Yves Montand, de son vrai nom Ivo Livi, est un acteur de cinéma, chanteur et danseur interprète de music-hall français d'origine italienne, né le 13 octobre 1921 à Monsummano Alto, en Toscane (Italie) et décédé le 9 novembre 1991 à Senlis (Oise) en France.
Nom.......................Ivo Livi
Naissance.................13 octobre 1921
Monsummano Alto, Italie
Nationalité...............Française
Mort......................9 novembre 1991
Senlis, France
Profession(s).............Acteur, chanteur
Édith Piaf (19 December 1915—10 October 1963) was a French singer and cultural icon who "is almost universally regarded as France's greatest popular singer." Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being the ballads. Among her famous songs are "La vie en rose" (1946), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959),
"Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), and Padam Padam.
Despite numerous published biographies, much of Piaf's life is shrouded in mystery. She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris, a high-immigration district. Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, but her birth certificate states she was born at Hôpital Tenon,[the hospital for the 20th
arrondissement of which Belleville is part. She was named Édith after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. Piaf—a Francilien colloquialism for "sparrow"—originated as a nickname she would receive 20 years later.
Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard (1895–1945), was a French pied noir of French-Italian descent on her father's side and of Kabyle Berber origin on her mother's. She was a native of Livorno, a port city on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. She was working as a café singer under the name Line Marsa. Louis-Alphonse Gassion (1881–1944), Piaf's father, was a Norman street acrobat with a past in the theatre. Piaf's parents soon abandoned her, and she lived for a short time with her Kabyle maternal grandmother, Emma (Aicha) Said ben Mohammed (1876–1930). Before enlisting with the French Army in 1916 to fight in World War I, her father took Piaf to his mother, who ran a Normandy brothel. The prostitutes helped look after Piaf.
From the age of three to seven, Piaf was allegedly blind as a result of keratitis. According to one of her biographies, she recovered her sight after her grandmother's prostitutes pooled money to send her on a pilgrimage honoring Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux, resulting in a miraculous healing. In 1929, at 14, she joined her father in his acrobatic street performances all over France, where she first sang in public. She took a room at Grand Hôtel de Clermont (18 rue Veron, Paris 18ème) and separated from him, going her own way as a street singer in Pigalle, Ménilmontant, and the Paris suburbs (cf. the song "Elle fréquentait la Rue Pigalle". She joined her
friend Simone Berteaut ("Mômone" in this endeavor, and the two became lifelong partners in mischief. She was about 16 when she fell in love with Louis Dupont, a delivery boy. At 17, she had her only child, a girl named Marcelle, who died of meningitis at age two.[6] Like her mother, Piaf found it difficult to care for a child while living a life of the streets, so she often left Marcelle alone while she was away, and Dupont raised the child before her death. Piaf's next boyfriend was a pimp named Albert who took a commission from the money she made singing in
exchange for not forcing her into prostitution. One of her friends, a girl named Nadia, killed herself when faced with the thought of becoming a prostitute, and Albert nearly shot Piaf when she ended the relationship in reaction to Nadia's death.
Birth name................Édith Giovanna Gassion
AKA.......................La Môme Piaf
(The Little Sparrow)
Born......................December 19, 1915
Died......................October 10, 1963 (aged 47)
Plascassier, France
Genre(s)..................cabaret,
Occupation(s).............Singer, songwriter, actress
Instrument(s).............Voice
Voice type(s).............Mezzo-soprano
Years active..............1935 – 1963
Charles Aznavour, né Shahnourh Varinag Aznavourian le 22 mai 1924 à Paris, est un auteur-compositeur-interprète
et acteur français d'origine arménienne. Il est résident à Genève.
Marié trois fois, il a eu six enfants : Seda (1946), Charles (1952), Patrick (1956 [décédé à l'âge de 25 ans]), Katia (1969, qui accompagne son père sur scène comme choriste depuis 2004), Misha (1971) et Nicolas (1977).
Ayant joué dans plus de soixante films et chantant dans cinq langues, Charles Aznavour est aujourd'hui le chanteur français le plus connu à travers le monde. Depuis la mort de Frank Sinatra (avec qui il enregistra le duo You make me feel so young en 1993), il est considéré comme l’un des derniers monstres sacrés de la chanson.
