Fans and Family Bid Tearful Farewell to ‘French Icon’ Jane Birkin 

Jane Birkin's daughters French-British actress Lou Doillon (R) and French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (L) arrive to attend the funeral ceremony for late British-French singer and actress Jane Birkin at the Saint-Roch church in Paris on July 24, 2023. (AFP)
Jane Birkin's daughters French-British actress Lou Doillon (R) and French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (L) arrive to attend the funeral ceremony for late British-French singer and actress Jane Birkin at the Saint-Roch church in Paris on July 24, 2023. (AFP)
TT

Fans and Family Bid Tearful Farewell to ‘French Icon’ Jane Birkin 

Jane Birkin's daughters French-British actress Lou Doillon (R) and French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (L) arrive to attend the funeral ceremony for late British-French singer and actress Jane Birkin at the Saint-Roch church in Paris on July 24, 2023. (AFP)
Jane Birkin's daughters French-British actress Lou Doillon (R) and French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (L) arrive to attend the funeral ceremony for late British-French singer and actress Jane Birkin at the Saint-Roch church in Paris on July 24, 2023. (AFP)

Hundreds of fans joined film legends and family members to bid farewell to British-born actress and singer Jane Birkin at her funeral in Paris on Monday.

Film star Catherine Deneuve, singer Vanessa Paradis and first Lady Brigitte Macron were among the mourners in the Saint-Roch church.

Outside, tearful fans waving banners marked with "Jane Forever" and "Thank you Jane Birkin" watched the ceremony on a giant screen on the corner of Rue des Pyramides and Rue Saint-Honore.

Birkin's songs, including "La Javanaise", played through speakers across the French capital's first arrondissement.

"I already feel the vacuum she is leaving. This is my mother, our mother," Birkin's daughter, the actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, told mourners in the church.

"Mother, thank you for not being ordinary and reasonable," her other daughter, the actress and singer Lou Doillon, said during the ceremony.

Other mourners included singers Alain Souchon, Etienne Daho, who composed her last album, and Matthieu Chedid.

President Emmanuel Macron declared Birkin "a French icon" after she her death was announced on July 16 at the age of 76.

Overseas, she was best known overseas for her sensual 1969 hit “Je t’aime ... moi non plus”, performed with Serge Gainsbourg.

In France, where she had lived since the late 1960s, she became a well-known and much-loved figure for her songs, roles in dozens of films and the stance she took on a range of issues including women's rights.



Retired Cop Finds Trove of Unreleased Jackson Songs

US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
TT

Retired Cop Finds Trove of Unreleased Jackson Songs

US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File

A retired California highway patrolman has stumbled into possession of a trove of unreleased Michael Jackson songs -- which the world may never have a chance to hear.
Gregg Musgrove, now a stay-at-home dad, procured the tapes after an associate purchased a storage unit in the city of Van Nuys that contained the recordings, according to the Hollywood Reporter, AFP said.
The unit had once belonged to music producer Bryan Loren -- who also worked with artists including Whitney Houston and Sting -- but whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Inside were cassette tapes and digital-audio tapes (DAT) of 12 unreleased tracks Jackson had worked on before releasing his Grammy-nominated "Dangerous" album in 1991.
Sadly for Jackson's many fans, an attorney hired by Musgrove to contact the Jackson estate was told that the estate owns the copyright on all of the late singer's musical recordings and compositions, so they cannot be released publicly.
The estate later clarified for the Hollywood Reporter that it holds the master recordings of the recently unearthed songs in its vaults, and that "nothing commercial or otherwise can be done with the DAT copies."
Some of the songs had only been rumored to exist, while others had been partially leaked, Musgrove told the Hollywood Reporter, but added "a couple aren't even out there in the world."
Some tapes include the voice of Jackson and apparently Loren discussing the songs and the creative process.
"To hear Michael Jackson actually talk and kind of joke back and forth, it was really, really cool," said Musgrove.
The tracks include one titled "Don't Believe It," an apparent reference to rumors about Jackson concerning sexual assault against minors. On another, "Truth on Youth," Jackson appears to engage in a rap duet with LL Cool J.
It was not clear what Musgrove might have paid his associate for the tapes, but he still stands to come out ahead.
He plans to offer the tapes to major auction houses, and buyers are expected to line up.
In 2012, Lady Gaga purchased 55 pieces of Jackson memorabilia -- reportedly including one of his crystal-studded gloves -- while a jacket he wore during his "Bad" tour sold for $240,000.