Édith Piaf

Édith Piaf (December 19 1915–October 11 1963) was one of France's most loved singers and a national icon. Her music reflected her tragic life, with her speciality being the poignant ballad presented with a heartbreaking v

Édith Piaf (December 19 1915–October 11 1963) was one of France's most loved singers and a national icon. Her music reflected her tragic life, with her speciality being the poignant ballad presented with a heartbreaking voice. The most famous songs performed by Piaf were "La vie en rose" (1946), "Milord" (1959), and "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960).

She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Paris to Louis-Alphonse Gassion and Annetta Giovanna Maillard, who was Italian; her mother worked as a café singer and her father was a well-known travelling acrobat. Abandoned by her mother, she was raised by her paternal grandmother, who ran a brothel in Normandy. From the age of three to seven she was blind. As part of Piaf's legend, she allegedly recovered her sight after her grandmother's prostitutes went on a pilgrimage to Saint Thérèse de Lisieux. Later she lived for a while with her alcoholic father, whom she left by the age of sixteen in order to become a street singer in Paris.