Barbara (singer) - Later Years

Later Years

Serf's career remained extremely active in the 1970s, appearing on television variety shows with stars such as Johnny Hallyday as well as embarking on a tour of Japan, Canada, Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Through the 1980s, she continued to tour and to write songs, her album "Seule" was one of France's top grossing releases of 1981. The next year she was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque in recognition of her contribution to French culture. She developed a close working relationship with rising film star, Gérard Depardieu and his wife Élisabeth, collaborating on songs for film and records. In 1986 she went to New York City to perform on piano at the Metropolitan Opera with Mikhail Baryshnikov in a song and dance ballet presentation. She co-wrote the music for the stage play "Lily Passion" with Luc Plamondon in which she co-starred with Gérard Depardieu. This told the story of David, a killer, who murders someone each time he hears her sing. An extremely dramatic piece, she achieves her goal at the end by having him stab her so that she can die in his arms. She claimed to have chosen the name David in honour of her friend, the biographer David Bret.

In the latter part of the 1980s she became active in the fight against AIDS. She recorded SID'Amour à mort and brought drums of condoms to her theatres. In 1988 the government of France awarded her the Legion of Honor. Health problems impeded her performing and she began to devote time to the writing of her memoirs. However, she recorded another very successful album in 1996—this sold over a million copies in just twelve hours—before respiratory problems took her life in Neuilly-sur-Seine (a suburb of Paris), on November 24, 1997. She was interred near other members of her family in the Cimetière de Bagneux in Montrouge, south of Paris.