Biography of the great French singer Edith Piaf. Learning by example

The name Edith Piaf is widely known in her native country and abroad. It is inscribed in golden letters in the history of world music. A woman with a difficult fate was able to become an idol of millions, giving all of herself on stage without reserve. She went through terrible moments in her life, outlived her own child and her beloved man, but did not despair and accomplished a real feat during the war.

Brief biography of Edith Piaf and many interesting facts Read about the singer on our page.

• When Piaf received an offer from Louis Leple to sing in his cabaret, she suddenly realized that she didn’t even have anything to wear. The girl had to urgently purchase three balls of woolen thread and knit her own dress. She almost managed to complete the outfit, only one sleeve was missing. Leple came to the rescue, who found her in the dressing room doing needlework. He brought her a wide white scarf, which helped hide the missing part of the dress.
• Piaf was suspected of murdering Leple only because of his will, in which he indicated the name of the artist.
• One of Edith Piaf's most striking performances took place at the top of the Eiffel Tower in September 1962 with great success. It was timed to coincide with the premiere of the film “The Longest Day”, and almost all residents of Paris became spectators. And Piaf’s final appearance on stage was a concert at the theater in Lille; that evening the audience gave the legendary singer a standing ovation.
• One of the most unusual manifestations love and memory for the great singer is the fact that a small planet is named after her.

• Piaf admitted to her sister that she was very afraid of loneliness, which is why there were so many novels in her life. Moreover, she always preferred to part with men herself.
• Talking about her first date with Marcel Cerdan, the singer recalled that he took her to a small cafe and ordered meat with mustard. Edith didn’t like this very much, but her admirer noticed everything in time and immediately suggested going to the most respectable restaurant in the city.
• The song “No, I don’t regret anything” was heard in the film “Seventeen Moments of Spring” in Stirlitz’s car. However, this composition was born 15 years later than the events of the film took place.
• Edith took her younger sister Simone from her mother, who was raising seven more children and began to take care of her herself. At that time, Piaf had just decided to leave her father and lead an independent life. The girls earned their own food together by performing on the streets of the city.
• It is known that in total she saved 120 prisoners from fascist camps.
• The famous Charlie Chaplin believed that Edith did the same thing in her work as he did in the movies.
• The romance between boxer Cerdan and Piaf was scandalous because the man was married and had three sons. He couldn’t dissolve the marriage, but he didn’t want to give up love either. The press was hunting for the lovers and Cerdan even agreed to give a small conference at which he confirmed that he and Piaf were lovers. Literally the next day, all talk about their connection stopped.
• Edith and Marcel bought themselves a huge house in which they planned to live together; there was even a large training room equipped there.
• Marcel Cerdan often attended his lover's concerts, but preferred to spend all his time in the gallery so as not to attract attention.
• Piaf herself wrote two books about herself and her work; many other writers often turned to her personality in their works. Even her sister Simone published a book dedicated to Edith.

• In Paris there is a square called Piaf (Place Edith Piaf), with a monument to the great and incomparable Edith.
• Piaf was very good friends with the famous actress Marlene Dietrich.
• Piaf learned the news of the death of her beloved Marcel before her concert at the Versailles Hall in New York. Despite the deep suffering, she did not cancel her performance. The singer was carried onto the stage in her arms, since she could not walk on her own. Before the concert, the artist only announced that she was singing in honor of her lover.
• The artist's latest passion was a 27-year-old hairdresser named Theofanis Lambukas. Piaf tied the knot with him and even opened the way to the stage. She was 47 years old at that time. Theofanis's pseudonym was Sagapo.
• It was announced that the great singer had passed away on October 11, 1963; her friend Jean Cocteau also died on the same day. Many believe that the main reason was the news of Piaf's death.

The best songs of Edith Piaf

The list of songs performed by Edith Piaf includes more than 250 compositions. Some of them are so popular that even today it is difficult to find a person who has not heard them. " No, I don't regret anything», « Life in Pink" - compositions that became especially popular when performed by Piaf.

“No, I don’t regret anything” (listen)

“La Vie En Rose” (listen)

In addition to her own career, Piaf also helped such artists as Yves Montand , Charles Aznavour , Eddie Constantin, and others. Several generations grew up listening to her songs, and listening to Piaf is still considered a sign of good musical taste.

Works about the great artist

Several films are dedicated to the life and work of the actress. Various directors in different time turned to her biography to create wonderful film stories. Guy Casaril's first film, released in 1974, is called simply and succinctly - “Piaf”. Role main character performed by Brigitte Ariel. Another film is dedicated to the singer’s romance with a boxer - “Edith and Marcel”, directed by Claude Lelouch, Piaf played Evelyn Bui. In 2007, the film “La Vie En Rose” by Olivier Dahan was released. The role of the singer was played by actress Marion Cotillard, for this role she was awarded an Oscar. In order to be as similar as possible to the singer, the actress completely shaved off her eyebrows (drawing them in with a thin pencil) and changed her haircut. All vocal parts in the film were performed by Gilles Egro. This film is familiar to the public under the titles: “Baby” (original translation), “The Passionate Life of Edith Piaf.” In many countries they preferred to title this film after the main character.

Filmography

Edith Piaf left her mark on the history of cinema not only by giving directors beautiful stories for scripts, but she also played a lot herself bright roles. Piaf's filmography includes 7 beautiful paintings that have become classics. From 1941 to 1959, Edith starred in the following films: “Montmartre on the Seine”, “A Star Without Light”, “Nine Guys, One Heart”, “Paris Always Sings”, “If They Tell Me About Versailles”, “French Cancan” ", "Lovers of Tomorrow". Edith's acting talent was in no way inferior to her singing talent, but her heart belonged to music, which is perhaps why we did not see more films with her participation.

Music in films

The popularity of the great singer’s work has not faded to this day, as evidenced by great amount films in which Piaf’s legendary hits are heard.

