Edith Piaf - Short and Tragic Life

Monday, 14 January 2013

Edith Piaf, well-known and celebrated French singer who lived and shined between 1915 and 1963 left behind not only a set of amazing and unforgettable songs, but she also left a story worth telling. 

Edith Giovanna Gassion lived a tragic life, a novel worthy one, according to the legend she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, although her birth certificate says otherwise. Child of a street acrobat performer and of an Italian café singer, she was soon abandoned by her parents and in an early age she went living with her grandmother who ran a brothel in Normandy. With such a controversial start no one expected much from young Edith, raised by prostitutes and child of street artists. However and against all the odds that wasn’t how this women’s life turn out. 

In 1929 she joined her father in his performances around France, for the first time she sang in public. Later she left him and started singing in the suburbs of Paris, she was found at a night pub and she was taught how to perform and dress (a black dress became her signature look), she also gain her nickname: “Môme Piaf”, the little sparrow, since she was only 142 cm. 

Due to her magnificent voice she had great success in Paris, she also knew Yves Montand, her mentor and lover who between many others wrote songs for her. Her signature song appeared in 1945 – La Vie en Rose – and was voted for a Grammy. 

During World War II she was considered to be working for the French Resistance, although  lacking in evidence to such a strong statement we can certainly prove her sympathy for the French cause since she was many times photographed supporting french soldiers. 

She end up dying from liver cancer in Grasse in 1963, when she was 47. A short and tempestuous life left behind an incredible musical legacy which ended with the words: “Every damn fool thing you do in this life, you pay for”.

I will leave you now with La vie en rose, enjoy this priceless classic!

Inês Rias Dias