Édith Piaf

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Édith Piaf
Image:Epiaf.jpg
Background information
Birth name	Édith Giovanna Gassion
Also known as	La Môme Piaf
Born	December 19 1915
Origin	Belleville, Paris, France
Died	October 11 1963 (Aged 47) (off. date) Placassier, France
Genre(s)	French pop, cabaret, torch songs
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, actress
Years active	1935 – 1963

Édith Piaf (born 19 December 1915, died 11 October 1963) was one of France's most beloved singers^[1] and became a national icon. Her singing reflected her tragic life, with her specialty being the poignant ballad performed in a heartbreaking voice. Among her famous songs are "La vie en rose" (1946), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960). A filmed biography on her life, titled La Môme (shown in the United States as La Vie En Rose, in French, with English subtitles) was released in June 2007. There have been other dramatized versions of her life, including a Tony Award-winning play entitled Piaf, which was also telecast on PBS.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Singing career 3 World War II 4 Personal life 5 Death and legacy 6 Songs 7 Films 7.1 Appeared in 7.2 About 8 Plays 8.1 Appeared in 8.2 About 9 Discography 10 Edith Piaf on DVD 11 Books on Edith Piaf 12 Edith Piaf in Contemporary Music 13 See also 14 References 15 External links

[edit] Early life

Despite numerous published biographies, much of Édith's life is shrouded in mystery.^[2] She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion^[3] in Belleville, Paris, the high-immigration district later described by Daniel Pennac. Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, but her official birth certificate states she was born at Hôpital Tenon,^[4] the hospital for the 20th arrondissement of which Belleville is part. She was named Édith after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity.^[5] Piaf—a Francilien colloquialism for "sparrow"—originated as a nickname she would receive 20 years later.

Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard (1895–1945), was a quarter-Italian native of Livorno, a port city on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. She was working as a café singer under the name Line Marsa.^[4] Louis-Alphonse Gassion (1881–1944), Édith's father, was a street acrobat ^[6] with a past in the theatre. Piaf was soon abandoned by her parents, lived for a short time with her maternal grandmother, Emma (Aïcha) Saïd ben Mohammed (1876–1930), who was a Kabyle. Shortly thereafter, Édith's father took the child to his mother, who was a cook at a brothel in Normandy, and he then joined the French Army in 1916 to fight in World War I. The prostitutes helped look after Édith.^[1]

From the age of three till seven Piaf was allegedly blind as a result of meningitis. According to one of her biographies, she recovered her sight in what is referred to as a miracle, after her grandmother's prostitutes pooled money to send her on a pilgrimage honoring Saint Thérèse de Lisieux. In 1929, at 14, she joined her father in his acrobatic street performances all over France, where she first sang in public.^[1] She then took a room at Grand Hôtel de Clermont (18 rue Veron, Paris 18ème) and separated from him, going her own way as a street singer in Pigalle, Ménilmontant, and the Paris suburbs (cf. the song "Elle fréquentait la Rue Pigalle"). She joined her half-sister Simone Berteaut ("Mômone")^[4] in this endeavor, and the two became lifelong partners in mischief.^[1] She was about 16 years old when she fell in love with a delivery boy, Louis Dupont.^[1] At 17 she had her only child, a little girl named Marcelle, who died at the age of two of meningitis.^[6] Like her own mother before her, Piaf found it difficult to care for a child while living a life of the streets, so she would often leave Marcelle alone while she was away, and Dupont took the child to raise himself before Marcelle's death months later.^[1] Piaf's next boyfriend was a pimp by the name of Albert who took a commission from the money she made singing in exchange for not forcing her into prostitution. One of her friends, a gentle girl named Nadia, killed herself when faced with the thought of becoming a prostitute and Albert nearly shot Piaf when she broke things off in reaction to Nadia's death.^[1]

[edit] Singing career

In 1935 Piaf was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris^[1] by the nightclub owner Louis Leplée,^[3] whose club Le Gerny off the Champs Élysées^[6] was frequented by the upper and lower classes alike. He persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness, which, combined with her height of only 147 cm (4 feet 8 inches), ^{[7] [4]} inspired him to give her the nickname that would stay with her for the rest of her life and serve as her stage name, La Môme Piaf^[3] (The Waif Sparrow, Little Sparrow or Kid Sparrow in Parigot slang).^[1] Leplée taught her the basics of stage presence and told her to wear a black dress which would later become her trademark apparel.^[1] Leplée ran a large publicity campaign prior to her opening night, which resulted in a number of celebrities including actor Maurice Chevalier attending the opening.^[1] Her nightclub gigs led to her first two records produced that same year,^[7] with one of them penned by Marguerite Monnot, an ongoing collaborator throughout Piaf's life.^[1]

