Édith Piaf
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Édith Piaf (19 December 1915 – 11 October 1963), born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer who became widely regarded as France's national popular singer, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being of Chanson and ballads, particularly of love, loss and sorrow. Among her songs are "La Vie en rose" (1946), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "La Foule" (1957), "l'Accordéoniste" (1955), and "Padam ... Padam ..." (1951).
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Family
Despite numerous biographies, much of Piaf's life is shrouded in mystery. She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris. Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, but her birth certificate cites the Hôpital Tenon, 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. Piaf – an argot colloquialism for "sparrow" – was a nickname she received 20 years later.
Louis-Alphonse Gassion (1881–1944), Édith's father, was a street acrobat performer from Normandy with a past in the theatre. He was the son of Victor Alphonse Gassion (1850–1928) and Léontine Louise Descamps (1860–1937), known as Maman Tine, who ran a brothel in Normandy.
Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard (1895–1945), was of French descent on her father's side and of Italian and Algerian-Berber origin on her mother's. She was a native of Livorno, a port city on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. She worked as a café singer under the name Line Marsa. Her parents were Auguste Eugène Maillard (1866–1912) and Emma (Aïcha) Saïd ben Mohammed (1876–1930), daughter of Said ben Mohammed (1827–1890), a Moroccan acrobat born in Mogador (now Essaouira), and Marguerite Bracco (1830–1898), born in Murazzano in Italy.
Early life
Édith's parents soon abandoned her, and she lived for a short time with her maternal grandmother, Emma (Aïcha). Before he enlisted with the French Army in 1916 to fight in World War I, her father took her to his mother, who ran a brothel in Normandy. There, prostitutes helped look after Piaf.
From the age of three to seven, Piaf was allegedly blind as a result of keratitis. According to one of her biographies, she recovered her sight after her grandmother's prostitutes pooled money to send her on a pilgrimage honoring Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, which the author claims resulted in a miraculous healing.
In 1929, at 14, she joined her father in his acrobatic street performances all over France, where she first sang in public.
She 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 good friend Simone Berteaut ("Mômone") in this endeavor, and the two became lifelong partners in mischief. She was about 16 when she fell in love with Louis Dupont, a delivery boy.
At 17, she had her only child, a girl named Marcelle, who died of meningitis at age two. Like her mother, Piaf found it difficult to care for a child while living a life of the streets, so she often left Marcelle behind while she was away, and Dupont raised her until her death.
Singing career
[[File:Edith piaf columbia posters.jpg|thumb|Columbia Records poster of Piaf in her trademark black dress]]
In 1935 Piaf was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> by nightclub owner Louis Leplée,<ref name="csmonitor0707" /> whose club Le Gerny off the Champs-Élysées<ref name="vansun" /> 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 Template:Convert,<ref name="rfimusique" /><ref name="nydailynews07">Template:Cite news</ref> 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<ref name="csmonitor0707" /> (Paris slang meaning "The Waif Sparrow" or "The Little Sparrow").<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> Leplée taught her the basics of stage presence and told her to wear a black dress, which became her trademark apparel. Later, she would always appear in black.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> Leplée ran an intense publicity campaign leading up to her opening night, attracting the presence of many celebrities, including actor Maurice Chevalier.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> Her nightclub gigs led to her first two records produced that same year,<ref name="nydailynews07" /> with one of them penned by Marguerite Monnot, a collaborator throughout Piaf's life and one of her favourite composers.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" />
On 6 April 1936,<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> Leplée was murdered. Piaf was questioned and accused as an accessory, but acquitted.<ref name="csmonitor0707" /> Leplée had been killed by mobsters with previous ties to Piaf.<ref name="cbc07">Template:Cite news</ref> A barrage of negative media attention<ref name="rfimusique" /> now threatened her career.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> To rehabilitate her image, she recruited Raymond Asso, with whom she would become romantically involved. 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.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" />
In 1940, Édith co-starred in Jean Cocteau's successful one-act play Le Bel Indifférent.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> She began forming friendships with prominent people, including Chevalier and poet Jacques Borgeat. She wrote the lyrics of many of her songs and collaborated with composers on the tunes. In 1944, she discovered Yves Montand in Paris, made him part of her act, and became his mentor<ref name="rfimusique" /> and lover.<ref name="cbc07" /> Within a year, he became one of the most famous singers in France. She broke off their relationship when he had become almost as popular as she was.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" />
During this time, she was in great demand and very successful in Paris<ref name="csmonitor0707" /> as France's most popular entertainer.<ref name="nydailynews07" /> After the war, she became known internationally,<ref name="csmonitor0707" /> touring Europe, the United States, and South America. In Paris, she gave Atahualpa Yupanqui (Héctor Roberto Chavero) – the most important Argentine musician of folklore – the opportunity to share the scene, making his debut in July 1950. She helped 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.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> At first she met with little success with U.S. audiences, who regarded her as downcast.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> After a glowing review by a prominent New York critic, however, her popularity grew,<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> to the point where she eventually appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show eight times and at Carnegie Hall twice (1956<ref name="vansun" /> and 1957).
