His father knew best

“It was only a few years ago that I wanted nothing to do with music,’’ he says in heavily accented English. “I really wanted nothing to do with music because of the name that I have. My father was huge. I didn’t want people to think that I was getting into music because it would be easy for me. So at the moment, the thought of this concert is very stressful for me. There’s a lot of pressure. I don’t drink, but I may drink a bottle of whiskey before I get on stage that evening.’’

The name Serge Gainsbourg may not immediately register with music fans in the United States, but in France, he was a revolutionary figure and provocateur who dabbled in everything from traditional French chanson to psychedelia, pop, reggae, and ultimately electronic. He collaborated with Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin (the pair scored a controversial hit with “Je t’aime . . . moi non plus’’ in 1969) and wrote hits for major songbirds such as France Gall, Petula Clark, and Françoise Hardy. He even acted and directed. Despite the fact that Serge died in 1991, his name remains inescapable in France, and now Lucien’s older sister, Charlotte, is recording and acting as well.

The family name is why Lucien, who goes by Lulu, was more than happy to escape to the United States, where he has been living in Boston for the past two years. If he eventually finds fame as a musician, he prefers that it be because he established himself as a talent, rather than finding celebrity based on the fact that he is the son of a famous musician. As a teenager, his original plan was to study computers, but after a few disastrous academic high school years, he decided to pursue music. Lucien started taking piano lessons when he was 4 years old and has played continuously since. He auditioned for a spot at Berklee College of Music and was accepted. He has two more years left of his studies.

“I think he’s a gifted guy,’’ says Tony Smith, a Berklee instructor and drummer who played in Serge Gainsbourg’s band in the 1980s and helped organize the Bastille Day tribute at the Beehive. “I’ve known Lulu since before he was born. A lot of us in the band have acted as surrogate uncles to him and have spent time with him.’’

The Serge Gainsbourg tribute at the Beehive, called Gainsbourg Etcetera, will not only include Lucien singing his father’s songs along with his mother, Bambou Gainsbourg, but it also marks the first time in two decades that Serge Gainsbourg’s band has reformed to played these songs. Gary Georgett, Mike Rathke, Smith, John Kumnick, and Stan Harrison - the five musicians who played in the studio and recorded with Serge - will debut Lucien’s new arrangements of the classics. Pop singer elodieO will also perform with the band.

“It’s kind of funny, it’s exactly what I said I wouldn’t do,’’ Lucien says on the phone from his mother’s home in Paris earlier this week as he prepared to return to Boston. “I’m doing it not to replace him, but I said yes to Tony to be able to play with some great musicians. These guys have played with David Bowie, Radiohead, and Lou Reed. I also know that they loved playing with my dad, and here is a chance for them to do some of that again.’’

Lucien was 5 years old when his father died of a heart attack in 1991, but Serge already had aspirations of seeing his son become famous.

“If my dad had stayed alive, it would have been a very different life for me. After he did his last album, my mom told me that he wanted me to sing,’’ Lucien says. “That’s why on his last album he wrote a song for me [“Hey Man, Amen’’]. He put me on stage because he wanted to show me to everybody. He wanted me to be famous like him. When he looked at me, he could see himself as a little boy. Actually, I have a picture of him when he was little, and we almost have the same face.’’

Lucien credits his mother with giving him a normal childhood and shielding him from the intense public spotlight. After all, the exterior of his father’s last home is still covered with graffiti and poems from fans, and Serge’s songs continue to be covered by modern artists.

Unlike his father, whose envelope-pushing behavior occasionally caused scandal in France, Lucien is hoping to remain quietly behind the scenes. Ultimately, he hopes to score films after graduating from Berklee. His aversion to lyrics is understandable. His father tossed off clever lyrics and double entendres at the same rate he flicked ashes from his ever-present cigarette, and Lucien has no interest in being compared to him.

But Lucien realizes that if he’s performing his late father’s songs, then even his aversion to penning pop songs and fronting a band may one day change as well.

“A few years ago I said I didn’t want to do anything with music, and now I’m playing music,’’ he says. “So now I’m saying I don’t want to write lyrics. I guess I shouldn’t say these things, because clearly, things change all the time.’’

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.