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Quick Facts
- NAME: Edith Piaf
- OCCUPATION: Singer
- BIRTH DATE: December 19, 1915
- DEATH DATE: October 10, 1963
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Paris, France
- PLACE OF DEATH: Alpes-Maritimes, France
- Originally: Edith Giovanna Gassion
- Nickname: The Little Sparrow
- Nickname: La Mome Piaf
Best Known For
Édith Piaf, also known as “The Little Sparrow,” was a French singer who became an icon of France during World War II.
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Play NowEdith Piaf. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:28, May 18, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893.
Edith Piaf. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893 [Accessed 18 May 2013].
"Edith Piaf." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 18 2013, 11:28 http://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893.
"Edith Piaf," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893 [accessed May 18, 2013].
"Edith Piaf," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893 (accessed May 18, 2013).
Edith Piaf [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 18] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893.
Edith Piaf, http://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893 (last visited May 18, 2013).
Edith Piaf. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893. Accessed May 18, 2013.
Synopsis
Édith Piaf, also known as “The Little Sparrow,” was a French singer who became an icon of France during World War II. Piaf was born in Paris on December 19, 1915, and rose to international stardom in the 1940s as a symbol of French passion and tenacity. Of Piaf’s many ballads, “La Vie en Rose” is remembered as her signature song. Édith Piaf died in France in 1963.
Quotes
"All I've done all my life is disobey."
"Don't care what people say. Don't give a damn about their laws."
"I want to make people cry even when they don't understand my words."
Early Life
Édith Piaf was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris. She was named after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, executed for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard, was an Italian cafe singer, who performed under the name “Line Marsa.” Édith’s father, Louis-Alphonse Gassion, was a street acrobat.
Édith 's parents soon abandoned her, and she may have lived for a short time with her maternal grandmother, who ran a brothel. In 1929, at the age of 14, she joined her father in his street performances all over France.
Édith soon separated from her father, setting out on her own as a street singer in and around Paris. At 17, she had a daughter named Marcelle, who died of meningitis two years later.
Rise to Fame
In 1935, Piaf was discovered by Louis Leplée, who owned the successful club Le Gerny off the Champs-Élysées. Her nervous energy and small stature inspired the nickname that would stay with her for the rest of her life: La Môme Piaf ("The Little Sparrow"). Leplée ran a major publicity campaign promoting Piaf’s opening night. She was popular enough to record two albums that same year.
Louis Leplée was murdered the following spring. After authorities investigated her as an accomplice to the crime, Piaf took charge of her image. She adopted her stage name—Édith Piaf—permanently, and commissioned songs that romanticized her life on the streets, emphasizing her passion and inner strength.
Piaf was one of the most popular performers in France during World War II. Her concerts for German servicemen were controversial, although she later stated that she had been working for the French Resistance. While the veracity of this claim is unclear, she was instrumental in helping a number of individuals escape Nazi persecution.
After the war, her fame spread quickly. She toured Europe, South America and the United States. Although American audiences were initially put off by her dour demeanor and dark clothes, Piaf garnered glowing reviews and ultimately achieved enough of an audience to warrant two televised performances on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Personal Life
The personal life of Édith Piaf was characteristically dramatic. She was involved in three serious car crashes after 1951, leading to morphine and alcohol addictions.
Piaf had high-profile romances with many of her male associates and some of the biggest celebrities in France.
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