The most English of French singers died on Sunday July 16. Jane Birkin, then 76, was found dead in her Parisian home by her caregiver. Many personalities have continued to pay tribute to him since the announcement of his disappearance, at the end of the morning.
On Instagram, Étienne Daho, who produced and composed the singer’s last album, Oh! Pardon tu slept…, released in 2020, considered “unimaginable to live in a world without your light”, accompanying its message with a black and white photo of Jane when she was young.
Alain Chamfort, singer and actor with whom she also collaborated in song in the duo Baby Lou, shared his “infinite sadness” in a tweet. On Twitter, the Ministry of Culture Rima Abdul Malak presents her as a “timeless French-speaking icon”.
Singer, but also actress, Jane Birkin multiplied the talents. Josiane Balasko, actress and director, remembers, at the microphone of BFMTV, Jane’s “humility”. But also with his “very soft and whispered voice”: “In the theater, you can’t whisper. I always told him speak louder Jane, louder. I knew very well that she could do it.”
Many French political figures have also paid tribute to one of the icons of French song. On Twitter, the President of the Republic hailed an artist who “sung the most beautiful words of our language” whose “voice was as sweet as her commitments were ardent”.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne shared her “sadness to learn of the disappearance of Jane Birkin. Through her music and her talent, she will have transcended the generations. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, for her part honored on Twitter the “most Parisian of English women” and remembered “her laughter” and “her incomparable accent”.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, for his part, returned to his “relationship with Serge Gainsbourg [qui] marked an era and left us timeless masterpieces” by posting on Twitter a photo of the singer in front of the famous Negresco hotel.
Famous even abroad, the international press also pays tribute to the French icon. The very serious English newspaper The Guardian celebrated the London roots of the interpreter of “I love you… me neither”.
Beyond music and cinema, Jane Birkin was also a great inspiration for several haute couture houses. The most famous fashion collaboration remains the one with Hermès which gave birth to the iconic “Birkin” bag. To honor her, fashion designer and artistic director of Balmain, Olivier Rousteing, thanked the model on Instagram: “Thank you for all these years of inspiration and beauty. The English French icon who was on every mood board for so many of us.”