« Comment s'y prend-il, cet Aznavour, pour rendre l'amour malheureux sympathique aux hommes? Avant lui, le désespoir était impopulaire. Après lui, il ne l'est plus... », disait Cocteau. Annie Grandjanin ajoutait en 2004, dans Le Figaro : « Et le chanteur n'a pas d'autre credo que cela : sublimer la nostalgie, les "plaisirs démodés", l'insouciance de "la bohème", les emmerdes et la jeunesse perdue »
Nom..........................Shahnourh Varinag Aznavourian
Naissance....................22 mai 1924 (1924-05-22) (84 ans)
Paris, France France
Profession(s)................Auteur-compositeur-interprète
Acteur
Genre(s).....................Chanson française
Années actives...............Depuis 1936
Link:
http://www.c-aznavour.com
Georges Brassens (October 22, 1921 - October 29, 1981) was a French singer-songwriter.
Georges Brassens was born in Sète (then called Cette), a town in southern France near Montpellier.
Now an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his simple, elegant songs and articulate,
diverse lyrics; indeed, he is considered one of France's most accomplished postwar poets. He has also set to music
poems by both well-known and relatively obscure poets, including Louis Aragon (Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux), Victor
Hugo, Jean Richepin, François Villon, and Guillaume Apollinaire.
During World War II, he was forced by the Germans to work in a labour camp at a BMW aircraft engine plant in
Basdorf near Berlin in Germany (March 1943). Here Brassens met some of his future friends, such as Pierre
Onteniente, whom he called Gibraltar because he was "steady as a rock." They would later become close friends.
After being given ten days' leave in France, he decided not to return to the labour camp. Brassens took refuge
in a slum called "Impasse Florimont" where he lived for several years with its owner, Jeanne Planche, a friend
of his aunt. Planche lived with her husband Marcel in relative poverty: without gas, running water, or electricity.
Brassens remained hidden there until the end of the war five months later, but ended up staying for 22 years.
Planche was the inspiration for Brassens's song Jeanne
Born........................October 22, 1921, Sète, France
Died........................October 29, 1981, Saint-Gély-du-Fesc
Occupation(s)...............Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)...............Acoustic guitar
Years active................1940 - 1981
Link:
Discography -
http://sete.fr/brassens/english/index.html
George Site -
http://www.georges-brassens.com/
Henri Salvador (July 18, 1917 - February 13, 200 Cayenne, French Guiana, was a French singer.
His father, Clovis, and his mother, Antonine Paterne, daughter of a native Indian from the Caribbean, were both
from Guadeloupe, France. He had a brother, André, and a sister, Alice.
He began his musical career as a guitarist accompanying other singers. He had learned the guitar by imitating
Django Reinhardt's recordings, and was to work alongside him in the 1940s. Salvador recorded several songs written
by Boris Vian with Quincy Jones as arranger. He played many years in the Ray Ventura (dead on 29 March 1979) et
Ses Collégiens where he used to sing, dance and even play comedy on stage, and made some appearances in great
movies such as "Nous irons à Monte-Carlo (1950) " or "Nous irons à Paris" (Jean Boyer's film of 1949 with the
Peters Sisters) or "Mademoiselle s'amuse" (194. He is known to have recorded the first French rock and roll
songs in 1956 written by Boris Vian and Michel Legrand Rock'n Roll Mops, Rock hoquet, Va t'faire cuire un oeuf,
man and Dis-moi qu'tu m'aimes rock under the artist name of Henry Cording, (a play on words with Recording).
Despite this historical aspect, he never ceased to claim that he disliked Rock and Roll and even refused to talk
about this subject later on. In the 1960s, Salvador was the host of several popular television variety shows on
French TV. In 1964 he scored a hit with Zorro est arrivé, which was inspired by The Coasters' U.S. hit Along
Came Jones. He is also famous for his rich, catchy laugh, which is a theme in many of his humorous songs.
In 1969, Henri Salvador recorded a variation of Mah Nà Mah Nà titled Mais non, mais non (But No, But No or Of
Course Not, Of Course Not), with lyrics he had written in French to Piero Umiliani's music.
Henri Salvador and his song Dans mon île (1957) was an influence on Antônio Carlos Jobim in formulating the
Brazilian Bossa Nova style.
Caetano Veloso, a famous Brazilian composer and singer, made Henri Salvador famous to Brazilian audiences with
the song Reconvexo, in which he says "quem não sentiu o swing de Henri Salvador?" ("who hasn't felt the swing of
Henri Salvador?".
