JANE BROWN | DATE 7/10/2012

Gainsbourg: The Biography Launch Event at ARTBOOK @ Paper Chase, Los Angeles

ARTBOOK @ Paper Chase, Book Soup and TamTam Books
are pleased to announce the launch party for
Gainsbourg: The Biography.

Please join us for a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg, the French singer, songwriter, poet, composer, artist, actor and the country’s most beloved pop export since Edith Piaf. The evening will feature Gainsbourg videos and music, and a discussion with Biography author, Gilles Verlant, in conversation with translator, Paul Knobloch and TamTam publisher, Tosh Berman.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012
7:00 pm
RSVP@dapinc.com

Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.

Serge Gainsbourg redefined French pop, from his beginnings as cynical chansonnier and mambo-influenced jazz artist to the ironic “yé-yé” beat and lush orchestration of his 1960s work to his launching of French reggae in the 1970s to the electric funk and disco of his last albums. He was the self-proclaimed ugly lover of such beauties as Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, the iconic provocateur whose heavy-breathing “Je t’aime moi non plus” was banned from airwaves throughout Europe and whose reggae version of the “Marseillais” earned him death threats from the right.

Gilles Verlant’s biography of Gainsbourg is the best and most authoritative in any language. Drawing from numerous interviews and their own friendship, Verlant provides a fascinating look at the inner workings of 1950s–1990s French pop culture and the conflicted and driven songwriter, actor, director and author that emerged from it: the young boy wearing a yellow star during the German Occupation; the young art student trying to woo Tolstoy’s granddaughter; the musical collaborator of Petula Clark, Juliette Greco and Sly and Robbie; the seasoned composer of the Lolita of pop albums, Histoire de Melody Nelson; the cultural icon who transformed scandal and song into a new form of delirium.

ARTBOOK @ Paper Chase
7174 Sunset Boulevard
(corner of Sunset and Formosa)
Hollywood, California
(323) 969-8985

This event is FREE and open to the public, but RSVP is required, and will be accepted until venue capacity is reached.

Special thanks to the evening's bookseller, Book Soup.