Edith Piaf 1915 – 1963

Biography

Édith Piaf was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Paris, France, and was raised largely by her grandmother, who ran a brothel in Normandy, after her mother, a street singer, abandoned her. She began singing on the streets of Paris as a teenager and was discovered by nightclub owner Louis Leplée, who gave her the nickname La Môme Piaf, the little sparrow. She became France’s greatest chanteuse, singing La Vie en rose, Hymne à l’amour, and Non, je ne regrette rien with an emotional intensity that made her a national symbol. Her life was marked by tragedy, including the death of her lover, boxer Marcel Cerdan, in a plane crash, and by illness and addiction. She died in Plascassier, France, in 1963, at the age of forty-seven. Her recordings, especially La Vie en rose, remain central to French culture, and her grave draws admirers from around the world.