Movie	Song
"Allies" (2016)	"Fais-Moi Valser"
"My Indian Friend" (2015)	"La Vie en Rose"
"Son" (2014)	"Mon Homme"
"All or Nothing" (2012)	"Bravo Pour Le Clown"
Animated series "The Simpsons"	"Fais-Moi Valser"
"Monte Carlo" (2011)	"La Vie en Rose"
X-Men: First Class (2011)	"La Vie en Rose"
"Inception" (2010)	"Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien"
"WALL-E" (2008)	"La Vie en Rose"
"Crazy Wedding" (2008)	"La Vie en Rose"
"Fred Claus, Santa's Brother" (2007)	"La Vie en Rose"
"Rush Hour 3" (2007)	"La Vie en Rose"
"Valiant: Feathered Special Forces" (2005)	"Non, je ne Regrette rien"
"Intolerable Cruelty" (2003)	"Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien"
"Chloe" (1996)	"La Vie en Rose"
"Innocent Lies" (1995)	“C"est lui qu" mon coeur a choisi"

Quotes

Edith Piaf wrote two autobiographies in which she shared details of her difficult fate. Possessing an extraordinary intelligence and sense of humor, the woman created several sayings that became aphorisms that have not lost their relevance today.

• “I don’t sing for everyone - I sing for everyone”
• “I die of love five hundred times an evening”

1. Edith Giovanna Gassion (that was the last name of her parents) was a born Parisian, but her childhood and youth were spent on the darkest and most impoverished streets of this “city of light.” Later, under the pen of a journalist who secretly received his fee from the famous singer, a legend was born that she was born right on the steps of house 72 on Belleville Street, where the newborn was taken into the arms of a local gendarme. Today tourists come to stand on these steps and look at the memorial plaque at the entrance.

2. Edith’s mother, a cabaret singer, left her acrobat husband two years after the birth of her daughter, gave her up to her parents, and she, as they say, “went downhill.” But the grandmother had neither the strength nor the desire to take care of the child: when the girl cried from hunger, instead of milk, she could pour wine into the bottle, which she was a big hunter of. Having learned how things were, Edith’s father took her to his own mother, the owner of the brothel.

3. The girl was three years old when it was discovered that she had practically lost her sight. The pious (or superstitious?) grandmother, together with her “girls,” decided to take her granddaughter to the relics of Saint Teresa in the hope of healing. Legend has it that the miracle happened after little Edith wore a blindfold with soil brought from the saint’s grave for a week. From then on, throughout her life, Edith Piaf wore a medallion with her image around her neck and always went to church to pray - no matter where her touring life took her.

4. At the age of 9, Edith began performing: her father returned from the army and took her with him to travel with street circus performers. And at the age of 15, the independent girl sang on the sidewalks and in courtyards with her “sworn friend” Simone Berto. Two years later, Edith fell madly in love with a small businessman, Louis: the couple settled in Montmartre, Paris, and the 17-year-old mistress gave birth to a daughter, Marcelle, who, unfortunately, died of meningitis, having lived only two years in the world. As a result, Edith broke up with her lover Louis, and the singer never had any more children.

5. The name Piaf, now known throughout the world, was given to the singer by Louis Leple, the owner of one of the Parisian cabarets. It was thanks to his efforts that her first resounding success came: in 1936, Edith Piaf recorded her first disc. But soon Louis was found murdered in his own bed, and one of Edith’s (probably offended by her) lovers whispered her name to the investigator during police interrogation. However, sufficient evidence was never found against Edith Piaf.

6. Right up until the very beginning of World War II, Edith Piaf triumphantly conquered the most famous music halls, sang on the radio, played in the theater, fell in love and endlessly changed lovers. She continued to perform in German-occupied Paris, and in 1943 she even went to Berlin on a “promotional tour” of a French song, along with other French artists. All this did not stop her from helping Jews hiding from the occupiers or her compatriots-prisoners of war: legend has it that from the group “memory photo” taken in the camp, individual photographs were then taken for documents and escape.

7. Thanks to the generous heart of Edith Piaf, many talented young men of those years took huge steps towards their artistic fame. Among them were Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour. But only the great passion that flared up between Edith and the famous boxer Michel Cerdan breathed such a feeling into her “Hymn of Love” that immortalized this song. In October 1949, 33-year-old Cerdan flew to New York, where Edith Piaf was on tour, but the plane crashed over the Atlantic. In deep grief, the singer began taking morphine.

8. In July 1951, the singer was in a car accident with Charles Aznavour, who was then simultaneously her confidant, protégé, secretary and driver. To relieve the pain from numerous fractures, she was again prescribed morphine, and a year later Edith began her first course of treatment for drug addiction.

9. By 1955, after numerous detoxification procedures, Edith Piaf managed to temporarily cope with her dependence on morphine, but she was left with severe rheumatoid arthritis, alcohol and the pain of loneliness after the death of Marcel Cerdan, whom Edith could not forget, although she later fell in love more than once and went out married Her grand triumph continued to grow, and her fame conquered the whole world.

10. Edith Piaf passed away at the age of 47 - her body gave way under the monstrous burden of illness, harmful excesses and suffering throughout her life. Upon learning of her death, close friend The great singer, writer, artist and director Jean Cocteau said: “I didn’t know anyone else who didn’t take care of his soul like that. She didn’t spend it - she was a spendthrift, as if she was throwing gold through a window.”

Piaf Edith

Real name - Edith Giovanna Gassion (born in 1915 - died in 1963)

The great French pop singer, the pride of France, a symbol of its culture, a phenomenon of world musical art.

The main theme of Piaf's songs was love. Tragic, broken, unhappy, daring, with all its impulse the opposite of petty prosperity and bourgeois decency. Love is rock, love is a test, love is a curse sent down by fate. This was her life too.

Edith Piaf's personal life is not an example to follow. It had everything: friendships, fleeting hobbies, and of course love. As soon as one great love ended, another began. She had her own rule about this: “A woman who allows herself to be abandoned is a total fool. There are a dime a dozen men, there are so many of them walking the streets. You just need to find a replacement not after, but before. If after, then you were abandoned, if before, then you! A big difference".

Edith always applied this principle with a sense of duty. No man could change her. And if there was someone who tried to leave her, he was in trouble - she had long been several lengths ahead. Bye new lover could not yet live with her under the same roof, she was silent, kept the old one with her, believing that there should always be a man in the house: “A house where there is no man’s shirt lying around, where you don’t come across socks, a tie hanging on the back of a chair yet a warm jacket - this is a widow’s house, there is melancholy and darkness in it.”

