Serge Ginzburg is a great chansonnier. Artist biography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Serge Ginzburg has become famous in many art forms. Throughout his life, he has been writing and performing songs (singing and playing the piano), writing scripts and film soundtracks.

He is also known as an artist, actor and director. Biographies of Serge Ginzburg will be the subject of this article.

Creative style

Serge Ginzburg's lyrics were often intricate and featured numerous examples of wordplay. At the same time, the themes of his works are very mundane. This inconsistency created a comic effect. Serge Ginzburg deliberately misled listeners. Almost all the creations of this artist are written in French.

In his native country, he is considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time. This singer and poet has a lot of admirers and followers in English-speaking countries, as well as in the rest of the world. Many English and American musicians admit that they learned to arrange by listening to the songs of the hero of this article.

Birth

Serge Ginzburg was born in Paris in 1928. His parents were of Jewish origin. After the October Revolution, they emigrated from Ukraine to France.

The father of the future French pop star had a classical musical education. He worked as a pianist in a cabaret and a casino. It was the father who taught his children, Serge and his twin sister Lillian, to play this instrument.

Children of War

The young years of Ginzburg fell on the time of the occupation of France by German troops during the Second World War. After graduation, the young man got a job as a teacher of music and fine arts in one of the settlements near the French capital. He taught Jewish children orphaned during the war. Here he heard many sad stories, some of which were later reflected in his songwriting.

Simultaneously with teaching activities, the hero of this article painted pictures, which, however, were not appreciated by the public at that time. Therefore, by the age of thirty, Serge became disillusioned with painting. Then, as a part-time job, he started playing the piano in bars.

Name change

At birth, the future famous poet and composer received the name Lucien, traditional for French culture. But when he began to give the first small concerts, he changed it to Serge. This, in his opinion, was more in line with the Russian traditions in which his ancestors were brought up. Both Serge Ginsburg and Jane Birkin, who was his wife, recalled that Lucien was the name of a hairdresser's assistant whomsinger.

Therefore, having become a star, the musician chose a nobler name for himself. He also changed the spelling of his last name. Now it has taken on the appearance of Gainsbourg. The name of the English artist Thomas Gainsborough is written in a similar way. This painter was admired by the hero of this article in his youth, when he took drawing lessons.

First songs

The first steps on the stage were inspired by the work of the French chansonnier Boris Vian. Many call this artist a man of the Renaissance, because in addition to writing songs, he was engaged in the translation of literature, sculpture, painting and the creation of novels-parodies of detective stories. Ginzburg felt a spiritual affinity with him, as his interests were also very diverse.

The first songs were written as imitations of old-school French chansonniers. With some of these masters he had to meet in life. So, in the late fifties, he accompanied the famous singer Michelle Arno on the piano. She discovered in a shy young man the author of beautiful songs, who was embarrassed to show them to the public, as he considered his works too innovative compared to the classic French chanson. Arno advised him to perform these songs and record them if possible. Thus, it was she who predicted the aspiring artist his future brilliant career.

Experiments

Inspired by the first success, Serge Ginzburg ventured into further experiments in creativity. Soon in his compositionselements of jazz began to appear. In the sixties, many songs were written under the influence of English and American pop music, in the seventies he became interested in funk, rock and reggae, and after a while he began to use electronic instruments in arrangements.

As for the lyrics, Ginzburg's poems often contain political, social or sexual overtones.

Songs for other artists

Often Ginzburg created his works for other singers or in order to sing them in a duet with some artist. In 1964 he recorded several songs with Philip Clay.

Then the composer met the young French singer Elek Baksik. The hero of the article liked his performing style, despite the fact that Serge was well aware that the public would hardly be able to appreciate such a vocal style. Despite everything, he insisted that several of his songs be recorded by this particular artist.

Ginsburg was right when he predicted that the record would not be a success. Slightly over a thousand copies have been sold.

The artist gained worldwide fame with the release of the song Je t'aime, which Serge Ginzburg and Birkin sang together. Due to the explicit exclamations at the end of the composition, this romantic ballad was banned in several countries.

As a director, he has made four films. Serge Ginzburg in one of his films - "Charlotte Forever" - starred his daughter, also a famous actress andsinger.

The artist died at the age of 63 from a heart attack. He was buried with his parents in Paris.