(Paris) The day after the death of Jane Birkin, found lifeless on Sunday at her Parisian home, the singer’s daughters, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, praised Monday the “fierce battle against the disease” led by their mother, while tributes have multiplied.
“Jane Birkin passed away after 16 years of a fierce battle with illness. Since her stroke in September 2021, her family and wonderful caregivers have been by her side day and night,” they wrote.
“For a few days, she had been walking again, was motivated to reschedule her Olympia (legendary concert hall in Paris: editor’s note) and had decided to regain her independence. This first evening alone will have been the last. She had decided it “, they add in this text transmitted by Olivier Gluzman, manager of the artist.
The singer’s entourage clarified Monday evening that the death was of natural causes.
The singer’s artistic agency, Les Visiteurs du soir, also announced that the funeral will take place in the intimacy of family and friends by invitation, and paid tribute to her on Instagram: “Jane is gone. Jane, an icon but also and above all a wonderful woman, a talented, committed and free artist”.
“Twenty-two years of complicity, of emotions, of projects, of incredible journeys, of encounters, of music, of laughter, and sometimes of pain too, of questions, of commitments, of desires, of curiosity, and above all a deep friendship. […] We are all sad, but remember the moments of grace experienced together. A huge void,” the agency added.
Marianne Faithfull, Iggy Pop, and French artists Étienne Daho, Sheila, Benjamin Biolay, Françoise Hardy, Clara Luciani, Alain Souchon and Serge Lama also hailed the memory of the singer.
“My dearest Jane is gone,” wrote on social media Marianne Faithfull, also an English artist who hatched during the “Swinging London” of the 1960s and later settled in Paris.
“Jane Birkin was a beautiful and unique woman,” responded another pop-rock figure, Iggy Pop, in comments relayed by those around her on Twitter.
Perhaps the most moving tribute came from French singer Étienne Daho, who wrote a long message to the deceased on Monday on social media.
“I loved your unique voice, high pitched and so singular, your free, poetic and cheeky writing, your commitments. Always honest. Always light. Always too modest and generous, attributing your successes to others, ”slips the “godfather” of French pop, who had co-composed his album Oh! Sorry, you were sleeping… (2020).
“A moment of grace,” he recalls. “Defying all the laws of medicine, warrior before the eternal, you overcame your suffering, without a complaint and with a smile, to win triumphant victories every evening, in front of an audience moved to tears. A lesson “.
French singer Serge Lama posted a poem on Twitter: “Et Vadim inventa Bardot. And Gainsbourg invented Birkin. For France, two great gifts. Two great affronts to misogynists, spearheads that carry high the high feminine image. Glory to Birkin in his tomb. Sadness! Like a fine rain…”.
The singer Miossec also said he was moved by his disappearance. “Jane Birkin was the first to come and get me for lyrics,” said this resident of Brest (western France), daily Le Télégramme, recalling the singer’s attachment to Finistère (western France) where she had a house.
After Hermès, which had created a bag in his name, Olivier Rousteing (Balmain) and Jacquemus, it’s fashion designer Hedi Slimane’s turn to pay homage to him. He posted on Instagram a photo of Birkin in a tuxedo and white shirt for a 2016 Saint Laurent campaign, along with the words “Ex-fan of the sixties”.