La vie d‘Édith Piaf

adapted from http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Édith-Piaf-3013898/

with information from http://worldmusic.about.com/od/bandsartistsaz/p/EdithPiaf.htm

Early life• Édith Piaf was born Édith Giovanna

Gassion in Paris on 19 December 1915.• Her mother, Anetta Maillard, an Italian

café singer, abandoned her at the age of two months.

• Her father, a travelling acrobat, placed her in the care of her grandmother.

Early Life• Her grandmother was the owner of a

low-class brothel in Normandy.• Édith Piaf stayed there until she was

seven.• She was completely blind from ages 3-7,

and she claimed to have been miraculously cured when the prostitutes prayed for her on a religious pilgrimage.

Childhood• At the age of seven she began travelling

from town to town with her father, singing as part of his show.

• At the age of fifteen, she took a job as a servant, to free herself from her father's authority.

• She quickly left this job to return to singing.

Early career• Initially she was

singing as part of a duo with Simone Bertéaut.

• The two girls entertained people on the streets and in military camps.

Early career• In one of these military

camps, the sixteen-year-old Édith met a young soldier, Louis Dupont. He fell in love with her.

• In 1932 Édith became pregnant.

Édith’s daughter• Louis was transferred before the baby

was born.• They had a daughter, Cécelle, but she

died of meningitis in 1935 before she was two years old.

Édith moves on• While she was

performing, she was spotted by impresario Louis Leplée.

• He booked her to sing at Gerny's club.

Édith’s career takes off• Leplée became her mentor and

presented her as ‘La Môme Piaf' (Parisian slang for ‘The Kid Sparrow‘- she was tiny, as she stood only 4’8”)

• She was wearing a plain black dress which was to become her trademark.

• In early 1936, however, Leplée was murdered.

The 1940’s• As the war began, Édith was earning her

living singing for a Night Club.• In 1946 Édith met boxer Marcel Cerdan

in Paris.• They never married, but she said he was

the love of her life.

Édith et Marcel• When she made her

first trip to America, she encouraged Cerdan to come and fight in Washington, where she was staying.

• He did so and beat George Abrams. He became a national hero.

Tragedy strikes again…

• Marcel was killed in a plane crash in 1949.

http://www.acephotos.org/c16214074/marcel-cerdan-and-edith-piaf-photo.html

… and again• In 1951 Piaf was

involved in a car crash along with Charles Aznavour, a famous French singer.

• Breaking an arm and two ribs in this accident lead to a lifelong morphine and alcohol addiction.

The aftermath• Piaf was world

famous, but a wreck.• Piaf married singer

Jacques Pills in 1952. They divorced in 1956.

Love life• In 1962, Piaf married

singer/actor Theo Sarapo, who was twenty years her junior. They stayed married until Piaf's death.

http://imworld.aufeminin.com/dossiers/d20070108/d824i26596h161112.jpg

Death of a legend• Piaf died of liver cancer, on the French

Riviera, on 10 October 1963.

Death of a legend• She is buried in

Paris, in Père Lachaise cemetery.

La Vie en Rosehttp://www.newline.com/properties/vieenrosela.html

• In 2007, a biopic about Piaf’s life was released. It was named after her most famous song.

• The actress who played Piaf, Marion Cotillard, won the Best Actress Oscar in 2008 for her portrayal of the singer.

http://www.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-32492/La_Vie_En_Rose.html