Edith was born on December 19, 1915 at three o'clock in the morning under a street lamp near house number 72 on Belleville Street in Paris. Two police officers attended the birth - “ ambulance“It was too late to call. The future pop star was born into the circus family of acrobat Louis Gassion and singer Anita Maillard at a not very opportune time. Walked First World War, and the father, who went on vacation for the occasion, immediately after the birth of his daughter returned to the trenches to feed the lice. Two months later, the mother gave the girl to her alcoholic parents and forgot about both her husband and child: she was “a real actress, but she had no heart.”

When Louis Gassion was able to come on his next vacation in 1917, he saw his daughter in such a state that he was horrified: “a head like a balloon, arms and legs like matches, a chicken breast.” Without thinking twice, the father took the child and took him to his mother in Normandy - he didn’t even have the thought of giving her to an orphanage. Here in the town of Bernay, grandmother Louise served as a cook for her sister Marie, who ran a brothel.

"Madame" Marie and her girls were delighted with little Edith. “A child in the house is fortunate!” - they thought. They barely managed to wash the dirt off her, and then it turned out that the girl had cataracts - she couldn’t see anything. The baby remained blind for three years, and all this time her new big family did not lose hope for her recovery. At first, Edith was taken to doctors, and then one of the girls came up with the idea of ​​going on a pilgrimage to Saint Therese in Lisieux.

The Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 15, 1921, all the girls, led by “Madame,” spent in the cathedral, where they prayed for the health of their favorite. And a miracle happened. A week after visiting Saint Teresa, the child regained his sight. The shock was so great that the “establishment” was closed for the second time for the whole day and a feast was thrown without men, but with champagne.

So Edith regained her sight, but soon lost her cozy home, where everyone loved her very much. Without allowing the girl to study for a year at school, under pressure from the priest and the “decent” public, Louis Gassion was forced to take her away from the “indecent house.” From eight to fourteen years old, he dragged Edith with him through taverns and bistros, through city streets and village squares - the war ended, and he again became a street acrobat. Edith later said: “I walked so many roads with dad that my legs should have been worn down to the very knees.”

Her job was to collect money. “Smile,” my father taught, “then they will give you more.” Even then, Edith tried to sing in front of cafe regulars, which guaranteed Louis a daily drink. He had long ago given up the idea of ​​making her a gymnast: “This girl has everything in her throat and nothing in her hands!” - he used to say. The first time Edith sang on the street was when she was nine years old. The song she debuted with was called “I'm a Slut.”

At the age of fifteen, Edith was tired of working for free for her father and putting up with his girlfriends, constantly replacing each other. She tried to deliver milk, washed floors and realized that this was not for her - she dreamed of singing on the street. But in order not to look like an ordinary beggar in the eyes of passers-by, it was necessary to find an accompanist. Once Edith met a self-taught musician named Raymond, with whom she performed for some time in soldiers’ barracks and squares.

Soon she began to sing on her own, and then persuaded her half-sister Simone Berto to leave her drunkard mother and work together. By the time they met, Edith already knew many men. She didn't remember the first, and all she could say about the second was that he taught her to play the banjo and mandolin. Men always revolved around her, but most of all the street singer liked the soldiers of the Foreign Legion, colonial troops and sailors: “If a guy looks at you, you are no longer an empty place, you exist. You can laugh and rage with them, soldiers are easy people.”

One evening in 1932, in a bistro near Fort Romainville, Edith met her Baby - a blond boy, Louis Dupont, who was a year older than her. Although Edith had many admirers in the nearby barracks, Louis became her first true love. From that evening she began to live with the Kid under the same roof, because he was the first who offered it to her. There was no question about marriage, but within two months Edith became pregnant.

The future dad was jealous of his girlfriend and often beat her. Their views on life were diametrically opposed - Edith was eager to go outside, and he wanted her to stay at home. Even the birth of their daughter Cecel could not change the situation: Edith began singing in the streets again, returning home late, which led to frequent quarrels and fights that ended in the police station. This couldn't go on for long. They finally broke up after Edith got a job at the Juan-les-Pins cabaret on Pigalle Street - in the very center of the Parisian “bottom”.

Her new friends were prostitutes, robbers, pimps, dealers in stolen goods, and card sharps. She now did not have a permanent home - she wandered from hotel to hotel, renting a room for the night where Cecel could sleep peacefully. In the morning Edith put her in a stroller and took her around the city all day. Despite such a chaotic lifestyle, the girl grew up healthy and cheerful. One day, the Kid stole his daughter from the hotel, hoping that Edith would return to him. But such numbers did not work for her - she crossed him out of her life.

Sesel did not stay with Baby for long: at two and a half years old she fell ill with meningitis and died. Edith was nineteen years old at this time. Ten francs were missing for the funeral, and Edith went to the boulevard for the first time: “So much the worse... I’ll do it.” In the hotel room, the client asked why she was doing this. Hearing that the young girl standing in front of him had just lost her daughter, he cursed, put a large bill on the table and left.

A few days later Edith no longer remembered deceased daughter- streets during the day, cabarets at night - life continued as before. One day in October 1935, she was performing on the Champs-Élysées, and here on Troyon Street, chance intervened in her fate - she was noticed by the owner of the fashionable cabaret "Jernice" Louis Leple. The performance of Jean Lenoir's song “Like Little Sparrows” impressed him so much that he immediately offered the street singer a job.

The young artist needed to choose a sonorous stage name. It dawned on Father Leple: “You are a real Parisian sparrow, and the name Moineau would best suit you. Unfortunately, the baby's name Muano has already been taken. We need to find something else. In Parisian slang, "moineau" is "piaf". Why don't you become Mom Piaf? So with him light hand Edith Gassion became known as Little Piaf.

A week later, Piaf’s debut took place in the Zhernis cabaret, which was visited by aristocrats, literary and artistic figures. After the first song there was a flurry of applause. Piaf’s success exceeded all Leple’s expectations: “Order. She conquered them...” It was the most difficult moment throughout her career, but until her death she considered him the most beautiful. She was drunk with happiness.

