Sasha Blakeley has a Bachelor's in English Literature from McGill University and a TEFL certification. She has been teaching English in Canada and Taiwan for seven years.
Édith Piaf was a French singer and actress known for singing ballads. She lived from 1915 to 1963 and is considered a major symbol of French culture in the first half of the twentieth century. Many of her songs are still widely listened to and covered today. Generally, she sang in French; her major theme was love, often with an element of tragedy. Some of her songs are partly or entirely in English. Piaf experienced a number of personal issues over the course of her life, some of which contributed to her early death. She is still considered an important icon in French history today.
Piaf's birth name was Édith Giovanna Gassion. She was born in Paris. Her mother was a singer from a Moroccan Berber background and her father was an acrobat, so she grew up in a family that prized performance. However, Piaf was not raised by her parents for long. She was sent to live with her maternal grandmother and then her paternal grandmother, both of whom either deliberately mistreated her or were unable to adequately provide for her care. An infection when she was three years old caused Piaf to go blind, though she regained her sight a few years later. Adults around her noted her remarkable voice, and eventually, she rejoined her father and traveled with him as he performed.
In order to earn an income, Piaf sang on the streets of Paris when she was a teenager. When she was seventeen years old, she gave birth to a daughter who died of meningitis at the age of two. In 1935, a cabaret owner named Louis Leplée discovered Piaf and gave her a job singing in his nightclub. She quickly earned the nickname ''La Môme Piaf,'' which was slang for ''little sparrow.'' The nickname referred to how small Piaf was: she was under five feet tall and weighed just 90 pounds, possibly due in part to malnutrition during her childhood.
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Piaf's career took off almost immediately and she recorded her first two albums the same year that she was discovered. She also began performing in theatres and larger music halls. In another surprising personal upset, Leplée was murdered in the spring of 1936, and Piaf was investigated as an accomplice. Her next manager was Raymond Asso, with whom she had a romantic relationship. During World War II, Piaf gave concerts for German soldiers, which was a controversial choice. She may have done so because she was actually involved with the French Resistance, though the details remain unclear. After the war, she started working in film and had an affair with a boxer named Marcel Cerdan who died in a plane crash. Her career continued through the 1940s and 1950s and she went on musical tours around the world.
Édith Piaf's songs are what she is primarily remembered for today. The most famous of these is probably Édith Piaf's La Vie en Rose, which was written in French but soon received a popular English translation. The song is about love and its ability to make people forget the difficulties of life. Some other notable songs that Piaf wrote and sang included:
Most of these are love songs. Piaf also covered Le Ça Ira, a song that was first written during the French Revolution. She firmly established herself as an integral element of French culture, in part through her interest in songs that were distinctly French, often discussing French history or specific parts of Paris.
Piaf was known throughout her life for having a personal life marked by repeated tragedies. After her difficult childhood, the loss of her young daughter, the murder of Leplée, and the death of Cerdan, things scarcely improved. Her first marriage, to a singer named Jacques Pills, lasted from 1952 to 1957, at which point the couple divorced. Piaf was involved in three major car crashes that caused her serious psychological trauma. She developed addictions to morphine and alcohol that harmed her health. Her second marriage was to a Greek performer and hairdresser named Théo Sarapo, who was 26 when they married in 1962 (Piaf was 46). They remained married until her death in 1963, at which point Sarapo inherited her considerable debts. Édith Piaf's cause of death is somewhat disputed. Her health had been in decline for some time. Most sources report that she died of either liver failure or liver cancer, though some suggest an aneurysm. No autopsy was performed.
Édith Piaf is widely considered to have been one of the most important French singers in history. Her work provided inspiration to many other artists, both during her own lifetime and in the years that followed. In 2007, a biopic about Piaf's life was released, called La Vie en Rose. It received critical acclaim and Marion Cotillard, the actress who played Piaf, won an Academy Award for her performance. Many books have also been published about her life and work. Her singing style helped define several decades of French music culture and her voice remains essentially inimitable, though many artists have covered her songs.
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Édith Piaf was a French singer and actress known for her distinctive voice and for contributing significantly to French culture throughout her career. She had a challenging life that was marked by repeated personal tragedies. She had a difficult childhood and gave birth to a daughter when she was 17. The baby, her only child, died at the age of two. After starting out singing on street corners, Piaf was discovered in 1935 and rapidly rose to stardom. During World War II, she may have worked for the French Resistance; details of her life remain unclear.
After the war, Piaf's career reached international heights. She went on tour and had several high-profile but largely short-lived love affairs. Later in her life, she was involved in three car crashes that traumatized her and that may have contributed to her forming addictions that damaged her health. Piaf married twice and died at the age of 46, likely from liver failure or liver cancer. In 2007, a biopic about her life received significant critical acclaim and numerous awards. Piaf is widely considered to be an icon of French culture. Her most famous song is La Vie en Rose.
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Édith Piaf was a French singer and actress known for her distinctive voice and for contributing significantly to French culture throughout her career. She had a challenging life that was marked by repeated personal tragedies. She had a difficult childhood and gave birth to a daughter when she was 17. The baby, her only child, died at the age of two. After starting out singing on street corners, Piaf was discovered in 1935 and rapidly rose to stardom. During World War II, she may have worked for the French Resistance; details of her life remain unclear.
After the war, Piaf's career reached international heights. She went on tour and had several high-profile but largely short-lived love affairs. Later in her life, she was involved in three car crashes that traumatized her and that may have contributed to her forming addictions that damaged her health. Piaf married twice and died at the age of 46, likely from liver failure or liver cancer. In 2007, a biopic about her life received significant critical acclaim and numerous awards. Piaf is widely considered to be an icon of French culture. Her most famous song is La Vie en Rose.
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Piaf's most famous song by far is La Vie en Rose. Although it was originally written in French, there is now an almost equally famous English version.
La Vie en Rose is a love song, like most of Piaf's songs. It is about the way that love can allow people to see the world through rose-tinted glasses.
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