At age 70, Salvador was the voice-over of the crab Sebastian in the 1989 French dubbing of Disney's The
Little Mermaid. Recordings of Embrasse La (Kiss the Girl) can be found on Youtube.
Salvador discovered singers Keren Ann and Art Mengo.
He died of a ruptured aneurysm at his home in the early hours of February 13, 2008. He was 90 years of age.
Born..........................July 18, 1917(1917-07-1
Cayenne, French Guiana
Origin........................France
Died..........................February 13, 2008 (aged 90)
Paris, France
Instrument(s).................Guitar
Years active..................1930s – 2008
Link:
http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/tribute/salvador/2733440
Juliette Gréco (born February 7, 1927) is a French actress and popular chanson singer.
Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier to a Corsican father and a mother active in the Résistance, in the Hérault
département of southern France. She was raised by her maternal grandparents. Gréco also became involved in the
Résistance, and was caught but not deported because of her young age. She moved to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris
in 1946 after her mother left the country for Indochina with the Navy.
Gréco came to be one of the stars of the bohemian "in" crowd of post-war France. She embodied the
disenchantment and poverty of the intellectuals following World War II. Gréco dressed all in black and let her long,
black hair hang free.
A famous description of Gréco is that her voice "encompasses millions of poems".[cite this quote] She was
an inspiration to many of the writers and artists working in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, such as Jean-Paul Sartre and
Boris Vian.[cite this quote] Some of these artists would write songs for her to sing.
Gréco famously spent the post liberation years frequenting the Saint Germain cafes, immersing herself in
political and philosophical Bohemian culture. As a regular figure at legendary music and poetry venues like Le
Tabou on Rue Dauphine, Greco rubbed shoulders with Miles Davis and Jean Cocteau, even landing a role in Cocteau’s
film ‘Orphee’ in 1949. In the same year, she embarked on a new singing career with a number of top French writers
penning lyrics – Raymond Queneau’s ‘Si Tu T’Imagines’ was one of her earliest hits.
Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck cast her to appear in a number of films from the late 1950s to early 1960s.
She was married to actor Michel Piccoli (1966-1977).
Born.........................February 7, 1927 (1927-02-07)
Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Spouse(s)....................Philippe Lemaire (1953-1956)
Michel Piccoli (1966-1977)
Gérard Jouannest (1988-)
Jacques Romain Georges Brel, , April 8, 1929 – October 9, 1978, was a Belgian French-speaking singer-songwriter.
The quality and style of his lyrics are highly regarded by many leading critics of popular music.
Brel's songs are not especially well known in the English-speaking world except in translation and through
the interpretations of other singers, most famously Scott Walker and Judy Collins. Others who have sung his work
in English include Marc Almond, Dave Van Ronk, Alex Harvey, David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, The Dresden Dolls,
Frank Sinatra, Terry Jacks, Nina Simone, Rod McKuen, The Kingston Trio, Gavin Friday, Jack Lukeman, Dax Riggs and
Beirut. In French-speaking countries, Brel is also remembered as an actor and director.
Born.............................April 8, 1929
Schaarbeek, Belgium
Died.............................October 9, 1978 (aged 49)
Bobigny
Cause of death...................lung cancer
Burial place.....................Calvary Cemetery, Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Isl
Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (May 8, 1903 – February 26, 1971), better known as
Fernandel, was a French
actor and singer. Born in Marseille, France, he was a comedy star who first gained popularity in French vaudeville,
operettas, and music-hall revues.
In 1930, Fernandel appeared in his first motion picture and for more than forty years he would be France's
top comedic actor. He was perhaps best-loved for his portrayal of the irascible Italian village priest at war with
the town's communist mayor in the Don Camillo series of motion pictures. His horse-like teeth became part of his
trademark.
He also appeared in Italian and American films. His first Hollywood motion picture was 1956's Around the
World in Eighty Days in which he played David Niven's coachman. His popular performance in that film led to starring
with Bob Hope and Anita Ekberg in the 1958 comedy, Paris Holiday.
In addition to acting, Fernandel also directed or co-produced several of his own films.
Fernandel died from lung cancer and is buried in the Cimetière de Passy, Paris, France.
Nom..............................Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin
Naissance 8 mai 1903
Marseille
Nationalité......................Française
Mort.............................26 février 1971
Paris
Profession(s)....................chanteur, acteur
Films notables...................Topaze, La Vache et le Prisonnier, série Don Camillo
