top of page
Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
PARIS
A tribute to Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf (19 December 1915 – 11 October 1963) was a French singer who became widely regarded as France's national diva, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being of Chanson and ballads, particularly of love, loss and sorrow. Among her songs are: - "La Vie en rose" (1946), - "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), - "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), - "Milord" (1959), - "La Foule" (1957), - "l'Accordéoniste" (1955), - "Padam ... Padam ..." (1951).
The Édith Piaf Museum is a private museum dedicated to the singer Édith Piaf located in the 11th arrondissement at 5, rue Crespin du Gast, Paris, France. It is open by appointment; free entry. The museum was created by Bernard Marchois, author of two biographies of Piaf, and occupies two rooms in a private apartment. It contains memorabilia including his porcelain collection, gold and platinum records, dresses and shoes, photographs, fan letters, sheet music, posters and recordings.
72, RUE DE BELLEVILLE
Despite numerous biographies, much of Piaf's life is shrouded in mystery. She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris. Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, but her birth certificate cites the Hôpital Tenon, the hospital for the 20th arrondissement, of which Belleville is part.
EDITH PIAF MUSEUM AT 5 RUE CRESPIN DU GAST
From the age of three to seven, Piaf would have been blind due to keratitis. According to one of her biographies, she would have regained her sight after her grandmother's prostitutes pooled money to send her on a pilgrimage in honor of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Piaf claimed that this result was a miraculous cure. She will keep a special cult of Thérèse all her life, whose medal she will keep around her neck all her life.
EARLY LIFE
At the age of 15, Edith met Simone "Mômone" Berteaut, who may have been her half-sister, certainly a companion for most of her life, and together they walked the streets singing and singing. by earning money for the first time.
SINGING CAREER
In 1935, Piaf was discovered in the Pigalle district of Paris by the owner of the nightclub Louis Leplée, whose Le Gerny club, near the Champs-Élysées, was frequented by the upper and lower classes. He persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness which, combined with her height of only 142 centimeters, gave her the nickname that will remain to her all her life and which will serve as her stage name, La Môme Piaf.
PLACE EDITH PIAF
During World War II, she frequently participated in social gatherings of German forces in occupied France, and many considered her a traitor; after the war, she says she worked for the French Resistance. While there is no evidence of this, it seems true that she did help a number of people (including at least one Jew) escape Nazi persecution.
MUSIC HALL OLYMPIA
Bruno Coquatrix's famous Paris Olympia music hall is where Piaf achieved lasting fame, giving several series of concerts at the hall, the most famous venue in Paris, between January 1955 and October 1962. Excerpts from five of these concerts (1955, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1962) were issued on record and CD and have never been out of print.
BAR DE LA PLACE
The love of Piaf's life, the married boxer Marcel Cerdan, died in a plane crash in October 1949, while flying from Paris to New York City to meet her. Cerdan's Air France flight, flown on a Lockheed Constellation, crashed in the Azores, killing everyone on board, including noted violinist Ginette Neveu. Piaf and Cerdan's affair made international headlines, as Cerdan was the former middleweight world champion and a legend in France in his own right.
67 BOULEVARD LANNES
Piaf died of liver cancer at age 47 at her villa in Plascassier (Grasse), on the French Riviera, on 11 October 1963. She had been drifting in and out of consciousness for several months. Her last words were "Every damn fool thing you do in this life, you pay for." It is said that Sarapo drove her body back to Paris secretly so that fans would think she had died in her hometown.
PÈRE LACHAISE
Although she was denied a funeral mass by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris because of her lifestyle, Her funeral procession drew tens of thousands of mourners onto the streets of Paris and the ceremony at the cemetery was attended by more than 100,000 fans. Charles Aznavour recalled that Piaf's funeral procession was the only time since the end of World War II that he saw Parisian traffic come to a complete stop.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
Piaf's work and name can still be found in popular culture and music today. Numerous songs by Piaf are used in films and other media. Films such as Saving Private Ryan, Inception, Bull Durham, La Haine, The Dreamers and the animated film, Madagascar 3 all have Piaf's songs in them. Love Me If You Dare pays tribute to her song La Vie En Rose by including various versions of the song in its soundtrack.
bottom of page