Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf (born Édith Giovanna Gassion; 19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963) was a French singer best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer and one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century.[1][2]
For other uses, see Edith Piaf (disambiguation).
Édith Piaf
10 October 1963 (aged 47)
La Môme Piaf (French for 'The Little Sparrow')
- Singer
- actress
- street artist
1935–1963
1
- Cabaret
- torch songs
- modern chanson
- musical theatre
- Pathé, Pathé-Marconi
- Capitol/EMI (US and Canada)
- Parlophone/WEA (since 2013)
Piaf's music was often autobiographical, and she specialized in chanson réaliste and torch ballads about love, loss and sorrow. Her most widely known songs include "La Vie en rose" (1946), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "La Foule" (1957), "L'Accordéoniste" (1940), and "Padam, padam..." (1951).
Piaf began her career touring with her father at the age of fourteen. Her fame increased during the German occupation of France and in 1945, Piaf's signature song, "La Vie en rose" ('life in pink') was published. She became France's most popular entertainer in the late 1940s, also touring Europe, the United States, and South America. Her popularity in the United States led her to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show eight times.
She 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 in April 1963. Since her death, several documentaries and films have been produced about Piaf's life, and her music is a touchstone of French culture.
Funeral and 2013 requiem mass[edit]
Shortly after her death, Piaf's funeral procession drew tens of thousands of mourners onto the streets of Paris,[1] and the ceremony at the cemetery was attended by more than 100,000 fans.[23][41] 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.[23]
However, at the time, Piaf had been denied a Catholic Requiem Mass by Cardinal Maurice Feltin, since she had remarried after divorce in the Orthodox Church.[42] 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 October 10, 2013.[43]
The following titles are compilations of Piaf's songs and not reissues of the titles released while Piaf was active.