Serge Gainsbourg was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative releases which caused uproar in France, dividing public opinion. His artistic output ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. Gainsbourg's varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorise, although his legacy has been firmly established and he is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians.
Jane Mallory Birkin was a British-French actress, singer, style icon, and designer. She had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema.
Manfred Mann were an English rock band formed in London in 1962. They were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The group had two lead vocalists: Paul Jones from 1962 to 1966 and Mike d'Abo from 1966 to 1969. Other members of various group line-ups were Mike Hugg, Mike Vickers, Dave Richmond, Tom McGuinness, Jack Bruce and Klaus Voormann.
Arthur Greenslade was a British conductor and arranger for films and television, as well as for a number of performers. He was most musically active in the 1960s and 1970s.
"Je t'aime... moi non plus" is a 1967 song written by Serge Gainsbourg for Brigitte Bardot. In 1969, Gainsbourg recorded the best-known version as a duet with English actress Jane Birkin. Although this version reached number one in the UK, the first foreign-language song to do so, and number two in Ireland, it was banned in several countries because of its overtly sexual content. In 1976 Gainsbourg directed Birkin in an erotic film of the same name.
James George Tomkins, known professionally as Big Jim Sullivan, was an English guitarist.
Di doo dah is the debut solo album by Jane Birkin, released in 1973 on Fontana Records. Subsequent reissues in 2001 and 2010 included two bonus tracks from the 1972 7" single "La Décadanse" by Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg.
Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg is a 1969 collaborative studio album by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. It was originally released by Fontana Records. It includes "Je t'aime... moi non plus", which reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart.
Thomas John Patrick McGuinness is a guitarist, singer and songwriter who played guitar and bass with rock band Manfred Mann, among others, before becoming a record and television producer.
Je t'aime moi non plus is a 1976 feature film written, directed, and scored by Serge Gainsbourg, starring Jane Birkin, Hugues Quester and Joe Dallesandro, and featuring a cameo by Gérard Depardieu.
Variations sur le même t'aime is the second album by popular French singer Vanessa Paradis. It was released in France in 1990, and contains the hit singles "Tandem" and "Dis-lui toi que je t'aime".
Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited is a tribute album to the works of late French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. First released on Virgin Records in 2006, it consists of English language cover versions of Gainsbourg songs, performed by a diverse array of contemporary artists. Gainsbourg's former wife, Jane Birkin, sang on one track.
"5-4-3-2-1" is a 1964 song by British band Manfred Mann, written by the group's eponymous keyboardist Manfred Mann along with Mike Hugg and Paul Jones. Released as a single on 10 January 1964, the track peaked at #5 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's breakthrough single and first commercial hit as the theme tune for the weekly ITV pop music television programme Ready Steady Go!. In an interview with Uncut, Mann said that he regarded Ready Steady Go as being like a rocket, and wrote the song as a countdown to launch it.
"Lemon Incest" is a song recorded by French father and daughter Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It was recorded in 1984 and released as a single from Serge's 1985 album Love on the Beat and on Charlotte's 1986 debut album Charlotte For Ever, marking her musical debut. It is a pop song about a relationship between Serge and Charlotte, the latter of whom was 12 or 13 years old at the time, set to the melody of Frédéric Chopin's Étude Op. 10, No. 3. Its title is a play on the French term un zeste de citron, which translates to lemon zest in English.
Aux Armes et cætera is the thirteenth studio album by Serge Gainsbourg, released in the early spring of 1979. It was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, with some of the island's best reggae musicians at the time as well as members of the I Threes, Bob Marley's backup chorus which includes Rita Marley. Further expanded by new mixes, dubs and Jamaican versions released in 2003 and 2015, the album is considered by many as one of his masterpieces. The French edition of Rolling Stone magazine named this album the 50th greatest French rock album. The recording marked the first time a white singer had recorded a full reggae-influenced album in Jamaica, following previous single-song recordings from Paul Simon and Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger. By 1991, it sold 650,000 copies in France.
"Guitar Song" is a single released by Scottish band Texas, taken from their greatest hits album The Greatest Hits. It contains a sample of the song "Je t'aime... moi non plus" performed by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. The song was released in 2001 exclusively in Belgium, where it charted inside the top 50 in both Flanders and Wallonia.
The Manfred Mann Album is the debut American studio album by Manfred Mann, released in September 1964 on Ascot Records. It contains the hit single "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", as well as covers of well-known R&B hits such as "Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf, "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" by Muddy Waters, and "Down the Road Apiece" by Will Bradley. Modern reviews of the album are generally positive and consider The Manfred Mann Album an important piece during the heyday of the British Invasion.
The discography of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg consists of 16 studio albums, 4 live albums, 1 compilation album, 80 singles and EPS, and several soundtrack albums.
"A Fair Affair (Je T'Aime)" is a song by British–Swiss singer-songwriter Misty Oldland, released in 1994 by Columbia as the second single from the singer's debut album, Supernatural (1994). The song is her most successful release and was a number five hit in Iceland, while peaking at number ten in the Netherlands and number 20 in France. It samples the French song "Je t'aime... moi non plus" by Serge Gainsbourg. The music video for "A Fair Affair (Je T'Aime)" was directed by British director Jake Nava.
