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Édith Piaf

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For the play, see Piaf (play).
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf in 1962
Édith Piaf in 1962
Background information
Birth nameÉdith Giovanna Gassion
Also known asLa Môme Piaf
(The Little Sparrow)
Born(1915-12-19)19 December 1915
Belleville, Paris, France
Died11 October 1963(1963-10-11) (aged 47)
Plascassier (Grasse)
GenresCabaret
Torch songs
Chanson
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, actress
Instrument(s)Voice
Years active1935–1963
LabelsPathé, Pathé-Marconi
Capitol (US and Canada)

Édith Piaf (US: /piːˈɑːf/ or UK: /ˈpiːæf/; French: [edit pjaf]; 19 December 1915 – 11 October 1963), born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer who became widely regarded as France's national diva, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars.[1] 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).

Family

Despite numerous biographies, much of Piaf's life is shrouded in mystery.[2] She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion[3] 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,[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][disputed – discuss] 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.[6]

Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard (1895–1945), was of French descent on her father's side and of Italian and 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),[7] and Marguerite Bracco (1830–1898), born in Murazzano in Italy.[4][8][9]

Early life

Édith's mother abandoned her at birth, 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.[1]

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 honouring Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Piaf claimed this result was a miraculous healing.[10] However, since keratitis is usually caused by HSV (herpes), HPV, etc. just the removal from prostitutes' care to a clean home could have been the curative medicine. Also, keratitis is very often mistaken for allergic conjunctivitis, which would also better account for her improved health.[11]

In 1929, at 14, she joined her father in his acrobatic street performances all over France, where she first sang in public. At the age of 15, Edith met Simone "Mômone" Berteaut, who may have been her half-sister, definitely a companion for most of her life, and together they toured the streets singing and earning money for themselves for the first time. With the additional money Edith earned as part of an acrobatic trio, Edith and Mômone were able to rent their own living space.[1] She separated from her father and took a room at Grand Hôtel de Clermont (18 rue Veron, Paris 18ème), working with Marmone as a street singer in Pigalle, Ménilmontant, and the Paris suburbs (cf. the song "Elle fréquentait la Rue Pigalle").

In 1932 she met and fell in love with Louis Dupont. Within a very short time he moved into their small room, where the three lived despite Louis and Mômone's dislike for each other. Louis was never happy with the idea of Edith's roaming the streets, and continually persuaded her to take jobs he found for her. She resisted his persuasions whenever possible, until she became pregnant and worked for a short while making wreaths in a factory.[12]

In February 1933, when Edith was 17 years old, her daughter, Marcelle, was born in the Hôpital Tenon. Like her mother, Piaf found it difficult to care for a child while living a life of the streets, as she had little maternal instinct, parenting knowledge or domestic skills. She rapidly returned to street singing, until the summer of 1933, when she opened at Juan -les-Pins, Rue Pigalle.[12] Marcelle's father, Louis, whom Edith never married, was incensed. They quarrelled and Edith left, taking Mômone and Marcelle. The three of them stayed at the Hôtel Au Clair de Lune, Rue André-Antoine. Marcelle was often left alone in the room while Edith and Mômone were out on the streets or at the club singing, and died of meningitis at age two.[12]

Singing career

File:Edith piaf columbia posters.jpg
Columbia Records poster of Piaf in her trademark black dress

In 1935 Piaf was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris[1] by 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 142 centimetres (4 ft 8 in),[4][13] 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] (Paris slang meaning "The Waif Sparrow" or "The Little Sparrow").[1] 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.[1] Leplée ran an intense publicity campaign leading up to her opening night, attracting the presence of many celebrities, including actor Maurice Chevalier.[1] Her nightclub gigs led to her first two records produced that same year,[13] with one of them penned by Marguerite Monnot, a collaborator throughout Piaf's life and one of her favourite composers.[1]

On 6 April 1936,[1] Leplée was murdered. Piaf was questioned and accused as an accessory, but acquitted.[3] Leplée had been killed by mobsters with previous ties to Piaf.[14] A barrage of negative media attention[4] now threatened her career.[1] 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.[1]

In 1940, Édith co-starred in Jean Cocteau's successful one-act play Le Bel Indifférent.[1] 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[4] and lover.[14] 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.[1]

During this time, she was in great demand and very successful in Paris[3] as France's most popular entertainer.[13] After the war, she became known internationally,[3] 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.[1] At first she met with little success with U.S. audiences, who regarded her as downcast.[1] After a glowing review by a prominent New York critic, however, her popularity grew,[1] to the point where she eventually appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show eight times and at Carnegie Hall twice (1956[6] and 1957).