On April 6 1936,^[1] Leplée was murdered and Piaf was questioned in the matter and accused of being an accessory, but she was acquitted.^[3] He had been killed by mobsters with previous ties to Piaf.^[8] This resulted in much negative media attention directed towards Piaf,^[4] which threatened her career.^[1] To rehabilitate her image, she recruited Raymond Asso, with whom she would also become romantically involved. He changed her stage name La Môme Piaf to "Édith Piaf," barred her undesirable acquaintances from seeing her, and commissioned Monnot to write songs unique to Piaf's previous life on the streets.^[1]

In 1940, Édith co-starred in Jean Cocteau's successful one-act play Le Bel Indifférent.^[1] She began to make friends with famous people, such as Chevalier and the poet Jacques Borgeat. She wrote the lyrics of many of her songs and collaborated with composers on the tunes. In 1944, Édith Piaf discovered Yves Montand in Paris, made him part of her act, and became his mentor^[4] and lover.^[8] Within a year, he became one of the most famous singers in France, and she broke off their relationship when he had become almost as popular as she had.^[1]

During this time, she was in great demand and very successful in Paris^[3] as France's most popular entertainer.^[7] After the war, she became known internationally,^[3] touring Europe, the United States, and South America. She helped to launch the career of Charles Aznavour in the early 1950s, taking him on tour with her in France and the United States and recording some of his songs.^[1] However, at first she met with little success with US audiences, who regarded her as downcast.^[1] After a glowing review by a prominent New York critic, she met with better success^[1] and her popularity in the United States was such that she appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show eight times and at Carnegie Hall twice (1956^[6] and 1957).

Her signature song "La vie en rose"^[1] was written in 1945 and was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.

The legendary Paris Olympia concert hall is where Piaf achieved lasting fame, giving several series of concerts at the hall, the most famous venue in Paris,^[4] between January 1955 and October 1962. Excerpts from five of these concerts (1955, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1962) were issued on record and CD and have never been out of print. The 1961 concerts were promised by Piaf in an effort to save the venue from bankruptcy and where she debuted her song "Non je ne regrette rien".^[4] In April 1963, Piaf recorded her last song, "L'homme de Berlin".

[edit] World War II

During World War II, she was a frequent performer at German Forces social gatherings in occupied France, and many considered her a traitor; following the war she claimed to have been working for the French resistance. While there is no evidence of this per se, it does seem to be true that she was instrumental in helping a number of individuals (including at least one Jew) escape Nazi persecution. Throughout it all, amazingly, she remained a national and international favorite.^[9] Piaf dated a Jewish pianist during this time and co-wrote a subtle protest song with Monnot.^[1] According to one story, singing for high-ranking Germans at the One Two Two Club^[10] earned Piaf the right to pose for photographs with French prisoners of war, to boost their morale. The Frenchmen were supposedly able to cut out their photos and use them as forged passport photos,^[10] and some of them managed to escape.

[edit] Personal life

The great love of Piaf's life,^[3] the married boxer Marcel Cerdan, died in a plane crash in October 1949, while flying from New York City to Paris to meet her. Cerdan's Air France flight, flown on a Lockheed Constellation, went down in the Azores, killing everyone on board, including famous violinist Ginette Neveu. ^[11] Piaf and Cerdan's affair made international headlines,^[4] as Cerdan was the middleweight world champion and a legend in France in his own right. Piaf was later married twice. Her first husband was Jacques Pills, a singer. They married in 1952 and divorced in 1956. Her second husband, Théo Sarapo, was a Greek hairdresser-turned-singer and actor^[1] who was 20 years younger than Piaf. They married in 1962 and sang together in some of her last engagements.^[1]