Everything was fine with work, but in her personal life at this time Edith simply “went off the rails.” This was a period of intense fascination with sailors, legionnaires and various rogues who were waiting for her after the concert at the doors of the cabaret.

Every day, for seven months, Edith did not spare the money she had earned so hard for her friends - they drank every last sou. She was happy in her own way: “Love is not a matter of time, but a matter of quantity. For me, more love fits into one day than ten years. The townspeople are stretching their feelings. They are prudent and stingy, which is why they become rich. They don't make a fire with all their wood. Their system may be good for money, but it’s not good for love.”

On the night of April 6, 1936, everything collapsed - Father Leple was killed in his house by people who made up Lately Edith's entourage. Some of them were even her lovers. The newspapers howled - such a sensation - the singer was involved in the murder of her owner. However, the police were unable to prove anything, and Piaf was released. But everyone had already turned their backs on her: “What a pity that you lost your patron. He was the only one who could believe in you. Now you have only one way - back to the pavement.”

In Paris, Edith was declared a boycott, and she went to Brest to sing during the intervals between films at the local cinema. Here she remained true to herself - on the very first evening she made friends among the sailors. “Nice guys, they didn’t ask any questions,” but behaved in such a way that they scared all the civilian spectators in the cinema. As a result, the management was dissatisfied with Piaf’s work and did not renew her contract. Nothing worked out in the provinces either...

It seemed that Edith would no longer be able to rise from the very bottom a second time. But she was rescued by her old friend Raymond Asso - “long, thin, nervous, with very black hair and a tanned face” - he became her friend, teacher, impresario and, of course, lover. It was Raymon who turned “Little Piaf” into “Edith Piaf,” which was very difficult. He literally taught her to read and write - Piaf did not understand some words in her own songs and could not give an autograph without errors, in addition, she did not understand musical notation. Raymon taught her good manners and patiently explained how she should behave in life, at the table, with people.

In their relationship, ups alternated with downs, but still Edith repeated: “How I love him! He makes me do whatever he wants." Raymond Asso polished her biography and created the “Edith style”, writing several hits for her. Asso was the first man Edith knew whose interests extended beyond the desire to drink, take a walk or make love. She needed him, and she could not do without him in order to escape from the world of her past street life.

Raymon loved Edith as his wife, as his creation and as his child, but he understood that nothing could hold her back. They broke up a year and a half after her triumphant debut at the most famous Parisian music hall, ABC, on the Grands Boulevards. “Yesterday a great singer was born in France...” the newspapers wrote. She owed her brilliant victory in everything, except perhaps her vocal abilities, to Raymond Asso, and Piaf always remembered this. Every time he needed her, she was there. But love passed, and Edith never compromised on this. She needed a new, fresh feeling: “You can truly love only when you feel it like for the first time. When love grows cold, it must either be warmed up or thrown away. This is not a product that should be kept in a cool place!”

Edith Piaf's next love was the singer Paul Meurisse. He struck her imagination, his actions were unpredictable: “If he suddenly started eating orchids at breakfast, she would take it normally.” The relationship between them was not easy - their temperaments were too different, but despite constant quarrels, they did not part.

In 1940, Edith met playwright Jean Cocteau, who became her good friend. He sincerely wanted to help Edith establish a normal relationship with Paul. To do this, he wrote a one-act play “The Indifferent Handsome Man,” the plot of which was taken from Piaf’s story about her life with Meurisse, and invited them to play it in the theater. “It’s very simple,” he persuaded Edith, “Paul doesn’t say anything, and you play the scene that you arrange for him every day.” Some of Piaf's friends doubted its success and even on the day of the premiere predicted failure. Coming onto the stage, the aspiring actress suddenly forgot all the words out of excitement, but, pulling herself together, she performed the performance in one breath, captivating the audience with her talent.

The “indifferent handsome man” extended Paul’s stay in Edith’s life, but her feeling died. In August 1941, on the set of the film Montmartre-on-Seine, she met a tall, elegant man - journalist Henri Conte. He was the exact opposite Paul, but Piaf entered into life not so much as hers another lover, as much as the author of her immortal songs, which she so needed. Much to the singer’s regret, he did not want to live in her house - it was the height of the German occupation, and every evening he went to another, deceiving Edith that he did not have a night pass. Piaf fought for him for some time, but could not hold him.

Her participation in the anti-fascist Resistance movement dates back to this time. During the war, Edith Piaf almost did not appear on stage, but, to the surprise of many, she accepted an offer to sing in Germany. For this she was accused of collaborating with the Germans. Not everyone knew that the singer performed in prisoner-of-war camps and gave them the fees she received. One day she asked the camp management to allow her to take a souvenir photo with her compatriots. In Paris, underground workers made 120 small ones from a large photograph and prepared false documents for “the French who voluntarily came to Germany.” Returning to the camp a few months later, Piaf brought these documents in a box with makeup and gave them to prisoners of war. For those who managed to escape, these papers saved their lives.

A month before the liberation of France from the Nazis, a period began in Edith’s life that she called “a factory for producing singers,” which lasted until her death. She started with Yves Montand and immediately fell head over heels in love with him. Yves reciprocated her feelings and repeatedly invited her to become his wife. However, he always started this conversation at the wrong time - either while eating, or when Edith was drinking and wanted to fool around. Yves stubbornly continued to call her his bride and either carried her in his arms, or for no apparent reason made scenes of jealousy for her, and they yelled at each other for hours.

After Montand's first successful performance in Alhambra, there was a chill in the relationship between them, and after filming together in Marcel Blistin's film The Nameless Star, they broke up. Leaving in triumph after a two-hour solo concert on the Etoile stage, where previously only the great Maurice Chevalier could perform, Montand hugged Piaf for the last time and said: “Thank you. I owe you everything.”

At the beginning of 1946, Edith decided to take up the little-known ensemble “Friends of the Song” and bring it to the big stage. When asked how she was going to cope with nine young people at once, she replied: “You need to be able to change, this is the secret of eternal youth.” One pupil was no longer enough for her. Together with the ensemble, Edith Piaf went on a tour of America in November 1947.