Édith Piaf's signature song, "La vie en rose",[1] 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,[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, promised by Piaf in an effort to save the venue from bankruptcy, debuted her song "Non, je ne regrette rien".[4] 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 people 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 people (including at least one Jew) escape Nazi persecution. Throughout it all, she remained a national and international favourite.[15] 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[16] 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.[16]

Personal life

Except for the daughter she had with her boyfriend, Louis Dupont, at age 17 - who died at age 2 of meningitis and neglect - Piaf never wanted nor had any more children.

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.[17] Piaf and Cerdan's affair made international headlines,[4] 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.[1] Two more near fatal car crashes exacerbated the situation.[6] Jacques Pills, a singer, took her into rehabilitation on three different occasions to no avail.[1]

Piaf married Jacques Pills, her first husband, in 1952 (her matron of honour was Marlene Dietrich) and divorced him in 1957. In 1962, she wed Théo Sarapo (Theophanis Lamboukas), a Greek hairdresser-turned-singer and actor[1] 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 Chézy in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. She lived at 45 rue Decazes in Marseille, France alone from 1941–1952 and with her Jacques Pills 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 Théo Sarapo from 1962–1963 until her death.

Death and legacy

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.[18][19][20] She had been drifting in and out of consciousness for several months.[6] Her last words were "Every damn fool thing you do in this life, you pay for."[21] It is said that Sarapo drove her body back to Paris secretly so that fans would think she had died in her hometown.[1][16] She is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris next to her daughter Marcelle, where her grave is among the most visited.[1]

Although she was denied a funeral mass by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris because of her lifestyle,[16] 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.[16][22] 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.[16]

In Paris, a two-room museum is dedicated to her, the Musée Édith Piaf[16][23] (5, Rue Crespin du Gast).

Bust of Piaf in Kielce, Poland

Piaf's work and name can still be found in popular culture and music today.

Numerous songs by Piaf are used in films and other media. Films such as Saving Private Ryan, Inception, Bull Durham, La Haine, The Dreamers and the animated film, Madagascar 3 all have Piaf's songs in them. Love Me If You Dare pays tribute to her song La Vie En Rose by including various versions of the song in its soundtrack.
Musicians have paid tribute to her by covering her songs, for instance "Johnny, tu n'es pas un ange" was covered by Vaya Con Dios on their debut album.

Furthermore, Piaf's life has been the subject of multiple films and plays:

Films about Piaf

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 film 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 about Piaf

  • "Piaf" (1978), by Pam Gems
  • "Piaf Piaf" (1988), by Juha Siltanen and Jorma Uotinen
  • "The Sparrow and the Birdman" (1999), by Raquel Bitton. Commissioned by Theatreworks
  • "Edith and Simone" (2000 and 2006), by Ronny Verheyen
  • "PIAF ... Her Story ... Her Songs" (2000), by Raquel Bitton
  • "Hearts ... Le Ballet des Coeurs" (1985), by Raquel Bitton. 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" (1978), City Stage, Vancouver, directed by Ray Michal
  • "The Power of Piaf" (1986), by Lily Charpentier, starring Daniele Pascal
  • "Edith" (1988), by Pluto Panoussis and Daniele Pascal
  • "Piaf, A Passionate Life" (2007 and 2008), by Daniele Pascal
  • "Hymne à l'amour - The Songs of Edith Piaf" (2013), by Daniele Pascal
  • "Edith Piaf on Stage" (2013), by Leslie Fitzwater

Songs

Filmography

Theatre credit

Discography

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

  • Edith Piaf: Edith Piaf (Music For Pleasure MFP 1396) 1961
  • Ses Plus Belles Chansons (Contour 6870505) 1969
  • The Voice of the Sparrow: The Very Best of Édith Piaf, original release date: June 1991
  • Édith Piaf: 30th Anniversaire, original release date: 5 April 1994
  • Édith Piaf: Her Greatest Recordings 1935–1943, original release date: 15 July 1995
  • The Early Years: 1938–1945, Vol. 3, original release date: 15 October 1996
  • Hymn to Love: All Her Greatest Songs in English, original release date: 4 November 1996
  • Gold Collection, original release date: 9 January 1998
  • The Rare Piaf 1950–1962 (28 April 1998)
  • La Vie en rose, original release date: 26 January 1999
  • Montmartre Sur Seine (soundtrack import), original release date: 19 September 2000
  • Éternelle: The Best Of (29 January 2002)
  • Love and Passion (boxed set), original release date: 8 April 2002
  • The Very Best of Édith Piaf (import), original release date: 29 October 2002
  • 75 Chansons (Box set/import), original release date: 22 September 2005
  • 48 Titres Originaux (import), (09/01/2006)
  • Édith Piaf: L'Intégrale/Complete 20 CD/413 Chansons, original release date: 27 February 2007
  • "Édith Piaf: The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection/Proper Records UK," original release date: 31 May 2011

