Serge Gainsbourg Biography

This chain-smoking, wiry, intellectual and astonishingly prolific artiste was the one who augmented the façade of ‘French Pop’ a few notches. He tantalized and roused the passive European music listener, through new sounds and provocative lyrics. He was a singer, a songwriter, an actor, a photographer, a director, a sentimentalist, an intellectual, a composer and chiefly, a genius who dabbled in poetry, verse, philosophy, rhythm, sound, and provocation. During a career spanning across 30 years, he crafted jazz, pop, reggae and rock tunes for various artists. His works are celebrated by the common man, be it a taxi driver, a policeman, a university graduate, a retired old man, or a teenager. He enjoyed commercial success at the beginning of his career for his jazz-style songs and caustic lyrics and has catered to the popular demand of various genres of music through every decade. The legendary stature of his progressive musician is acknowledged not only by artists in his native, France, but all over the world. He is still regarded as the controversial yet beloved artiste whose iconic legacy of lyrical brilliance, drama, scandals and controversy though widely criticized is also fondly acknowledged. To learn more about this artist ‘extraordinaire’, scroll further.