Here in New York she met her greatest Love, who immediately erased her entire past. Boxer Marcel Cerdan was preparing for his first match, and Edith was preparing to perform on the stage of the Versailles cabaret theater - they were both going to conquer America. "This was my real and only love. I loved. I idolized...What would I do for him to live, for the whole world to know how generous he was, how impeccable he was.”

Marcel Cerdan forced Edith to be reborn and relieved her of the bitterness that poisoned her heart. He discovered tenderness and kindness in her and lit a bright light in her soul. They asked her: “How could you fall in love with a boxer? This is rudeness itself!” “Rudeness from which one should learn delicacy!” - Edith retorted. Their tender relationship was no secret to anyone, including Cerdan’s wife, Marinette, who lives with her sons in Casablanca. It would seem that these two women should hate each other.

But when Marcel died along with the entire crew in a plane crash near New York, Marinette, thirsty for consolation, called Edith to her, and she took off on the first plane to Casablanca. Then the orphaned family was taken to Paris, where Piaf nursed her recent rival and her children with such cordiality that she did not even deign to her relatives.

And on that evening of October 27, 1949, when news of the tragedy became known, Edith was supposed to perform at Versailles. The singer was in a state close to madness or suicide, but she could not refuse the concert. “I dedicate my performance of blessed memory Marcel Cerdan,” she said when she saw the hall, and sang “Hymn of Love” with her own words, set to music by her favorite composer Marguerite Monnot.

She sang as she had never sung before. And it was that spirituality of performance, that solemnity and power of genuine feelings that makes a thousand people turn into one. Her small, inconspicuous body, possessed by the greatest spirit, conveyed the immortality of her love, who died in the prime of her life. Piaf was carried off the stage in a deep faint.

Strange, but in the biography of Edith Piaf, some sad coincidences are noticeable: two of her lovers died in plane crashes, and she herself ended up in car crashes. And it would be fine if the consequences were only broken ribs, a mutilated lip, and scars on the face. In the hospital where she ended up after the first car accident, Piaf was saved from pain by morphine, to which she eventually became addicted, just as she had previously become addicted to alcohol.

The famous singer hid bottles of alcohol in the most unexpected places in the apartment, and the day came when the alcohol content in her blood reached a dangerous concentration - now she was drunk from several glasses of beer. Sometimes, having already been thoroughly drunk, she would suddenly sneak off for a night stroll through drinking establishments, generously treat the regulars who sat there and, keeping up with them, downed glass after glass.

At some point, not yet losing control of herself, she began to sing, and the involuntary listeners laughed encouragingly: “Wow! You can’t tell her from Edith Piaf!” And at dawn, the phone rang in Piaf’s apartment, and the unknown owner of the bar demanded from the servants: “Come immediately for your madam. It’s already six o’clock, we’re closing, and she doesn’t want to leave and yells: “I’m yours!” It’s time for us to sleep. By the way, grab checkbook, Madam has a decent record.”

On the night when she was surrounded by a horde of slippery centipedes, it became obvious: Piaf had delirium tremens. She was taken to a hospital, from where she immediately escaped. Placed there again, she escaped home again. She swore that she was done with morphine, and yet she injected herself secretly. The potion suppliers pursued Edith, pushing their “product” on her, and if she refused, they threatened to expose her. To pay them off, she signed new contracts for performances, but her drug addiction made itself felt. Once she couldn’t get out from behind the scenes onto the stage, it seemed to her that the exit was tightly closed, another time she began to sing, but, as it turned out, she was uttering meaningless words, the third time she grabbed the microphone with her hands so as not to fall. She heard neither the musicians nor her own voice - it disappeared.

Singing for Edith turned into torture, her body was covered with bruises and scabs, she did not perceive those around her. One clinic was replaced by another, and during periods of enlightenment, Piaf returned to work on new songs, becoming, as before, very picky. “For the public, I embody love. Everything should burst inside me and scream - this is my image... My audience doesn’t think, they get what I sing about in the gut.”

At this time, the singer got married for the first time. Her husband in 1952 was the poet and singer Jacques Pil, with whom they had long known each other from their joint performances. Piaf was happy again, but life always developed in such a way that the couple were constantly apart, performing concerts in different theaters, cities and countries. Maybe it was for the better - Edith’s character was difficult to get along with. Essentially, they were not connected by anything: neither home nor family worked out, and in 1956 they divorced.

Piaf again performed solo concerts, although ill-wishers who discovered her drug addiction foreshadowed not just failure, but a scandalous excommunication from the stage. She again basked in the rays of glory - the audience sometimes did not let her go for an hour, despite the fact that the program was performed in full. And again, affectionate and tireless men, usually young, sometimes half her age, invaded the singer’s life. They shared a bed with her, because the men who said "Good night" to her! and left, she simply did not admit it.

Just as she did not recognize those who, instead of making love, indulged in discussions about work, art or their own success. Piaf once told her sister: “Never say that you know a man well until you have experienced him in bed. For one sleepless night you will learn more about him than in several months of the most intimate conversations. They don’t lie in bed!” Probably her criteria were extremely high, since despite the constant abundance of admirers, she was only married twice.

Simone Berto once calculated how many misfortunes befell Edith Piaf in the last twelve years of her life. In addition to four car accidents, this list includes a suicide attempt, four courses of detoxification, one course of sleep therapy, three hepatic comas, an attack of insanity, two attacks of delirium tremens, seven operations, two bronchopneumonia, and suddenly diagnosed cancer.

At the beginning of 1962, an ordinary admirer, twenty-seven-year-old hairdresser Theofanis Lambukas, came to Piaf’s hospital room for a visit, who left there as her lover, the young singer Theo Sarapo. They fell in love at first sight and on October 29 of the same year they officially became husband and wife. Gossips they claimed that Theo coveted her wealth and sacrificed himself for it. In fact, he inherited only Edith's debts - 45 million francs, which he faithfully paid to creditors all his life. Theo Sarapo became a fairly famous performer - and, like before Charles Aznavour, Yves Montand and her other admirers, Piaf brought him into the public eye, turning an ordinary amateur into a popular singer. She came up with a nickname for her husband herself, remembering that “sarapo” in Greek means “I love you.”

