Édith Piaf

Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist. She is regarded as France's greatest popular singer and one of the most celebrated performers in the world. She is best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres.

Having begun her career touring with her father at age fourteen, she was discovered in 1935 in Paris by night club owner Louis Leplée, and achieved her first successes in the "Theatre de l'ABC" among others with the song "Mon Légionnaire". Owner of the ABC music hall Mitty Goldin also wrote songs for her, e.g. "Demain", and produced some of her songs. Her fame increased during the German occupation of France, shortly after which (in 1945) she wrote the lyrics to her signature song, translated to English, "La Vie en rose" (). She became France's most popular entertainer in the late 1940s, also touring Europe, South America and the United States, where her popularity led to eight appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Piaf continued to perform, including several series of concerts at the Paris Olympia music hall, until a few months before her death in 1963 at age 47. Her last song, "L'Homme de Berlin", was recorded with her husband Théo Sarapo in April 1963. Since her death, several documentaries and films have been produced about Piaf's life as a touchstone of French culture, including the Academy Award winning in 2007.

Piaf's music was often autobiographical, and she specialized in and torch ballads about love, loss and sorrow. In addition to her signature song, her most widely known songs include "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "La Foule" (1957), "L'Accordéoniste" (1940), and "Padam, padam..." (1951).

Early life

Édith Piaf's birth certificate indicates she was born in Paris on 19 December 1915, at the Hôpital Tenon.

Her birth name was Édith Giovanna Gassion. The name "Édith" was inspired by British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed 2 months before Édith's birth for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity during World War I. Twenty years later, Édith's stage surname "Piaf" was created by her first promoter, from french slang meaning a small bird, often with pejorative connotations.

Édith's father Louis Alphonse Gassion (1881–1944) was an acrobatic street performer from Normandy with a theater background. Louis's father was Victor Alphonse Gassion (1850–1928) and his mother was Léontine Louise Descamps (1860–1937), who ran a brothel in Normandy and was known professionally as "Maman Tine". Édith's mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard (1895–1945) was a singer and circus performer born in Italy who performed under the stage name "Line Marsa". Annetta's father was Auguste Eugène Maillard (1866–1912) of French descent and Édith's grandmother was Emma (Aïcha) Saïd Ben Mohammed (1876–1930), an acrobat of Kabyle and Italian descent. Annetta and Louis divorced on 4 June 1929.

Piaf's mother abandoned her at birth, and she lived for a short time with her maternal grandmother, Emma (Aïcha), in Bethandy, Normandy. Her father enlisted with the French Army in 1916 to fight in World War I. By the end of the war, she was in the care of her mother at a brothel in Bernay, Normandy.

From the age of three to seven, Piaf was allegedly blind as a result of keratitis. Piaf claimed this resulted in a miraculous healing. The following year, Piaf met Simone "Mômone" Berteaut, who became a companion for most of her life. In a memoir, Berteaut later falsely represented herself as Piaf's half-sister.

Piaf met a young man named Louis Dupont in 1932 and lived with him for a time; she became pregnant, and gave birth, to a daughter, Marcelle "Cécelle" Dupont, on 11 February 1933, when Piaf was seventeen. inspired Leplée to give her the nickname La Môme Piaf, Leplée was murdered. Piaf was questioned, and accused as an accessory, but acquitted. A barrage of negative media attention now threatened Piaf's career. He changed her stage name to "Édith Piaf," barred undesirable acquaintances from seeing her, and commissioned Monnot to write songs that reflected, or alluded to, Piaf's previous life on the streets. She began forming friendships with prominent people, such as actor and singer Maurice Chevalier and poet Jacques Bourgeat. Piaf also performed in various nightclubs and brothels, which flourished between 1940 and 1945. Various top Paris brothels, including Le Chabanais, Le Sphinx, One Two Two, La rue des Moulins, and Chez Marguerite, were reserved for German officers and collaborating Frenchmen. Piaf was invited to take part in a concert tour to Berlin, sponsored by the German officials, together with artists such as Loulou Gasté, Raymond Souplex, Viviane Romance and Albert Préjean. In 1942, she was able to afford a luxury flat, in a house, in the upmarket 16th arrondissement of Paris area. She lived above the L'Étoile de Kléber, a famous nightclub and bordello, close to the Paris Gestapo headquarters. she had to testify, before an Épuration légale (post-war legal trial), as there were plans to ban her from appearing on radio transmissions. According to Bigard, she performed, several times, at prisoner-of-war camps in Germany, and was instrumental in helping a number of prisoners escape. In particular, at the beginning of the war, Piaf had met Michel Emer, a Jewish musician, famous for the song L'Accordéoniste. Piaf paid for Emer to travel, into France, before German occupation, where he lived in safety, until the liberation. Following the trial, Piaf was quickly back, performing in benefit concerts.

