The tributes followed one another, Sunday, July 16, after the announcement of the death, at 76, of the Franco-British singer and actress Jane Birkin. Emmanuel Macron hailed a “French icon” who “embodied freedom” and “sung the most beautiful words of our language”. “A complete artist, her voice was as sweet as her commitments were fiery. She bequeaths us tunes and images that will not leave us, ”wrote the head of state on Twitter.
Elisabeth Borne hailed “an unforgettable icon, [with a] unique voice and [au] charm”, who, “through her music and her talent”, has “transcended the generations”. “Thank you for the emotions aroused and this legacy that will live forever,” the premier tweeted.
The Ministry of Culture paid tribute to this star whose “collaborations with the greatest (Serge Gainsbourg, Etienne Daho or Agnès Varda) have made her a timeless French-speaking icon”, followed closely by the Minister of Culture , Rima Abdul Malak, for whom “Jane B. was mischief, sassy elegance, the never-outdated emblem of an entire era, a murmuring voice that remains our idol”.
“The most French of British artists”
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, paid tribute to “the most Parisian of English women”. “We will never forget his songs, his laughter or his unmistakable accent that has always accompanied us,” she wrote on Twitter. UK Ambassador to France Menna Rawlings said she was “sad to learn of the death of Jane Birkin (…) ‘the most French of British artists'”.
On Facebook, the singer Etienne Daho, one of his relatives, who co-composed his last album, Oh! Pardon tu slept… (2020), posted a short message: “Unimaginable to live in a world without your light”, while actor and director Pierre Richard tweeted: “Jane, so funny, so intelligent, so fragile , so generous, so all! A piece of my heart goes with her. The singers Sheila, Patrick Bruel, Benjamin Biolay have also saluted his memory.
Saxophonist and composer, Laurent Bardainne is one of the jazz musicians who participated in the recording of the album Oh! Sorry you were sleeping… He had been introduced by the musician, producer and sound engineer Philippe Zdar (1967-2019) to Etienne Daho, while he was working, in 2012, on the first album of Lou Doillon, daughter of Jane Birkin and director Jacques Doillon . “Everything went well, and since then I am his brass arranger, for his projects or those for others. »
The session for the brass of Jane Birkin’s album lasted only one day, at the time of the Covid-19. “She arrived at the studio masked, but I saw her eyes sparkling, it’s a beautiful memory. She didn’t come to sing, but she was there, she told us, “for the pleasure of seeing and hearing the musicians” who were recording for her. She was very admiring, natural, fresh, super sweet, attentive. In the headphones, between takes, she told us, “it’s great”. There, I still hear his voice in the studio, it’s moving. “At the start of the day, we had to solve a mystery, remembers Laurent Bardainne, that of a noise that went through a microphone. “She had come with her dog, an English Mastiff, a big one who always seemed to sleep. And that was it, he was snoring so loudly in the cabin, that it went through everyone’s microphones. »
An artist “eternal in our hearts”
Asked about France Bleu Champagne-Ardenne, the singer and songwriter Barcella, who also manages the Charabia festival in Reims, remembered the concert that Jane Birkin gave at La Cartonnerie during the 5th edition of the festival, in November 2022. “We felt that she was fragile, but she had lasted an hour and a half of the show, (…) we all saluted the courage she had to continue to sing and transmit, while we already felt tired. Barcella adds that this “great lady of French song” had been behind the scenes “quite charming, welcoming, attentive, someone very smiling”.
Joined in his house in Finistère, the singer Christophe Miossec is very touched by the disappearance of Jane Birkin: “I knew her sick, of course, but I had seen her so many times go up the slope… Everyone talks about her fragility , but it was his strength, his energy, never on hold, that impressed me. She had an almost military courage in the face of pain, it probably came from her father, a former Royal Navy officer. “He is all the more moved that the Englishwoman and he had remained accomplices since 1997, the year when the Breton had written him a text, Les Avalanches, for the album Lightly (1998). “She had been the first to come and get me to ask me for lyrics, I was very intimidated at first”, explains the one who then wrote for Juliette Gréco, Johnny Hallyday, Dani or Alain Bashung.
They had also done many duets together – Ballad of Melody Nelson, Ballad of Johnny Jane, Pour un flirt… – in concert, for television or radio broadcasts. “After sometimes a little weird balances, it always happened miraculously. I was doing my Serge, it had a little surreal side to it. She told me that I reassured her. Their friendship was also that of neighbors in Finistère. “She was very attached to her home in L’Aber Wrac’h, to the region and its inhabitants. There too, it came to him from his father who, during the war, had helped Breton resistance fighters. She also knew all the elders. She had also recently made a documentary [broadcast on France 3, in the program “Le Grand BaZH’art”] on the Breton painter, sculptor and miniaturist Ronan-Jim Sévellec. »
“When you’re this pretty, this fresh, this spontaneous, with a child’s voice, you don’t have the right to die,” actress Brigitte Bardot said in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse, saluting an artist “eternal in our hearts”.
The fashion world has also hailed the memory of the woman who gave her name to a bag from the Hermès brand, among the most expensive in the world. Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing spoke of the disappearance of an “icon”, whose style alternating between bohemian chic and sexy see-through dresses served as an inspiration to many. Stylist Simon Porte Jacquemus uploaded a photo of Jane Birkin as a tribute.
