Édith Piaf

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Édith Piaf, born Édith Giovanna Gassion in 1915 in Paris, is regarded as the greatest singer of France. Her mother, a singer and circus performer, left her at birth. Her father, an acrobat from Normandy, went off to war in 1916, and Édith grew up with her grandmother in a brothel in Bernay, where the women looked after her. At fourteen she began touring with her father. In 1935 the nightclub owner Louis Leplée discovered her in Paris.

Music and breakthrough

During the German occupation her fame grew, and in 1945 she wrote the lyrics of La Vie en rose, her best-known song. In the late 1940s she was the most popular performer in France. She toured Europe, South America and the United States, where she appeared eight times on The Ed Sullivan Show. Among her greatest songs are L'Accordéoniste from 1940, Hymne à l'amour from 1949, Padam, padam from 1951, La Foule from 1957, Milord from 1959 and Non, je ne regrette rien from 1960. Until a few months before her death in 1963 she gave concerts, including runs at the Paris Olympia. Her last song, L'Homme de Berlin, she recorded in April 1963 with her husband Théo Sarapo.

Influence

Piaf sang chanson réaliste and ballads about love, loss and sorrow, often autobiographical. Her voice is powerful and tremulous, accompanied by accordion and orchestra. For the French she has become a symbol of their own culture, and her life formed the basis of several films, including La Vie en Rose from 2007.

Listening

• 
  La vie en rose · Édith Piaf, 1947
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1947La Rue Pigalle / Édith Piaf Sings (in French)
• 1949Chansons parisiennes
• 1950Chansons des cafés de Paris
• 1951Encores
• 1952La Vie en rose
• 1953Édith Piaf
• 1954Édith Piaf rencontre Charles Trenet
• 1955Mes grands succès
• 1956La Vie en rose
• 1959Piaf!
• 1960Édith Piaf
• 1962Les Amants de Teruel
• 2007La Môme (soundtrack)

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 3^NL Reader
• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 7^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Chanson GenreÉdith Piaf became world famous with La vie en rose (1947), and the Belgian Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour wrote songs in the 1950s and 1960s that were translated all over the world.
• Remote Control: hybrid orchestra and electronics GenreInception (2010) is built on slowed-down music by Édith Piaf.

See also

• Édith Piaf
• Remote Control: hybrid orchestra and electronics