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Édith Piaf‌

Gender

Female

Birthday

calendar1915-12-19

Popularity

star0.6

Édith Piaf

Paris, France

Édith Piaf

Paris, France

Gender

Female

Birthday

calendar1915-12-19

Popularity

star0.6

Biography

Édith Piaf (born Édith Giovanna Gassion, 19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars. 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). Since her death in 1963, several biographies and films have studied her life, including 2007's La Vie en rose. Piaf has become one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century. Despite numerous biographies, much of Piaf's life is unknown. 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 says that she was born on 19 December 1915 at the Hôpital Tenon, a hospital located in the 20th arrondissement. She was named Édith after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed 2 months before Édith's birth for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. Piaf – slang for "sparrow" – was a nickname she received 20 years later. Louis Alphonse Gassion (1881–1944), Édith's father, was a street performer of acrobatics 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, a "madam" who ran a brothel in Bernay in Normandy. Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard, better known professionally as Line Marsa (1895–1945), was a singer and circus performer born in Italy of French descent on her father's side and of Italian and Kabyle on her mother's. Her parents were Auguste Eugène Maillard (1866–1912) and Emma (Aïcha) Saïd Ben Mohammed (1876–1930), daughter of Said ben Mohammed (1827–1890), an acrobat born in Mogador and Marguerite Bracco (1830–1898), born in Murazzano in Italy. Annetta and Louis-Alphonse divorced on 4 June 1929. Piaf's mother abandoned her at birth, and she lived for a short time with her maternal grandmother, Emma (Aïcha). When her father enlisted with the French Army in 1916 to fight in World War I, he took her to his mother, who ran a brothel in Bernay, Normandy. There, prostitutes helped look after Piaf. The bordello had two floors and seven rooms, and the prostitutes were not very numerous – "about ten poor girls", as she later described. In fact, five or six were permanent while a dozen others would join the brothel during market days and other busy days. The sub-mistress of the brothel was called "Madam Gaby" and Piaf considered her almost like family, since she became godmother of Denise Gassion, Piaf's half-sister born in 1931. Edith believed her weakness for men came from mixing with prostitutes in her grandmother's brothel. ... Source: Article "Édith Piaf" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movie Credits

Piaf: Without love we are nothing at all

Piaf: Without love we are nothing at all‌
star9.0
calendar 2004

Star Without Light

Star Without Light‌
star5.4
calendar 1946

Boom on Paris

Boom on Paris‌
star5.4
calendar 1954

Paris Still Sings!

Paris Still Sings!‌
star0.0
calendar 1951

An Intimate History of Occupation

An Intimate History of Occupation‌
star6.5
calendar 2011

Édith Piaf : L'Hymne à la môme

Édith Piaf : L'Hymne à la môme‌
star7.1
calendar 2008

The Tomboy

The Tomboy‌
star3.6
calendar 1936

Singing Paris: The City of Lights in 20th-Century French Music

Singing Paris: The City of Lights in 20th-Century French Music‌
star0.0
calendar 2009

Piaf intime

Piaf intime‌
star8.0
calendar 2013

French Cancan

French Cancan‌
star7.1
calendar 1955

Nine Boys, One Heart

Nine Boys, One Heart‌
star7.0
calendar 1948

Royal Affairs in Versailles

Royal Affairs in Versailles‌
star6.8
calendar 1954

Montmartre on the Seine

Montmartre on the Seine‌
star6.0
calendar 1941

The Lovers of Tomorrow

The Lovers of Tomorrow‌
star4.0
calendar 1959

Music of Always

Music of Always‌
star6.8
calendar 1958

Aznavour by Charles

Aznavour by Charles‌
star6.9
calendar 2019

Tv Credits

The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show‌
star6.5
calendar 1948

Le Grand Échiquier

Le Grand Échiquier‌
star8.0
calendar 1972

Cadet Rousselle

Cadet Rousselle‌
star0.0
calendar 1971

McCartney 3, 2, 1

McCartney 3, 2, 1‌
star8.5
calendar 2021

Midi trente

Midi trente‌
star6.0
calendar 1972

Legends

Legends‌
star5.0
calendar 2006

Champs-Elysées

Champs-Elysées‌
star6.2
calendar 1982

Le Siècle des icônes

Le Siècle des icônes‌
star6.5
calendar 2022

Discorama

Discorama‌
star0.0
calendar 1959