Édith Piaf (born Édith Giovanna Gassion; 19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963) was a French singer best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as Frances greatest popular singer and one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century.


Piafs music was often autobiographical, and she specialized in chanson réaliste and torch ballads about love, loss and sorrow. Her most widely known songs include La Vie en rose (1946), Non, je ne regrette rien (1960), Hymne à lamour (1949), Milord (1959), La Foule (1957), LAccordéoniste (1940), and Padam, padam... (1951).Piaf began her career touring with her father at the age of fourteen. Her fame increased during the German occupation of France and in 1945, Piafs signature song, La Vie en rose (life in pink) was published. She became Frances most popular entertainer in the late 1940s, also touring Europe, the United States, and South America. Her popularity in the United States led her to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show eight times.She continued to perform, including several series of concerts at the Paris Olympia music hall, until a few months before her death in 1963 at age 47. Her last song, LHomme de Berlin, was recorded with her husband in April 1963.Since her death, several documentaries and films have been produced about Piafs life, and her music is a touchstone of French culture