The happy and at the same time tragic life of French singer Édith Piaf

On October 11, 1963, all of Paris stopped: the inhabitants of the most romantic city in the world said goodbye to Édith Piaf. Millions of people loved the singer for her high-pitched voice and extraordinary artistry. However, few knew that the artist had enough dramas not only on stage, but also off it. Piaf didn’t dare tell her whole life story, and biographers are trying to find out what shut her up. chansonnier🇧🇷

O awesome.club tried to find out as much as he could about the life of the great singer, with the intention of transmitting the power that was hidden in this small woman, only 1.47 m tall.

Édith Giovanna Gassion’s life has not been easy since childhood: her father went to command a battle during the First World War and her mother handed her over to her grandparents. But the grandmother didn’t want to take care of her granddaughter and put diluted wine instead of milk in her bottle so that little Édith wouldn’t bother. When the father came to see his daughter and saw a weak child who hadn’t even been bathed in all this time, he took the baby and took him to Normandy, in northwest France.

Fortunately, her grandmother on her father’s side was very kind and took care of her granddaughter in every way possible, but there was one catch: the new guardian ran a brothel, and the child also needed to live there. Only when Édith arrived at the new place did it become known that the girl was completely blind. The previous “caregiver” hadn’t noticed (or didn’t want to notice) that she had keratitis, a condition in which there is inflammation in the corneas, which can lead to blindness. Everyone helped to take care of the little girl, and when there was no hope left, the brothel workers came together to help her financially. Three years later, a miracle occurred: the child regained his sight. Since then, Édith had around her neck a medal with the image of Saint Teresa (whom they asked for help with her health) and a cross.

Life began to gradually improve and it was time to go to school, but the students’ parents were against the fact that a child who lived in a brothel studied with their children. That’s why Édith had to leave school.

Her father took her to Paris, but he had 8 other children to feed, and all he could do to help her was take her with him to the street shows that made a living. With the arrival of the girl, the contributions grew: people could not help but be moved by the ragged little girl, but with a surprisingly powerful voice. This was her first experience in acting for the public.

At the age of 14, Édith Piaf began to live independently and rented a room. The fledgling singer began to frequent the most decadent places in Paris. Unpretty, thin, with vulgar makeup and poorly cared for brightly colored clothes, her appearance did not make the best impression on the public. But when she started to sing, people got goosebumps.

At age 16, Édith met Louis Dupont, a shop owner, and the two quickly developed mutual sympathy. Louis tried to find a good job for his sweetheart and convince her that it was time to finish working the streets. But the stubborn Édith stood her ground. A year later, the loving couple had a daughter named Marcelle. But not even that event made the young mother change her job. Louis took their daughter, hoping that Édith would awaken the maternal instinct that would make her return with them. She came back 2 years later when Marcelle contracted meningitis. The child was taken to the hospital, but it was not possible to save her.

At 20, Édith was still singing in the streets in worn shoes. Once, after performing one of her songs, Louis Leplée, the owner of the cabaret Le Gerny’s, located near the Champs Elysees, noticed the singer and offered her a job. The new diva, a real diamond in Leplée’s collection, required proper polish: he had to show her good manners, how to work with musical accompaniment and explain to her how important it is for an artist to look good, among other necessary teachings. Leplée also gave him a new name: “La Môme Piaf” (nickname meaning little sparrow). The black dress, which became her best-known outfit, also appeared thanks to Leplée.

The posters with the name of La Môme Piaf attracted everyone’s attention, and success was not long in coming: the public fell in love with the singer from her first appearances on stage. A little later, Louis arranged for her to perform in a large concert at the circus “Medrano”, together with several French celebrities, and a small sample reached the radio. Since then, listeners have started calling constantly and demanding that they put on “Môme Piaf”.

The stunning success was followed by a meltdown: Leplée was shot and the singer was on the suspect list because her name was in her will. Journalists didn’t pass up the opportunity to create a real sensation by turning her fans against her. Even without proof and without her guilt being confirmed, people deliberately interrupted Édith Piaf’s shows.

