie with the intention of recording a reggae album.

Serge Gainsbourg received death threats from right-wing veteran soldiers of the Algerian War of Independence, who were opposed to their national anthem being arranged in reggae style.

Alone onstage, Serge Gainsbourg raised his fist and answered: "The true meaning of our national anthem is revolutionary" and sang it a capella with the audience.

Also in 1980, Serge Gainsbourg dueted with actress Catherine Deneuve on the hit song "Dieu fumeur de havanes" from the film Je vous aime and published a novella entitled Evguenie Sokolov, the tale of an avant-garde painter who exploits his flatulence by creating a style known as "gasograms".

Bob Marley, husband to The I Threes singer Rita Marley, was reportedly furious when he discovered that Serge Gainsbourg had made his wife Rita sing erotic lyrics.

In 1982, Serge Gainsbourg contributed his songwriting to French rockstar Alain Bashung's album Play blessures, which was a left turn creatively for Bashung and is often considered a cult classic despite negative contemporary reviews.

Love on the Beat saw Serge Gainsbourg move on from reggae and onto a more electronic, new wave inspired sound.

The music video for the song featured a half-naked Serge Gainsbourg lying on a bed with Charlotte, leading to further controversy.

Serge Gainsbourg starred in the film alongside Charlotte as a widowed, alcoholic father living with his daughter.

Serge Gainsbourg continued to write for other artists, including the lyrics to "White and Black Blues" by Joelle Ursull, the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, coming in second place.

Serge Gainsbourg similarly wrote all of the lyrics for popular singer Vanessa Paradis's album Variations sur le meme t'aime, declaring "Paradis is hell" after its release.

Serge Gainsbourg, who smoked five packs of unfiltered Gitane cigarettes a day, died from a heart attack at his home on 2 March 1991, a month short of his 63rd birthday.

Serge Gainsbourg was buried in the Jewish section of the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.

Serge Gainsbourg elevated the song to the level of art.

Serge Gainsbourg's music has been sampled by several hip hop artists, including songs by Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Busta Rhymes and MC Solaar.

The Parisian house in which Serge Gainsbourg lived from 1969 until 1991, at 5 bis Rue de Verneuil, remains a celebrated shrine, with his ashtrays and collections of various items, such as police badges and bullets, intact.

Serge Gainsbourg is portrayed by Eric Elmosnino as an adult and Kacey Mottet Klein as a child.