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

Édith Piaf on DVD

  • Édith Piaf – A Passionate Life (24 May 2004)
  • Édith Piaf : Eternal Hymn (Éternelle, l'hymne à la môme, Non-US Format, Pal, Region 2, import)
  • Piaf – Her Story, Her Songs (June 2006)
  • Piaf: La Môme (2007)
  • La Vie en rose (biopic, 2008)
  • Édith Piaf – The Perfect Concert and Piaf The Documentary (February 2009)

Books on Édith Piaf

  • The Wheel of Fortune: The Autobiography of Édith Piaf by Édith Piaf (originally written in 1958, 5 years before her death), Peter Owen Publishers; ISBN 0-7206-1228-4
  • Édith Piaf, by Édith Piaf and Simone Berteaut, published January 1982; ISBN 2-904106-01-4
  • Berteaut, Simone (1958). Robert Laffont (ed.). Au bal de la chance (in French and translated into English) (1965 (translation) ed.). Paris: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-003669-5. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) memoirs, written by stepsister
  • The Piaf Legend, by David Bret, Robson Books,1988.
  • Piaf: A Passionate Life, by David Bret, Robson Books, 1998, revised JR Books, 2007
  • "The Sparrow – Edith Piaf," chapter in Singers & The Song (pp. 23–43), by Gene Lees, Oxford University Press, 1987, insightful critique of Piaf's biography and music.
  • Marlene, My Friend, by David Bret, Robson Books, 1993. Dietrich dedicates a whole chapter to her friendship with Piaf.
  • Oh! Père Lachaise, by Jim Yates, Édition d'Amèlie 2007, ISBN 978-0-9555836-0-5. Piaf and Oscar Wilde meet in a pink-tinted Parisian Purgatory.
  • No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf, by Carolyn Burke, Alfred A. Knopf 2011, ISBN 978-0-307-26801-3. An in-depth and insightful look at Piaf's life.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Huey, Steve. "Edith Piaf: Biography". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
  2. ^ Morris, Wesley (15 June 2007). "A complex portrait of a spellbinding singer". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Rainer, Peter (8 June 2007). "'La Vie en Rose': Édith Piaf's encore". The Christian Science Monitor. Boston. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Biography: Édith Piaf". Radio France Internationale Musique. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
  5. ^ Vallois, Thirza (February 1998). "Two Paris Love Stories". Paris Kiosque. Retrieved 9 August 2007. [dead link]
  6. ^ a b c d e Ray, Joe (11 October 2003). "Édith Piaf and Jacques Brel live again in Paris: The two legendary singers are making a comeback in cafes and theatres in the City of Light". The Vancouver Sun. Canada. p. F3. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
  7. ^ Death certificate Year 1890, France, Montluçon (03), 1890, N°501, 2E 191 194
  8. ^ Her grandmother, Emma Saïd ben Mohamed, was born in Mogador, Morocco, in December 1876, « Emma Saïd ben Mohamed, d'origine kabyle et probablement connue au Maroc où renvoie son acte de naissance établi à Mogador, le 10 décembre 1876 », Pierre Duclos and Georges ‬Martin, ‭‬Piaf, ‭ ‬biographie, ‭ Éditions du Seuil, 1993, ‬Paris, ‭p. 41
  9. ^ "Her mother, half-Italian, half-Berber", David Bret, Piaf: a passionate life, Robson Books, 1998, p.2
  10. ^ PIAF, Simone Berteaut Allen & Unwin 1970
  11. ^ "Keratitis". Wikipedia. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  12. ^ a b c "Piaf's Paris". Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  13. ^ a b c Fine, Marshall (4 June 2007). "The soul of the Sparrow". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 19 July 2007. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ a b Mayer, Andre (8 June 2007). "Songbird". CBC. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
  15. ^ Amazon.com: "Know About Édith Piaf?"
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Jeffries, Stuart (8 November 2003). "The love of a poet". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
  17. ^ Marcel Cerdan's tragic disappearance (1949) – Marcel Cerdan Heritage
  18. ^ Edith Piaf. Nndb.com. Retrieved on 22 April 2012.
  19. ^ "Edith Giovanna Piaf (1915–1963)". Findagrave.com. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  20. ^ "Edith Piaf Profile – The Tragic Life of Edith Piaf – About.com". Worldmusic.about.com. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  21. ^ "Edith Piaf – Famous Last Words". Life.com. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  22. ^ Template:Fr icon Édith Piaf funeral – Video – French tv, 14 October 1963, INA
  23. ^ Musée Édith Piaf
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