Édith Piaf's signature song "La vie en rose"<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> was written in 1945 and was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.
Bruno Coquatrix's famous Paris Olympia music hall is where Piaf achieved lasting fame, giving several series of concerts at the hall, the most famous venue in Paris,<ref name="rfimusique" /> 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, promised by Piaf in an effort to save the venue from bankruptcy, debuted her song "Non, je ne regrette rien".<ref name="rfimusique" /> In April 1963, Piaf recorded her last song, "L'homme de Berlin".
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 stated that she had been working for the French Resistance. While there is no evidence of this, 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, she remained a national and international favorite.<ref>Amazon.com: "Know About Édith Piaf?"</ref> Piaf dated a Jewish pianist during this time and co-wrote a subtle protest song with Monnot.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> According to one story, singing for high-ranking Germans at the One Two Two Club<ref name="guardian03">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="guardian03" />
Personal life
The love of Piaf's life, the married boxer Marcel Cerdan, died in a plane crash in October 1949, while flying from Paris to New York City to meet her. Cerdan's Air France flight, flown on a Lockheed Constellation, crashed in the Azores, killing everyone on board, including noted violinist Ginette Neveu.<ref>Marcel Cerdan's tragic disappearance (1949) – Marcel Cerdan Heritage</ref> Piaf and Cerdan's affair made international headlines,<ref name="rfimusique" /> as Cerdan was the former middleweight world champion and a legend in France in his own right.
In 1951, Piaf was seriously injured in a car crash along with Charles Aznavour, breaking her arm and two ribs, and thereafter had serious difficulties arising from morphine and alcohol addictions.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> Two more near fatal car crashes exacerbated the situation.<ref name="vansun" /> Jacques Pills, a singer, took her into rehabilitation on three different occasions to no avail.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" />
Piaf married Jacques Pills, her first husband, in 1952 (her matron of honour was Marlene Dietrich) and divorced him in 1956. In 1962, she wed Théo Sarapo (Theophanis Lamboukas), a Greek hairdresser-turned-singer and actor<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> who was 20 years her junior. The couple sang together in some of her last engagements.
Piaf lived in Belleville, Paris, with her parents from 1915–1934. From 1934–1941, she lived at 45 rue de Chèzy in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. She lived at 45 rue Decazes in Marseille, France alone from 1941–1952 and with her second husband from 1953–1956. She continued to live there alone from 1956–1959. In her final years she lived at 23 rue Édouard Nortier in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France – alone from 1959–1962 and with her third husband from 1962–1963 until her death.
