EDITH PIAF

Edith Piaf, who was born in 1915 and died in 1963, was a French singer. She was not only one of her country’s bestknown cultural icons but also a famous one worldwide. She is remembered mostly with her classics such as ‘La vie en rose’.

She was so popular that 100,000 people attended her funeral in Paris and traffic came to a standstill. There is also a museum in Paris dedicated to her memory. She was born Edith Gassion in a poor suburb of Paris. Piaf’s parents abandoned her when she was a child and she lived with her grandmother. When she was 14, she started working with her father who was an acrobat.

She toured France with him and at the age of 16, she went her own way and became a street singer. When she was only twenty years old, Piaf was discovered by a nightclub owner, who asked her to sing in his club. He gave her the nickname Little Sparrow because she was so tiny. She was an instant success and began to mix with the rich and famous of Paris.

During World War II, she frequently performed for German officers. Piaf became famous worldwide after the war. However, her personal life was not as good as her voice. Her lover died in a plane crash when she was 34 and in the 1950s she had three near-fatal car crashes and became addicted to morphine and alcohol. Two years before she died, she recorded her famous song "Non, je ne regrette rien". It was one of the last songs she sang.

Adapted from en.wikipedia.org