Edith Piaf : France's Greatest Diva

Édith Piaf was abandoned from birth by her mother. At first she lived with her grandmother.  It seems unfortunate that she was taken by her father to be cared for by his mother who ran a brothel in Normandy. The story of her childhood is quite strange, but it was war time and crazy things do happen during wars. Piaf's biography would have you believe that when she recovered her eyesight after three years of suffering with keratitis, it was because her grandmother's prostitutes pooled money so that she could pilgrimage to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. There are many other explanations offered about why she may have been healed from the condition.

The young woman began her singing career in 1929 aged 14. She worked with her father as a second act. He offered acrobatic street performances all over France, and she doubled as a singer. Edith began singing in the streets with Simone "Mômone" Berteaut, and by earning a little money they were able to afford shared accommodation. 

Tragedy dogged Piaf's life, and she became pregnant at an early age. Having lived a neglected and difficult life herself, Piaf found it difficult to care for her child.  The child died at the age of two from meningitis.

A nightclub owner Louis Leplée, discovered Piaf singing in the streets in 1935. He had a club called Le Gerny off the Champs-Élysées. She took some persuading but eventually sang for Leplée.   It was at this night club that wearing a black dress became her trademark.  Later, she would always appear in black. She had her first two records produced that same year.

Leplée was murdered in 1936 and Piaf was accused of being an accessory.  This association, and the suspicions surrounding it, threatened her career. Piaf wrote the lyrics of many of her songs and collaborated with composers on the tunes. She went on to become France's most popular entertainer. Once the war was over she was able to further her reach internationally.
"La vie en rose", was written in 1945 and was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998. In April 1963, Piaf recorded her last song, "L'Homme de Berlin".

After drifting in and out of consciousness for several months, Piaf died of liver cancer at age 47 in 1963. Although she was denied a funeral mass within the Roman Catholic church at the time because of her lifestyle, On October 10, 2013, fifty years after her death, the Roman Catholic Church found it in their heart to give her a memorial mass in the St. Jean-Baptiste Church in Belleville. Paris. This was the parish where she was born.

At her original funeral there was huge attendance by a procession of thousands of fans. In Paris, there is a two-room museum dedicated to Piaf's memory called the Musée Édith Piaf.
Hers was a tragic life that seemed to have been dogged by unrest and dis-equanimity, and yet she rests now in peace. She was a lovable and talented singer who won the hearts of an International audience.