After this dark episode, it was necessary to restore the image, and Piaf asked the poet Raymond Asso, with whom she was romantically involved, for help. He slightly corrected the trajectory that had been created by Leplée: he suggested that she change her stage name to Édith Piaf, limited the singer’s social circle (excluded those who could tarnish her reputation) and wrote songs for the artist that dealt with her story. Raymond also managed to organize a show in the most famous auditorium in Paris and the next morning the press wrote: “Yesterday, on the ABC stages, in France a great singer was born”.

Édith Piaf talking to a prisoner of war in a hospital during a tour of Germany,
in 1944.

Further attacks against her began during World War II. Since 1940, Piaf has been active in nightclubs and brothels, which were visited by German officers. The singer was invited to tour Berlin, and accepted. People regarded her as a traitor to her motherland for cooperating with the Germans and demanded to ban her radio performances.

But few knew that Édith was not going to Germany to seek German approval. After the prisoner-of-war concerts, the singer would ask to take “memorial” photos and, back in Paris, would transfer the images to an underground workshop, where each prisoner’s face was separated, enlarged, and then pasted onto an identification. false. After a while, Édith Piaf would return to a concert and distribute the documents disguised as autographs. Prisoners should just wait for the right moment and run away. That’s how she managed to save 120 people.

Ball with Charles Aznavour, 1958.

In the life of Édith Piaf many men passed, but Charles Aznavour had a special place in her heart. They met after the end of WWII at a club in Paris. The singer wasn’t afraid to approach a man first, and after seeing Charles, she asked him to dance. But he knew how true gentlemen should behave, and after remembering that she was the woman, he asked her to dance in return.

Shortly after they met, Édith offered Charles and his friend Henri-Pierre Roché to do a concert with her in the United States. At the time, Aznavour and Roché were out of work, and it took them a lot to get the money for the flight. But already in the United States, the singer began a new romance, canceled all her concerts and flew with her lover back to Paris, advising Aznavour and Roché to try their luck in Canada. On the way to this country, friends did not mention the singer with the kindest words, but in the end they were lucky and managed to earn a good amount of money. At one of the concerts, Roché fell in love with a local artist and Aznavour had to return to Paris alone.

Once home, Charles wanted to meet the woman who had left them so coldly in a foreign country to show her his success. But when they saw each other, Piaf laughed at the sight of Aznavour: he was wearing an emerald green jacket and a loose tie with the image of a half-naked woman. The singer asked if success had not reached Aznavour in a circus.

Even though Édith Piaf’s words had wounded Aznavour’s pride, he knew he had no one in Paris: Roche had stayed in Canada and his wife had filed for divorce. He quickly moved in with the singer, and that was the beginning of a strange friendship. For 8 years, Aznavour fulfilled the star’s every whim, doing whatever she asked of him, and Piaf told stories about her new lovers. For many years, journalists tried to find out if there was something more than the friendship between the two famous singers. Aznavour died on October 1, 2018, aged 94, and has kept the memory of her friend throughout her life, stating that there was no romantic relationship between them.

Édith Piaf Pills’ friend and witness Marlene Dietrich’s 1952 wedding.

There were many legends about the singer’s novels: the little woman could enchant any man. Piaf had a rule: “When love gets cold, you have to warm it up or throw it away. It’s not a product that stores in a cool place,” so she would leave her lovers first, as soon as she noticed her feelings were cooling.

The great love of his life was the famous boxer Marcel Cerdan. At the time he met her, Marcel had a wife and 3 children. But the sportsman could not resist this little woman and found himself constantly torn between the official family and the famous mistress. Piaf felt that he was willing to do anything for her, and she always asked him to accompany her, wherever her concert venues were. So, in October 1949, Piaf again asked Cerdan to fly to New York. The man in love left everything and ran to her, but the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The boxer’s remains were identified by the watch his mistress had given him. The death of her great love took the singer into a deep shock, and soon into depression. The outlet she found was work, alcohol and morphine.

Quickly, Piaf decided to put an end to her loneliness and married the singer Jacques Pills, but the marriage quickly declined. AND,…