Edith Piaf

Sara Greene, Nina Luckman, April Minio, Allie Garnick

The 1930s

• Recovery from The Great Depression affected entire world’s economy

• Fascist parties rose in Spain and Germany• Jazz, Swing and Big Band music genres gained popularity• WWII started on September 1st 1939.

Early Life• Born in Belleville section of

Paris in 1915.• Legal name: Edith Giovanna

Gassion• Abandoned by parents as a

child and taken in by grandmother, who ran a brothel.

• Joined her father at age 14 to do street performances

• Gave birth to a daughter, Marcelle, at age 17. She died of meningitis at age 2.

Career

• Discovered in 1935 in the Pigalle area by Louis Leplee, owner of club Le Gerny. He convinced her to sing and gave her the nickname “La Mome Piaf” (The Little Sparrow).

• Had several romantic relationships with players in the music business.

• Became France’s most popular entertainer in the 1940s.• Signature song “La Vie en Rose” was recorded in 1945 and received

the Grammy Hall of Fame award in 1998.

Death• Died of liver cancer at

age 47, on October 11, 1963 at Plascassier, on the French Riviera.

• Denied a Roman Catholic mass because of her lifestyle

• Buried at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris next to her daughter.