In 1947, she wrote the lyrics to the song "What Can I Do?". It was premiered and recorded by her former lover Montand. Within a year, Montand became one of the most famous singers in France. Piaf also helped launch the career of Charles Aznavour in the early 1950s, taking him on tour with her and recording some of his songs.

Personal life

thumb|Piaf performing in Rotterdam, with her second husband Théo Sarapo, in 1962|alt=A photograph of Édith Piaf with her second husband Théo Sarapo in 1962

During a tour of America in 1947, Piaf met French boxing champion Marcel Cerdan and fell in love. They had an affair, which made international headlines since Cerdan was the former middleweight world champion, and at the time was married with three children. In May 1950, Piaf recorded the hit song "Hymne à l'amour" dedicating it to Cerdan.

Piaf was injured in a car accident that occurred in 1951. Both Piaf and singer Charles Aznavour (her then-assistant) were passengers in the vehicle, with Piaf suffering a broken arm and two broken ribs. Her doctor prescribed the drug morphine as a treatment for arthritis, which became a dependency alongside her alcohol problems.

In 1962, she wed Théo Sarapo (Theophanis Lamboukas), a singer, actor, and former hairdresser who was born in France of Greek descent. Sarapo was 20 years younger than Piaf and, although, later separated, the two remained married until Piaf's death. She was taken to her villa in Plascassier on the French Riviera where she was nursed by Sarapo and her friend Simone Berteaut. Over the next few months she drifted in and out of consciousness, before dying at age 47 on 10 October 1963. It is said that Sarapo drove her body from Plascassier to Paris secretly, so that fans would think she had died in her hometown. and the ceremony at the cemetery was attended by more than 100,000 fans. According to Piaf's colleague Charles Aznavour, Piaf's funeral procession was the only time since the end of World War II that the traffic in Paris had come to a complete stop. Fifty years later, the French Catholic Church recanted and gave Piaf a Requiem Mass in the St. Jean-Baptiste Church in Belleville, Paris (the parish into which she was born) on 10 October 2013.

Legacy

French media have continually published magazines, books, plays, television specials and films about the star, often on the anniversary of her death. followed by the inauguration of the Place Édith Piaf in Belleville in 1978. Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina named a small planet, 3772 Piaf, in her honor.

A fan and author of two Piaf biographies operates the Musée Édith Piaf, a two-room museum in Paris. The museum is located in the fan's apartment and has operated since 1977.

A concert titled Piaf: A Centennial Celebration was held at The Town Hall in New York City on 19 December 2015, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Piaf's birth. The events was hosted by Robert Osborne and produced by Daniel Nardicio and Andy Brattain. Performers included Little Annie, Gay Marshall, Amber Martin, Marilyn Maye, Meow Meow, Elaine Paige, Molly Pope, Vivian Reed, Kim David Smith, and Aaron Weinstein.

At the 2024 Olympic Summer Games opening ceremony, Canadian singer Celine Dion performed "L'Hymne à l'amour".