In 1951 Piaf was involved in a car crash along with Aznavour, breaking an arm and two ribs, and thereafter had difficulty breaking serious morphine and alcohol addictions.^[1] Two more near-fatal car crashes exacerbated the situation.^[6] Her first husband, Jacques Pills, took her into rehab on three different occasions to no avail.^[1]

[edit] Death and legacy

At the age of 47, Piaf died of liver cancer at Plascassier, on the French Riviera, on October 11, 1963, the same day that her friend Jean Cocteau died.^[12] She had slipped in and out of consciousness for the last months of her life.^[6] It is said that Sarapo drove her body back to Paris secretly so that fans would think she had died in her hometown.^[10][1] She was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, in Paris, where her grave is one of the most visited.^[1] Although she was denied a funeral mass by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris because of her lifestyle,^[10] her funeral procession drew tens of thousands^[1] of mourners onto the streets of Paris and the ceremony at the cemetery was attended by more than 100,000 fans.^[10][13] Aznavour recalled that Piaf's funeral procession was the only time since the end of World War II that he saw Parisian traffic come to a complete stop.^[10]

A two-room museum is dedicated to Piaf, the Musée Édith Piaf^[10] at 5, rue Crespin du Gast, 75011, Paris.

Today she is still remembered and revered as one of the greatest singers of France.^[4][1]

A film of Piaf's life by Olivier Dahan, La Vie En Rose, debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in February, 2007. Titled La Môme in France, the film stars Marion Cotillard as Piaf. Dahan's film follows Piaf's life from early childhood to her death in 1963. David Bret's definitive biography, Piaf, A Passionate Life, was re-released by JR Books to coincide with the film's release. Her love story with Cerdan was also depicted on the big screen by Claude Lelouch in the movie Édith et Marcel (1983) with Marcel Cerdan Jr. in the role of his father and Évelyne Bouix portraying Piaf.

[edit] Songs

1935 Mon apéro La java de Cézigue 1936 L'étranger Les mômes de la cloche J'suis mordue Fais-moi valser La fille et le chien La Julie jolie Va danser Chand d'habits Reste Les hiboux Quand même La petite boutique Y avait du soleil Il n'est pas distingué Les deux ménétriers 1937 Mon légionnaire Le contrebandier Un jeune homme chantait Tout fout le camp Ne m'écris pas C'est toi le plus fort Le fanion de la légion Partance Dans un bouge du vieux port Paris-Méditerranée Browning Entre Saint-Ouen et Clignancourt J'entends la sirène Mon coeur est au coin d'une rue Le chacal Corrèqu'et réguyer Ding, din, don 1938 Madeleine qui avait du coeur Les marins ça fait des voyages С'est lui que mon coeur a choisi Le grand voyage du pauvre nègre La java en mineur Le mauvais matelot 1939 Y en a un de trop Elle fréquentait la rue Pigalle Le petit monsieur triste Les deux copains Je n'en connais pas la fin 1940 Embrasse-moi On danse sur ma chanson Sur une colline C'est la moindre des choses Jimmy, c'est lui Escale L'accordéoniste Y en a un de trop 1941 Où sont-ils mes petits copains? C'était un jour de fête C'est un monsieur très distingué J'ai dansé avec l'amour L'homme des bars 1942 Simple comme bonjour Le vagabond Un coin tout bleu C'était une histoire d'amour Sans y penser 1943 Tu es partout J'ai qu'à l'regarder Le chasseur de l'hôtel Le disque usé Le brun et le blond Monsieur Saint-Pierre Coup de grisou 1944 Un monsieur me suit dans la rue Les deux rengaines Y a pas d'printemps Les histoires de coeur C'est toujours la même histoire 1945 Celui qui ne savait pas pleurer Escale Regarde-moi toujours comme ça Les gars qui marchaient Il riait De l'autre côté de la rue J'ai qu'à le regarder 1946 La vie en rose Les trois cloches Dans ma rue J'm'en fous pas mal C'est merveilleux Adieu mon coeur Le chant du pirate Céline Le petit homme Le roi a fait battre tambour Dans les prisons de Nantes Miss Otis regrets 1947 C'est pour ça Mariage Monsieur Lenoble Qu'as-tu fait John ? Un refrain courait dans la rue Sophie Le geste Si tu partais Une chanson à trois temps Une chanson à trois temps (Au cabaret "Au coup de soleil") Un homme comme les autres Les cloches sonnent Johnny Fedora et Alice blue bonnet Le rideau tombe avant la fin Elle avait son sourire Monsieur Ernest a réussi 1948 Les amants de Paris Il a chanté Les vieux bateaux Il pleut Cousu de fil blanc Amour du mois de mai Monsieur X 1949 Bal dans ma rue Pour moi tout' seule Pleure pas Le prisonnier de la tour L'orgue des amoureux Dany Paris 1950 Hymne à l'amour Le chevalier de Paris Il fait bon t'aimer La p'tite Marie Tous les amoureux chantent Il y avait C'est d'la faute à tes yeux C'est un gars Hymn to love The three bells Le ciel est fermé La fête continue Simply a waltz Autumn leaves Cause I love you Chante-moi (en anglais) Don't cry I shouldn't care My lost melody La vie en rose (en anglais)