"They loved each other extraordinary love, - recalled Simone Berto, - the one about whom they write in novels, about whom they say: this does not happen, it is too beautiful to really happen. He did not notice that Edith’s hands were twisted, that she looked like a hundred-year-old woman. He never left her..."

She left her Theo on October 11, 1963, dying in his arms from pulmonary edema in their home on the Cote d'Azur. Edith Piaf was buried three days later. Tens of thousands of Parisians came to the Père Lachaise cemetery to the large coffin in which the small body of the great singer was lost. All the “Piaf boys,” as Charles Aznavour called them, also came to say goodbye to their old love. But this time they wore black suits, not blue ones.

That evening Theo wanted to be alone. He returned to the upside-down apartment, where there was a cemetery smell from forgotten flowers, and saw a wooden sheet lying on the chest of drawers with Edith’s motto: “Love conquers all!”

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From the author's book

Jean-Dominique Brillard Edith Piaf. Without love we are nothing. We express special gratitude to the literary agent Anastasia Lester for her help in acquiring the rights to publish this book. First published on French publishing house "Hors Collection", division "Place"

EDITH PIAF: “YOU SHOULD PAY FOR HAPPINESS WITH TEARS!”

The story of life is happy and tragic at the same time. On Chapnel Boulevard, a man approached a grimy nineteen-year-old girl, and the couple headed to the hotel. The girl looked so pitiful that he asked: “Why are you doing this?” “I need to bury my daughter, ten francs are missing,” she replied. The man gave her money and left. Only daughter Edith Giovanna Gasion died. She would survive four car accidents, a suicide attempt, two bouts of delirium tremens, the first and second world wars, drive crowds of men crazy and die before reaching fifty. All of France will bury her, and the whole world will mourn her. On her grave they will write: "".

Childhood

On the same grave there are two more dates: death - 1963 - and birth. On a cold December night, a police officer heard screams. When I came running, I saw a woman giving birth. She wrapped the newborn girl in a policeman's cloak and named Edith 1915. This is, perhaps, all that circus performer Anette Maillard did for her daughter before giving her up to her parents and prudently hiding. The baby's father, Louis Gasion, went to the front immediately after her birth. This is how the great one was born.

After some time, her paternal grandmother Louise, a cook in brothel. At the establishment, the girl was washed (probably for the first time since birth) and dressed in a new dress. It turned out that under the crust of dirt was hiding a wonderful creature, but, alas, completely blind. It turned out that in the first months of life Edith Cataracts began to develop. Grandma Louise spared no expense on treatment, but nothing helped. When there was no hope left, grandma got lucky Edith in Lisieux to Saint Therese, where thousands of pilgrims from all over France gather annually, and Edith I received my sight.

Soon Edith went to school, surrounded by the care of a loving grandmother, but respectable inhabitants did not want to see a child living in a brothel next to their children, and the girl’s studies ended very quickly. Then Louis Gasion took Edith to Paris, where they began working together in the squares - the father showed acrobatic tricks, and his nine-year-old daughter sang.

Youth Edith Piaf

At fourteen Edith I decided that I was already completely independent. She worked with stepsister Simona. They earned about 300 francs a day. They had enough money to pay for a room in a terrible hotel, to buy new clothes, when the dirt began to fall off from the old one, and not to experience a shortage of wine and canned food (the sisters didn’t even think that things could be washed, food could be cooked, and dishes could be washed).

Men in life Edith appeared early - almost immediately after she left her father. She fell in love regularly and just as regularly abandoned her lovers. It had been like this all her life. The father of her only child, Louis Dupont, was no exception. He made a living by delivering groceries on an old bicycle. I moved in with my sisters the same day I met them. And a year later a daughter appeared Edith and Louis - Marcel. The young mother did not give up her craft, and when Louis could not stay with the child, she dragged him with her.

When Edith offered to sing in a cheap cabaret, Dupont's patience came to an end. A few days later, Louis took the girl. For her father, she was only a tool capable of returning and taming her beloved. At this time, the Spanish flu was raging in Europe, and Marcelle fell ill. After visiting my daughter, she herself became ill Edith. As a result Piaf recovered, and Marcel died. Together with my daughter from life Edith Louis finally left too.

"Baby Piaf"

Edith back on the streets again. She sang with her sister and begged for alms. One day she saw on the street a well-groomed gentleman of about forty who shouted after her: “Do you want to perform in a cabaret? My name is Louis Leple, I am the owner of the Zhernice cabaret. If you want, come tomorrow." The day before his debut Edith realized that she had nothing to wear on stage. She ran to the store and bought three skeins of black wool. I knitted a dress all night long. By the evening of the next day there was still one more sleeve left. Leple, finding her in the dressing room with knitting needles in her hands, flew into indescribable rage. Edith Hastily, she pulled on her dress, which was still missing one sleeve. And a minute later Leple brought a white scarf.

It was Leple who found for Edith Name - Piaf(in Parisian slang this means “little sparrow”). In Zhernis, her name was printed on the posters as “Baby Piaf", and the success of the first performances was enormous. However, the successful takeoff was interrupted by tragedy: Louis Leple was soon shot in the head, and she was among the suspects. She was reminded of her dubious past and suspicious friends, but was later released.

The new rise of Edith Piaf

It is unknown how it would have ended if not for a note found in his pocket: “Raymon Asso” and a phone number. Edith strained all her memory to remember who it could be: “It seems like a poet. We met him at Zhernis.” Raymon told her directly: “I will help you. But you will do what I say." No one has ever spoken like that to Edith. And although everything inside her was seething with anger, she remained silent.

They rehearsed hard every day. Their joint perseverance did the trick. The director of ABC (the largest concert hall in Paris) agreed to give away the first part of one of the concerts Edith. The huge hall roared with delight, the audience did not want to let her go. And the next day, the press, choking with delight, wrote: “Yesterday, on the stage of ABC, a great singer of France was born.”

