Edith Giovanna Gassion was born on 19 December 1915. Abandoned by
her mother, she was placed by her traveling-showman father in the
care of the madam of a cheap Normandy brothel. Here she remained
until 1922, when she rejoined her father and accompanied him
on his travels. In 1930, by now free of paternal authority, she
started singing in a duo with Simone Berteaut, a woman destined to
become her alter ego and misguiding spirit. The pair of them worked
the streets and the camps, and by 1932 Piaf was with a man and
pregnant. The child was born the following year, but died in 1935.
By the autumn of the same year, Piaf had come to the attention of
Louis Leplée, a Paris night-life figure who booked her into the
Gerny's club. "La mome" Piaf proved such a success that Polydor
signed her up, and before the year was out she had recorded
"L'Etranger" and "Les Momes de la Cloche". Marguerite Monnot started
writing songs for her. In the spring of 1936, however, Leplée was
murdered, a sordid affair that finished up rebounding on Piaf and
soiling her image. Sh nevertheless played late-spring engagements in
the Bobino and the Européen. Records and Paris stages, strange though
it may seem today, were insufficient to keep a young beginner in food,
so Edith set out to conquer France's far-flung provinces.
In the
late summer, she phoned Raymond Asso, whose "Mon légionnaire" she had
earlier refused, and the contact resulted in his succeeding Leplée as
her mentor. In the autumn she landed a booking at the Alhambra, and by
January 1937 was waxing two titles by Asso and Monnot, "Mon
légionnaire" and "Le Fanion de la Légion". The spring found her back
on the boards of the Bobino, but none of this was enough for Edith,
who had set her mind on the ABC, the most prestigious Paris
music-hall. Before that spring was out, the bastion had fallen,
turning the tide of her career. She notched up a triumph at the ABC,
and by the autumn they were clamouring for her return, all of which
resulted in a tour of the provinces with ABC show. In June 1938 she
was back at the Européen, the following October recorded "C'est
lui que mon Coeur a choisi". She was now well and truly un her way,
projecting her voice without a mike and taking her audiences by
storm. She fulfilled two further dates at the Bobino, the first in
the autumn of 1938, the second the following spring. By the autumn
of 1939, war had broken out. Asso was called up, and Michel Emer,
just before leaving for the front penned a song for her,
"L'Accordéoniste".
Edith was now earning her living at the Night Club, but later
reappeared on the bill of the Européen. A young singer by the name of
Paul Meurisse caught her attention, and she proceeded to devour him.
As the winter of 1940 was drawing to a close, Piaf and Meurisse
appeared together at the Bobino, then played in the stage premiere
of Jean Cocteau's "Le Bel Indifférent". In the spring, the two lovers
returned to the Européen, at the same time taking part in the filming
of "Monmartre-sur-Seine" with Jean-Louis Barrault, Serge Reggiani and
Georges Marchal. They then featured in "La Revue de l'ABC", and in
the spring of 1941 they were billed at the Bobino. Edith was by this
time working with Henry Contet, and in the early summer she was booked
into the Européen. Her lover of the moment was by now Norbert
Glanzberg, a Jewish pianist, something that appealed to her taste for
provocation. In the autumn she again appeared at the ABC.
By 1943 France had hit rock-bottom, and during the summer of that
year Edith featured at the Bobino and toured the stalags singing for
prisoners, many of whom she helped to escape. It was during the
Occupation period that she met Les Compagnons de la Chanson. In 1944,
the end of the war in sight, Lou Barrier became her impresario, and
he landed her a first two-week engagement at the Moulin Rouge. Opening
the show was Yves Montand, and Edith was again all set to fall in
love, now about to play that Pygmalion role henceforth the story of
her life. In early 1945 Montand was opening act on her show at the
Etoile, where she promptly scored another triumph. By the autumn
Edith was back at the Etoile, then during the winter played the
Bobino.
Having taken the decision to leave Polydor for Pathé, she set
off on a tour of Alsace. By the time she returned to Paris, one of
the Compagnons de la Chanson had stepped into the role of lover,
Montand discarded because too successful Edith had already opened
many doors for Montand, even procuring him opportunity in the film
world with a part in "Etoile sans lumiére". It was now the turn of
Compagnons de la Chanson to be set upon the road to success. The
group belonged to the same recording stable, and Pathé now decided
to invest it promoting it while at the same time giving the Piaf
career fresh impetus. In their company Edith appeared in "Neuf
Garcons, un Coeur" and recorded "Les Trois Cloches". When they
performed this number on stage, she forsook her usual black dress
for a long pale-blue one. The song, known in English as "The
Three Bells", was a triumph.
In the autumn of 1946 Edith returned to the Pathé studios to
record several new songs, among them "La Vie an Rose", and then
appeared at the Etoile with the Compagnons. During the winter she
made her first trip to America, singing at Washington's Constitution
Hall. The autumn of 1947 found her back at the Etoile, but she then
decided to return to America with the Compagnons. They appeared
together at the Play House in New York, where the Compagnons met with
such success that they set off on a tour of their own while Edith
went for the jackpot by accepting an engagement at the Versailles.
Back in France, she scored another triumph at the ABC in the spring
of 1948, then in July returned yet again to America, where she started
an affair with boxer Marcel Cerdan. For the first time in her life
she had fallen for someone not a singer. In the autumn, an Edith Piaf
song moved into England's newly launched sheet-music charts. By the
spring of 1949 it was again triumph time at the ABC, then back to
New York. Cerdan set of to join her, but was killed when the plane in
which he was traveling crashed. Edith, totally broken by his death,
was soon seeking refuge in drugs and alcohol.