1951 Padam Padam Avant l'heure L'homme que j`aimerai Du matin jusqu'au soir Demain il fera jour C'est toi Rien de rien Si, si, si, si Demain (il fera jour) A l'enseigne de la fille sans coeur Télégramme Une enfant Plus bleu que tes yeux Le Noël de la rue La valse de l'amour La rue aux chansons Jezebel Chante-moi Chanson de Catherine Chanson bleue 1952 Au bal de la chance Elle a dit Notre-Dame de Paris Mon ami m'a donné Je t'ai dans la peau Monsieur et madame Ca gueule ça, madame (avec Jacques Pills) 1953 Bravo pour le clown Soeur Anne N'y va pas Manuel Les amants de Venise L'effet qu'tu m'fais Johnny, tu n'es pas un ange Jean et Martine Et moi Pour qu'elle soit jolie ma chanson (avec Jacques Pills) Les croix 1954 La Goualante du pauvre Jean Enfin le printemps Retour Mea culpa Heureuse Ça ira Avec ce soleil L'homme au piano Sérénade du pavé Sous le ciel de Paris 1955 Un grand amour qui s'achève Miséricorde C'est à Hambourg Enfin le Printemps Légende 1956 L'accordéoniste Heaven have mercy One little man Avant nous Et pourtant Marie la Française Les amants d'un jour L'homme à la moto Soudain une vallée Une dame Toi qui sais 1957 La foule Les prisons du roy Opinion publique Salle d'attente Les grognards Comme moi 1958 C'est un homme terrible Je me souviens d'une chanson Je sais comment Tatave Les orgues de barbarie Eden blues Le gitan et la fille Fais comme si Le ballet des coeurs Les amants de demain Les neiges de Finlande Tant qu'il y aura des jours Un étranger Mon manège à moi 1959 Milord T'es beau, tu sais 1960 Non, je ne regrette rien La vie, l'amour Rue de Siam Jean l'Espagnol La belle histoire d'amour La ville inconnue Non, la vie n'est pas triste Kiosque à journaux Le métro de Paris Cri du coeur Les blouses blanches Les flons flons du bal Les mots d'amour T'es l'homme qu'il me faut Mon Dieu Boulevard du crime C'est l'amour Des histories Ouragan Je suis à toi Les amants merveilleux Les bleuets d'azur Quand tu dors Mon vieux Lucien Je m'imagine Jérusalem Le vieux piano 1961 C'est peut-être ça Le dénicheur J'n'attends plus rien J'en ai passé des nuits Exodus Faut pas qu'il se figure Les amants (avec Charles Dumont) No regrets Le billard électrique Marie-trottoir Qu'il était triste cet Anglais Toujours aimer Mon Dieu (en anglais) Le bruit des villes 1962 Dans leur baiser A quoi ça sert l'amour Le droit d'aimer A quoi ça sert l'amour (avec Theo Sarapo) Fallait-il Une valse Inconnu excepté de Dieu Le droit d'aimer Quatorze Juillet Les amants de Teruel (of Mikis Theodorakis and Jacques Plante) Roulez tambours Musique à tout va Le rendez-vous Toi, tu l'entends pas! Carmen's story On cherche un Auguste Ça fait drôle Emporte-moi Polichinelle Le petit brouillard Le diable de la Bastille Elle chantait (avec Theo Sarapo) 1963 C'était pas moi Le chant d'amour Tiens, v'la un marin J'en ai tant vu Traque Les gens Margo Coeur Gros Monsieur Incognito L'homme de Berlin (son dernier enregistrement)

Her song Hymne à l'amour inspired the film Toutes ces belles promesses by Jean-Paul Civeyrac. It was also translated into English as "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" and covered by various artists including Kay Starr, who had a hit with it in 1954.