Biographies

Piaf's life has been the subject of numerous films, including:

Piaf (1974), directed by Guy Casaril, depicted her early years
Édith et Marcel (1983), directed by Claude Lelouch, Piaf's relationship with Cerdan
Piaf ... Her Story ... Her Songs (2003), by Raquel Bitton
(2007), directed by Olivier Dahan, starring Marion Cotillard who won an Academy Award for Best Actress
The Sparrow and the Birdman (2010), by Raquel Bitton
Edith Piaf Alive (2011), by Flo Ankah
Monsieur Aznavour (2024), by Mehdi Idir, co-starring Marie-Julie Baup as Édith Piaf

Documentaries about Piaf's life include:

Édith Piaf: A Passionate Life (24 May 2004)
Piaf: Her Story, Her Songs (June 2006)
Édith Piaf: Eternal Hymn (Éternelle, l'hymne à la môme, PAL, Region 2, import, 2007)
Piaf: La Môme (2007)
Édith Piaf: The Perfect Concert and Piaf: The Documentary (February 2009)

In 1978, a play titled Piaf (by English playwright Pam Gems) began a run of 165 performances in London and New York.

In 2023, Warner Music Group (WMG) announced a new biopic of Piaf that would be narrated by an artificial intelligence program that has been trained to replicate Piaf's voice. The project has been conducted in partnership with the Piaf estate, which supplied the recordings used in the process.

Discography

In the pre-LP era Piaf recorded singles for Polydor, Columbia Graphophone and Decca.

The following titles are compilations of Piaf's songs and not reissues of the titles released while Piaf was active.

Edith Piaf: Edith Piaf (Music For Pleasure MFP 1396) 1961
Potpourri par Piaf (Capitol ST 10295) 1962
Ses Plus Belles Chansons (Contour 6870505) 1969
The Early Years: 1938–1945, Vol. 3, (DRG Records – 5565), original release date: 1989
The Voice of the Sparrow: The Very Best of Édith Piaf (Capitol - P4 96632), original release date: June 1991
Édith Piaf: 30e Anniversaire, (EMI France – 827 1002), original release date: 5 April 1994
Édith Piaf: Her Greatest Recordings 1935–1943, (ASV – CD AJA 5165), original release date: 15 July 1995
Hymn to Love: All Her Greatest Songs in English, (EMI – 07243838231 2), original release date: 4 November 1996
The Very Best of Édith Piaf, (EMI – 8565212), released 1997
Gold Collection, (Fine Tune – 1117-2), original release date: 9 January 1998
The Rare Piaf 1950–1962, (DRG Records – 5570), released 28 April 1998
La Vie en rose, ( ASV – CD AJA 5307), original release date: 26 January 1999
Montmartre Sur Seine (soundtrack import), (The Soundtrack Factory – SFCD33544), original release date: 19 September 2000
Love and Passion (boxed set), (Proper Records – P1237-P1240), released 2001
Éternelle: The Best Of, (EMI – 7243 5 35553 2 0), released 29 January 2002
75 Chansons (Box set/import), (Disky – FMP 645202), original release date: 22 September 2005
48 Titres Originaux (import), (CD - Intense #224033), September 2006
Édith Piaf: L'Intégrale/Complete 20 CD/413 Chansons, (EMI – 0946 3872182 6), original release date: 27 February 2007
Édith Piaf: The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection/Proper Records UK, (Big3 – BT3043), original release date: 31 May 2011
Édith Piaf: Symphonique (featuring Legendis Orchestra), (Warner Music France – 5054197665400), original release date: 13 October 2023

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Year !! Title !! Director

| 1936 || La garçonne || Jean de Limur

| 1940 || ' || Jean Cocteau

| 1941 || Montmartre-sur-Seine || Marcel Blistène

| 1947 || Neuf garçons, un cœur || Georges Friedland

| 1951 || Paris Still Sings || Pierre Montazel

| 1953 || Boum sur Paris || Maurice de Canonge

| 1954 || Si Versailles m'était conté || Sacha Guitry

| 1954 || French Cancan || Jean Renoir

| 1958 || Música de Siempre || Tito Davison

| 1959 || ' || Marcel Blistène

Notes

References

External links

Edith Piaf and her Paris
Falling down the rabbit hole with Edith Piaf, in Bernay – childhood in Normandy.