Death and legacy
[[File:Tombeau d'Edith Piaf.JPG|thumb|180px|Piaf's grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris]] Piaf died of liver cancer at age 47 at her villa in Plascassier (Grasse), on the French Riviera, on 11 October 1963.<ref>Edith Piaf. Nndb.com. Retrieved on 22 April 2012.</ref><ref>{{
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}}</ref> It is said that Sarapo drove her body back to Paris secretly so that fans would think she had died in her hometown.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /><ref name="guardian03" /> She is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris next to her daughter Marcelle, where her grave is among the most visited.<ref name="yahoomusicbio" />
Although she was denied a funeral mass by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris because of her lifestyle,<ref name="guardian03" /> her funeral procession drew tens of thousands<ref name="yahoomusicbio" /> of mourners onto the streets of Paris and the ceremony at the cemetery was attended by more than 100,000 fans.<ref name="guardian03" /><ref>Template:Fr icon Édith Piaf funeral – Video – French tv, 14 October 1963, INA</ref> Charles 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.<ref name="guardian03" />
In Paris, a two-room museum is dedicated to her, the Musée Édith Piaf<ref name="guardian03" /><ref>Musée Édith Piaf</ref> (5, Rue Crespin du Gast).
In popular culture
[[File:Popiersie Edith Piaf ssj 20060914.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Bust of Piaf in Kielce, Poland]] Numerous songs by Piaf are used in films (such as Saving Private Ryan, Inception, Bull Durham, La Haine, The Dreamers and the animated film, "Madagascar 3") and other media. Love Me If You Dare pays a tribute to her song La Vie En Rose by including various versions of the song in its soundtrack. Singers have paid tribute to her by covering her songs. Piaf's name can still be found in popular culture and music today. Her life has been the subject of multiple films and plays:
Films of her life
The film Piaf (1974) depicted her early years, and starred Brigitte Ariel, with early Piaf songs performed by Betty Mars.
Piaf's relationship with Cerdan was also depicted in film 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.
Piaf...Her Story...Her Songs (2003) is a film starring Raquel Bitton in her performance tribute to Édith Piaf. Bitton performs Piaf's most famous songs and describes her tempestuous life. Woven into the filmed concert is a luncheon in Paris, hosted by Bitton, in which some of Piaf's composers, friends, lovers, and family share their memories. These include Michel Rivgauche and Francis Lai, two of Piaf's composers, as well as Marcel Cerdan, Jr., son of the boxing champion who was her greatest love.
La Vie en rose (2007), a film about her life directed by Olivier Dahan, debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2007. Titled La Môme in France, the film stars Marion Cotillard in the role that won her the Academy Award for Best Actress (Oscar), as Piaf. Dahan's film follows Piaf's life from early childhood to her death in 1963. David Bret's 1988 biography, Piaf, A Passionate Life, was re-released by JR Books to coincide with the film's release.
Plays
- Piaf (1978), by Pam Gems
- Piaf Piaf (1988), by Juha Siltanen and Jorma Uotinen
- The Sparrow and the Birdman By Raquel Bitton (1999) Commissioned by Theatreworks
- Edith and Simone (2000 and 2006), by Ronny Verheyen
- PIAF ... Her story ... Her songs" By Raquel Bitton (2000)
- Hearts ... Le Ballet des Coeurs By Raquel Bitton (1985) Choreography Michael Smuin,Set Designs Tony Walton,Costumes Willa Kim
- Pure Piaf (2006), by Alex Ryer
- No Regrets (2009), by Scotti Sween (Off-Off-Broadway)
- Piaf de Musical (1999 and 2009), a Dutch musical
- Piaf, het legendarische verhaal van Edith Piaf(2009), by Yves Caspar
- Edith Piaf Alive (2011), by Flo Ankah
- "The Sparrow and the Mouse: Creating the Music of Edith Piaf" (2011) By Melanie Gall
- "Tonight ... Piaf" (1989), by Joelle Rabu and Ted Galay, Directed by Ray Michal
- "Piaf, her Songs, Her Loves" City Stage, Vancouver 1978, Directed by Ray Michal
- "The Power of Piaf" by Lily Charpentier starring Daniele Pascal (1986)
- " Edith" by Pluto Panoussis and Daniele Pascal,(1998)
- "Piaf,A Passionate Life" by Daniele Pascal (2007 and 2008)
- " Hymne a L'amour-The Songs of Edith Piaf" by Daniele Pascal (2013)
- "Edith Piaf on Stage" by Leslie Fitzwater (2013)