[edit] Films

[edit] Appeared in

• La garçonne (1936), Jean de Limur
• Montmartre-sur-Seine (1941), Georges Lacombe
• Étoile sans lumière (1946), Marcel Blistène
• Neuf garçons, un cœur (1947), Georges Freedland
• Al diavolo la celebrità (1949), Mario Monicelli Steno
• Paris chante toujours (1951), Pierre Montazel
• Boum sur Paris (1953), Maurice de Canonge
• Si Versailles m'était conté (1954), Sacha Guitry
• French cancan (1954), Jean Renoir
• Les Amants de demain (1959), Marcel Blistène

[edit] About

• Édith et Marcel (1983), Claude Lelouch
• La Môme (La Vie En Rose outside of France) (2007), Olivier Dahan with Marion Cotillard as Édith Piaf

[edit] Plays

[edit] Appeared in

• Le Bel Indifférent (1940), Jean Cocteau

[edit] About

• Piaf (1978), by Pam Gems
• Pure Piaf (2006), by Alex Ryer

[edit] Discography

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

• The Voice of the Sparrow: The Very Best of Edith Piaf, original release date: June, 1991
• Édith Piaf: 30th Anniversaire, original release date: April 5, 1994
• Édith Piaf: Her Greatest Recordings 1935-1943, original release date: July 15, 1995
• The Early Years: 1938-1945, Vol. 3, original release date: October 15, 1996
• Hymn to Love: All Her Greatest Songs in English, original release date: November 4, 1996
• Gold Collection, original release date: January 9, 1998
• The Rare Piaf 1950-1962 (April 28, 1998)
• La Vie en Rose (import), original release date: January 26, 1999
• Montmartre Sur Seine (soundtrack import), original release date: September 19, 2000
• Eternelle: The Best Of (January 29, 2002)
• Love and Passion (boxed set), original release date: April 8, 2002
• The Very Best of Edith Piaf (import), original release date: October 29, 2002
• 75 Chansons (Box set/import), original release date: September 22, 2005
• 48 Titres Originaux (import), (09/01/2006)

There are in excess of 80 albums of Edith Piaf's songs available on online music stores.

[edit] Edith Piaf on DVD

• Edith Piaf - A Passionate Life (May 24th, 2004)
• Edith Piaf : Eternal Hymn (Éternelle, l'hymne à la môme, Non-US Format, Pal, Region 2, Import)
• Piaf - Her Story, Her Songs (June 2006)

[edit] Books on Edith Piaf

• The Wheel Of Fortune: The Autobiography of Edith Piaf by Edith Piaf (originally written in 1958, 5 years before her death), Peter Owen Publishers; ISBN 0720612284
• Edith Piaf, by Edith Piaf and Simone Berteaut, published January 1982; ISBN 2904106014
• The Piaf Legend, by David Bret, Robson Books,1988.
• Piaf: A Passionate Life, by David Bret, Robson Books, 1998, revised JR Books, 2007

[edit] Edith Piaf in Contemporary Music

• Edith Piaf is mentioned in the song "My Mother was a Chinese Trapeze Artist" by The Decemberists on the EP "5 Songs" (2001)

[edit] See also

• Music of France
• French popular music

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Édith Piaf photos
• Édith Piaf songs
• Piaf site (Russian)
• A photographic history of Édith Piaf
• Tu Es Partout (English translation)
• Pure Piaf, A musical showcasing Edith Piaf's music and life, written by Alex Ryer in 2006
• Les conquêtes de Piaf (French)
• Édith Piaf Museum, Paris
• Song Lyrics
• La Vie En Rose - Official Movie Site
• "The Guardian" critique of the movie "La Vie En Rose"
• Edith Piaf at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
NAME	Piaf, Édith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gassion, Édith Giovanna
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Singer, songwriter, actress
DATE OF BIRTH	December 19 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH	Belleville, Paris, France
DATE OF DEATH	October 11 1963
PLACE OF DEATH	Placassier, France

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