Rue Faubourg: Gainsbourg – Being Serge Gainsbourg
twitter.com Serge Gainsbourg was born Lucien Ginsburg in Paris, France, the son of Russian Jewish parents, Joseph Ginsburg (1896 — 22 April 1971) and Olga Bessman (1894 — 16 March 1985), who fled to France after the 1917 Russian Revolution. He had a twin sister, Liliane. His childhood was profoundly affected by the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, during which he and his family, as Jews, were forced to wear the yellow star and eventually flee Paris. Before he was 30 years old, Gainsbourg was a disillusioned painter, but earned his living as a piano player in bars. He first married Elisabeth “Lize” Levitsky on 3 November 1951, and divorced her in 1957. He married a second time on 7 January 1964, to Françoise-Antoinette “Béatrice” Pancrazzi (b. 28 July 1931), with whom he had two children: a daughter named Natacha (b. 8 August 1964) and a son, Paul (born in spring 1968, after Serge had got back together with Béatrice). They divorced in February 1966. In late-1967, he had a short but ardent love affair with Brigitte Bardot to whom he dedicated the song and album Initials BB. In mid-1968, Gainsbourg fell in love with the much younger English singer and actress Jane Birkin, whom he met during the shooting of the film Slogan. They married some time afterwards. In 1971 they had a daughter, the actress and singer Charlotte. Birkin left him in 1980. His last partner was Bambou (Caroline Paulus, grandchild of General Friedrich Paulus). In 1986 they had a son, Lucien (best …
