S. Gainsbourg; French Singer and Composer

PARIS —  Serge Gainsbourg, a singer and songwriter known for his image of unshaven decadence and intimate ballads with erotic overtones, died late Saturday at his home.

Ambulance attendants said they found Gainsbourg’s body in his apartment when they arrived shortly after midnight. Doctors said the singer--often called France’s favorite degenerate--apparently died of natural causes.

Gainsbourg, 62, a heavy drinker, underwent a liver operation in April, 1989. He was hospitalized again six months later with heart trouble and had suffered his first heart attack in 1973.

A prolific composer, Gainsbourg wrote and sang scores of songs. He recorded his songs--many of them banned even by tolerant French radio stations--with a cigarette in one hand, a glass of whiskey in the other and a week’s growth of beard on his face. He was among the best-known French rock stars, but few of his songs were played widely outside France.

Born in Paris as Lucien Ginsburg, the son of a pianist, Gainsbourg studied fine arts. Dissatisfied with his paintings, he burned his canvases and launched a career in nightclubs. His first album of original songs, in the 1950s, won accolades.

In 1969, Gainsbourg and his companion, British actress Jane Birkin, recorded “Je T’aime, Moi Non Plus” (I Love You, Me Neither), a breathy song that was forbidden in Italy after being denounced in the Vatican newspaper.

The couple split up in 1980 but Gainsbourg continued to refer to her as his muse. Birkin launched a singing career of her own in recent years. Gainsbourg helped cultivate a Lolita-like image for the couple’s adolescent daughter, Charlotte, who has appeared in recent films.

He did the soundtrack for the controversial “Goodbye Emmanuel,” wrote ballads for Brigitte Bardot and Isabelle Adjani and once recorded a reggae version of the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise.”

In 1986 he recorded “Love on the Beat” for Polygram, which slapped this warning sticker on the cover: “Explicit French Lyrics: Parental Advisory.”

He also specialized in obscenely witty remarks over live television. On one talk show he asked U.S. singer Whitney Houston to have sex with him.

Gainsbourg appeared in about 20 films, including “Je Vous Aime” with Catherine Deneuve. He recently made a movie, “Charlotte Forever,” with his daughter.

He also managed to win some of the Establishment’s approval. He was made an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters and was seen in President Francois Mitterrand’s company.

Gainsbourg and his most recent companion, Caroline von Paulus, a model known as Bambou, had a son, Lulu, in 1986.