Her first husband was Jacques Pills, a singer they married in 1952 and divorced in 1956. The great love of Piaf's life, the boxer Marcel Cerdan, died in 1949. She helped to launch the career of Charles Aznavour, taking him on tour with her in France and the United States. was such that she appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show eight times. After the war, she toured Europe, the United States, and South America, becoming an internationally known figure. It is said that she collaborated with the Nazis, too. She befriended many high-ranking Germans and sang for them. During this time, she was in great demand and very successful. Her signature song, 'La vie en rose' (which was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998) was written in the middle of the German occupation of Paris in World War II. She wrote the lyrics of many of her songs, and collaborated with composers on the tunes. She began to make friends with famous people, such as the actor Maurice Chevalier and the poet Jacques Borgeat. In 1940, Jean Cocteau wrote the successful play Le Bel IndiffГ©rent for her to star in. Shortly afterwards, LeplГ©e was murdered and Piaf was accused of being an accessory she was acquitted. Her first record was produced in the same year. He persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness, which, combined with her height of only 4' 8' (142 cm) inspired him to give her the nickname that would stay with her for the rest of her life and become her stage name: La MГґme Piaf (The Little Sparrow). In 1935, Г‰dith was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris by the nightclub owner Louis LeplГ©e, whose club was frequented by the upper and lower classes alike. Sadly, Marcelle died in infancy of meningitis. She was about 16 years of age when she fell in love with a delivery-boy, Louis Dupont, and shortly after had a child, a little girl named Marcelle. the song 'Elle frГ©quentait la Rue Pigalle'). Then took a room at Grand HГґtel de Clermont (18 rue Veron, Paris 18ГЁme) and separated from him, going her own way as a street singer in Pigalle, MГ©nilmontant and Paris suburbs (cf. In 1929 she joined her father in his acrobatic street performances. As part of Piaf's legend, she allegedly recovered her sight after her grandmother's prostitutes went on a pilgrimage to Saint ThГ©rГЁse de Lisieux. Thus Г‰dith was in contact with the prostitutes and the various attenders of the brothel since her early years, a circumstance which must have had a deep impact on her personality and vision of life.ДЇrom the age of three to seven she was blind. Shortly after, Г‰dith's father brought the child to his mother, who ran a brothel in Normandy, and then joined the French Army (1916). The little Г‰dith was soon abandoned and left for a short time to her maternal grandmother, Mena (probably a Kabyle). Her father, Louis-Alphonse Gassion (1881 вЂ“ 1944), was a street acrobat with a theatrical past. Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard (1898 вЂ“ 1945), was a partly-Italian 17-year-old girl, native of Livorno, working as a cafГ© singer under the pseudonym Line Marsa from her, Г‰dith took the middle name of Giovanna. She was named Г‰dith after the executed British nurse Edith Cavell (Piaf -Parisian jargon for 'sparrow'- came from a nickname she would receive twenty years later). Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72 but according to her birth certificate that was at HГґpital Tenon, the Belleville arrondissement hospital. She was born Г‰dith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris, France, the high-immigration district later described by Daniel Pennac. Among her songs are 'La Vie en rose' (1946), 'Non, je ne regrette rien' (1960), 'Hymne Г l'amour' (1949), 'Milord' (1959), 'La Foule' (1957), 'l'AccordГ©oniste' (1955), and 'PadamвЂ¦ PadamвЂ¦' (1951).Дespite the numerous biographies, many facts and events of Г‰dith's life are shrouded in mystery. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads. Г‰dith Piaf (born Г‰dith Giovanna Gassion, 19 December, 1915 вЂ“ 11 October, 1963), was a French singer and cultural icon who became universally regarded as France's greatest popular singer.

Edith piaf biography