World War II

With the outbreak of World War II Edith broke up with Ramon Asso. At this time my parents died Edith. Fellow countrymen also valued personal courage Piaf, who performed during the war in Germany in front of French prisoners of war, so that after the concert, along with autographs, she would give them everything they needed to escape. performed in prisoner of war camps, took photographs with German officers and French prisoners of war “as a souvenir”, and then in Paris these photographs were used to prepare fake documents for soldiers who escaped from the camp. Then Edith went to the same camp and secretly distributed false documents to prisoners of war.

Love

with Marcel Cerdan

After the furor at home Edith offered to perform in America. She left, not suspecting that it was there that she would meet... him. She had many men, but they all sooner or later received resignation. Only one left Edith myself. His name was Marcel Cerdan. At the end of 1946 Piaf introduced a boxer who was called the “Moroccan bomber,” but the singer did not attach any importance to this fleeting meeting. Some time later, the phone rang in her New York apartment. It was nice to meet a Frenchman in America, and the diva agreed to have dinner with him. He took her to a diner and ordered, like himself, boiled meat with mustard. Edith was ready to explode. Fortunately, Marcel realized in time that the boxing diet was hardly suitable for the singer, and suggested finishing dinner at the Pavilion, the most luxurious restaurant in New York.

Since then, this couple has become inseparable, and Marcel’s things moved into the apartment Edith, despite the fact that he had a wife and three sons. Journalists, of course, did not ignore the “love story” of the two celebrities, and in order to get rid of their importunity, Marcel agreed to a press conference. Perhaps it was the shortest in the history of journalism. Marcel, without waiting for questions, said that Edith- his mistress, and mistress only because he is married. The next day o Piaf and Cerdana will not have a word in any newspaper.

Edith gave concerts in America, and meanwhile Marcel toured France with charity matches. Returning to Paris, the first thing Cerdan did was book a ticket on a boat to New York, but Edith I didn't want to wait. The “Moroccan bombardier” refused to travel by sea and went to the airport. The next day, news of the plane crash appeared in all newspapers. U Edith severe depression began. She started drinking. She went out into the streets, dressed in old clothes, sang and rejoiced like a child that no one would recognize her. Over time, the wound caused by Marcel's death healed. But she was not the last.

The last years of Edith Piaf

A few years after her death, Cerdana was involved in a car accident. The injuries were not life-threatening, but caused severe pain. And to take it off, Edith injected drugs. She recovered quickly, the pain went away, but now she was tormented by arthritis. Drugs remained her faithful companions. Cancer completed the list of troubles. And yet, despite all the misfortunes, she did not stop singing and loving. Piaf she went on stage even when she could not open her hands, which were shackled by arthritis, and sometimes fainted. And at the age of forty-seven, just before the end, she fell in love with the twenty-seven-year-old hairdresser Theofanis Lambukas, married him and brought her lover to the stage.

with Yves Montand

Edith sang from the heights of the Eiffel Tower on the occasion of the premiere of the film “The Longest Day” in 1962. All of Paris listened to her. Her last performance on stage took place on March 18, 1963. The audience gave her a five-minute standing ovation.

Actress Marion Cotillard, who played in the film La Vie En Rose, received an Oscar for Best Actress. This is the second statuette awarded to a film directed by Olivier Dayant at the 80th Academy Awards.

Edith Piaf quotes from the book “My Life”

“When love grows cold, it must either be warmed up or thrown away. This is not a product that should be kept in a cool place.” – Edith Piaf

“I don’t sing for everyone - I sing for everyone!” –

Updated: November 26, 2017 by: Elena

Edith Piaf (1915-1963) – French actress and singer.

Childhood

Her real name is Edith Giovanna Gassion, the birth of this baby took place on a Parisian sidewalk on December 19, 1915. A policeman came running to the cry of the newborn, he gave the woman a cloak in which she wrapped her newly born daughter and said that she would name her Edith. And a month later she gave the baby to her parents to raise.

Edith's mother, failed circus performer Anette Maillard, performs on stage under the name Lina Marsa. Dad, Louis Gassion, was a street acrobat. When the First World War began, he volunteered to go to the front. At the end of 1915, he received two days of leave specifically to see his daughter who was born.

Anette's parents began to raise their granddaughter in a unique way. No one was watching the girl, and so that she would not bother her with her crying, a little wine was added to the milk, which was the main daily product for them. The grandmother was an illiterate person; they did not bathe the baby or talk to her.

In 1917, Louis's father came to visit the family, but learned that Anette had abandoned him and given her daughter to her parents. He went to see them and discovered that the baby was not entirely healthy. Louis did not want to leave the girl in such conditions and took her to his mother Louise Gassion, who worked as a cook in a brothel.

In this establishment they bathed the girl, scraped off the crust of dirt from her, put on a fresh dress, and she turned out to be an incredibly lovely child, but, unfortunately, completely blind.

It turned out that in the first months of her life, the baby began to develop cataracts, but the previous “educators” did not care about this.

Grandmother Louise spared nothing for her granddaughter; she paid the doctors money, but they were powerless and could not help the girl gain her sight. All that was left was to ask God for help. The women from the brothel were so kind to Edith that they constantly prayed to Saint Teresa for her healing.

On August 19, 1921, grandmother Louise and her little granddaughter went to the city of Luziers to the altar of St. Therese, where rivers of pilgrims flocked every year. Louise begged for insight for Edith, the girl began to see six days later, on August 25, 1921. The first thing that appeared to her eyes were the piano keys. Since then, Edith Piaf has never parted with the images of the baby Jesus and Saint Teresa.

The war ended, the father returned home, he sent his daughter to school. However, her training quickly ended. Parents of classmates were against the fact that a girl living in a brothel was studying with their children. Edith had no choice but to start working with her father in the squares and streets of Paris. She sang, and dad showed circus acrobatic acts.

Youth

Louis Gassion dated various women. But when another of them began to extort the money she had earned from Edith, the girl turned around and left home, deciding that she could fully provide for herself.

She got a job in a dairy shop. However, she quickly became disliked such work, because she had to get up early and constantly tinker with milk bottles.

Edith decided to return to her previous street craft.

Now she worked not with her father, but with two of her friends. Soon she broke up with them and began collaborating with her step-in-law younger sister by father Simona. On the day they succeeded good income, which was quite enough for a room in a run-down hotel, for canned food, and wine, and for new things, when the old ones were no longer possible to wear due to dirt. The girls did not bother to wash their clothes or prepare food from the ingredients.

