įrom the age of three to seven, Piaf was allegedly blind as a result of keratitis. The sub-mistress of the brothel was called 'Madam Gaby' and Piaf considered her almost like family since she became godmother of Denise Gassion, Piaf's half-sister born in 1931. In fact, five or six were permanent while a dozen others would join the brothel during market days and other busy days.

The bordello had two floors and seven rooms, and the prostitutes were not very numerous – 'about ten poor girls', as she later described. There, prostitutes helped look after Piaf. When her father enlisted with the French Army in 1916 to fight in World War I, he took her to his mother, who ran a brothel in Bernay, Normandy. Piaf's mother abandoned her at birth, and she lived for a short time with her maternal grandmother, Emma (Aïcha).

Her parents were Auguste Eugène Maillard (1866–1912) and Emma (Aïcha) Saïd Ben Mohammed (1876–1930), daughter of Said ben Mohammed (1827–1890), an acrobat born in Mogador and Marguerite Bracco (1830–1898), born in Murazzano in Italy.Īnnetta and Louis-Alphonse divorced on June 4, 1929. Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard, better known professionally as Line Marsa (1895–1945), was a singer and circus performer born in Italy of French descent on her father's side and of Italian and Kabyle on her mother's. He was the son of Victor Alphonse Gassion (1850–1928) and Léontine Louise Descamps (1860–1937), known as Maman Tine, a ' madam' who ran a brothel in Bernay in Normandy. Louis Alphonse Gassion (1881–1944), Édith's father, was a street performer of acrobatics from Normandy with a past in the theatre. Piaf – slang for ' sparrow' – was a nickname she received 20 years later. She was named Édith after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed 2 months before Édith's birth for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. Her birth certificate states that she was born on Decemat the Hôpital Tenon, a hospital located in the 20th arrondissement. She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris. Family ĭespite numerous biographies, much of Piaf's life is unknown. Piaf has become one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century. Since her death in 1963, several biographies and films have studied her life, including 2007's La Vie en rose. Piaf's music was often autobiographical, and she specialized in chanson réaliste and torch ballads about love, loss and sorrow. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars. Édith Piaf ( UK: / ˈ p iː æ f/, US: / p iː ˈ ɑː f/, French: ( listen) born Édith Giovanna Gassion, French: Decem– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress.

Software eternelle edith piaf rarity