I am Edith Giovanna Lamboukas, born Gassion, a French cabaret singer (also known as “The Little Sparrow”) who became widely regarded as France's national diva, as well as being one of France's greatest international stars during World War II. I was born in 1915 and died in 1963 (of cancer). My music was often autobiographical, reflecting my life, with my specialty being of chanson and ballads, particularly of love, loss and sorrow. Some of my most famous songs are "La Vie en Rose", "Non, je ne regrette rien", "Hymne à l'amour", "Milord", "La Foule", "l'Accordéoniste", and "Padam ... Padam ...". My mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard, was an Italian cafe singer (also an alcoholic and a part-time prostitute), who performed under the name “Line Marsa” and my father, Louis-Alphonse Gassion, was a street acrobat. But they abandoned me soon, and I had to live with my grandmother who ran a brothel, for a short time. At the age of 14, I joined my father in his street performances all over France. Soon, I separated from my father, setting out on my own as a street singer in and around Paris. At 17, I had a daughter named Marcelle, who died of meningitis two years later. I was discovered by Louis Leplée in 1935, who owned the successful club Le Gerny off the Champs-Élysées. My nervous energy and small stature inspired the nickname that would stay with me for the rest of my life: La Môme Piaf ("The Little Sparrow").
other Edith Piaf photos:
interesting Edith Piaf facts:
* Edith eventually became the most highly paid star in the world, but did not die a rich woman
* allegedly she was born under a street lamp outside number 72 rue de Belleville on a policeman's cloak
* she was involved in three serious car crashes after 1951, leading to morphine and alcohol addictions
* Piaf had high-profile romances with many of her male associates and some of the biggest celebrities in France; she married twice
* she was denied a funeral mass by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris because of her lifestyle
* her funeral procession was followed by tens of thousands of mourners - the only time since the end of World War II that Parisian traffic has come to a complete stop
* her last words were: "Every damn fool thing you do in this life you pay for."
(facts found at Bio, Edith Piaf and French Desire)
