Charlotte Gainsbourg

• Genre: Dream Pop
• Hometown: Paris
• Charlotte Gainsbourg Website

About

Charlotte Gainsbourg was born into show business. The daughter of the acclaimed English actress/singer/model Jane Birkin and the brilliant French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, Charlotte started her professional career at thirteen. While she became one of France's leading movie actresses (appearing in many English-language films as well), Charlotte has a short but significant CV as a recording artist. An infamous provocateur, Serge Gainsbourg cut the duet "Lemon Incest" with his daughter when she was barely in her teens. In real life, Serge was a doting father, and he recorded an entire album for her in 1986. During the rest of the 1980s and '90s, Charlotte concentrated on acting, earning her place as a celebrated teen actress and an unconventional leading lady. Almost impossibly slender (like her parents), with unconventional features, Charlotte became a surprise sex symbol for the American indie rock set. In 2006, Gainsbourg returned to recording, cutting the album 5:55 with an impressive guitar-pop dream team -- Air, Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) and Neil Hannon (the Divine Comedy) crafted songs with the singer and producer Nigel Godrich, who has worked with Beck and Radiohead.

- Nick Dedina