Download - Early life
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