Cabaret "Zhernis"

Edith was twenty years old when a fateful acquaintance took place in her life.
It was October, it was cold outside, she stood in a huge coat with holes in the sleeves and shoes on her bare feet. I waited a long time for someone to give a coin to the street singer. A well-groomed man of about forty in a smart suit and kid gloves approached and said mockingly: “You’re crazy to sing in this weather!” Edith answered rudely: “But I need to eat at least something.”. He tore off a piece of newspaper, wrote the address and told her to come to the audition at four o'clock tomorrow. He also gave 5 francs so that she could buy food for herself.

Edith was an hour late for the audition. He was waiting for her anyway and took her to the Zhernis cabaret, which was located on the Champs-Elysees. Never in her life had Edith seen such luxury; then she did not yet know that this was the most fashionable and expensive establishment in Paris, the cream of society gathered here. “Go on stage and sing everything you know”“, said yesterday’s new acquaintance, cabaret owner Louis Leple. He listened to it for two hours and realized that he had found a nugget. He looked carefully at the girl and said: “You need a pseudonym. Piaf will do"(in French this word means “little sparrow”). Thus was born the star of French and world songs, Edith Piaf.

On the day of her debut, she experienced intense fear for the first time in her life. Entering the stage, I saw insane luxury in the hall: the cream of society, tuxedos, bow ties, furs and diamonds, delicacies on the tables. And who is she? Like a little monkey from a Parisian zoo, in a fancy dress, with a ridiculous hairstyle and brightly painted red lips. The audience laughed and ate deliciously. Edith got angry with them and began to sing, as soulfully and desperately as never before in her life.

It was a triumph. Louis Leple was jubilant. Then work began, he taught Edith facial expressions and stage gestures, rehearsing with an accompanist, choosing a costume.

In the winter of 1936, Piaf already performed at the Medrano circus at a large concert of stars French stage. This was followed by a performance at Radio City. Edith Piaf was approaching stunning success, radio listeners demanded only her songs. But tragedy struck: Louis Leple was shot in the head. Suspicion fell on Piaf because he included her in his will and left a certain amount of money after his death.

The great Edith Piaf

God gave her another acquaintance, it determined future fate Edith. This time with the poet Raymond Asso. He taught her everything in the profession and in life, created the Piaf style, wrote the best songs for her:

• "Paris - Mediterranean";
• "Pennant for the Legion";
• “She lived on the Rue Pigalle”;
• "My legionnaire."

The music for the songs was written by Marguerite Monnot, who later became Edith's close friend.

Raymond Asso paved the way for Edith Piaf to the most famous musical hall in Paris, ABC. After her performance, the press wrote: “Yesterday in Paris, on the ABC stage, a great singer was born.”

An amazing voice, unsurpassed dramatic talent, perseverance and hard work - all this led the stubborn street girl to the pinnacle of success. She bought herself a house in the center of Paris; the best designers were involved in its arrangement. However, having moved in, she felt uncomfortable in the luxurious bedroom with antique furniture and preferred to sleep in the concierge’s room. The house was always full of friends, some lived there for a month, there was no shortage of caviar and champagne, Piaf never knew exactly how much she had this moment have money.

When World War II began, Edith separated from Raymond. She tried herself as an actress in the play “The Indifferent Handsome Man” by the French director Jean Cocteau; a year later, the film “Montmartre on the Seine” was made based on this play, where Piaf performed main role.

The little courageous woman performed in German camps in front of French prisoners of war, and then, along with autographs, gave them things for their escape. She did charity work and gave concerts for the families of the victims.

Edith helped start her creative career musical path such celebrities as Charles Aznavour and Yves Montand. Her records were published in millions of copies. She became great because she experienced suffering in life, and this helped her be sincere on stage.

In the last years of her life, she sang her most famous songs - world masterpieces:

• “Padam, padam”;
• "My lord";
• "I do not regret anything";
• "Crowd";
• "The right to love."

Personal life

Men appeared early in Edith Piaf's life, and there were many of them; she fell in love and abandoned her lovers with enviable regularity. At the age of 17, she began a relationship with Louis Dupont, who worked part-time delivering groceries, delivering them on a bicycle. On the same day they met, Louis moved into the hotel room where Edith lived with her sister.

A year later their daughter Marcel was born. This event did not change Edith’s life in any way; she continued to work in the same spirit. Louis demanded a choice between him and his daughter and work. Edith chose a job, and Louis left her at the same hour.

Little Marcel was left alone at night when her mother went to her performances. Soon the girl fell ill with the Spanish flu, she was admitted to the hospital, where she died in the arms of her unlucky mother. Edith did not grieve much about this; after a few days she had a great time with friends and wine, not knowing then that she would never have children again.

Most great love her life became the world boxing champion - the Frenchman Marcel Cerdan.

He gave Edith the first mink coat in her life, and she bought him diamond cufflinks, chic suits and crocodile skin shoes. But he was married, had three sons and for the sake of his family he maintained the limits of decency.

Cerdan crashed during a plane crash, and Piaf was unable to survive this tragedy without the help of morphine, as a result of which she became addicted to drugs.

Her last love became the Greek hairdresser Theo Sarapo. He was only 26 years old; in 1962, the wedding ceremony took place in Orthodox Church. He knew her diagnosis and the fact that Edith had no time left to live. more than a year.

last years of life

A few years after Cerdan’s death, Edith herself was in a car accident; broken ribs and arms gave her pain, which she relieved with the help of drugs. Her health was fading rapidly, attacks of delirium tremens were replaced by hepatic comas and courses of treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction. She cut her hair, lost a lot of weight, and her face looked like a skull covered in skin. Doctors diagnosed liver cancer.

In 1963, her liver failed, the singer stopped eating, she was tormented by terrible pain, Edith weighed 34 kilograms. On October 10, 1963, Piaf died unconscious.

She was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery. More than forty thousand fans covered it last way flowers.

As I said great Edith Piaf: “Even a telephone directory can be sung so that the audience will cry”. And she was the only one in the world who could sing like that. It has its own place in the history of the song.